A History of the Oklahoma City Traditional Music Association
IN THE BEGINNING...
Once upon a time...........I made a serendipitous discovery of
an
instrument called an "autoharp" An instant, mutual, life-long
passion
blossomed between us...........sigh............ I didn't know anyone
else
who played either the instrument or traditional music. So I bought
a how-to
book and located a magazine called the AUTOHARPOHOLIC for persons
involved in similar love affairs.
In time, I wrote a letter to the magazine saying how happy I and
the
autoharp were, but also how lonely! Another autoharp player in Oklahoma
City named Lew Jweid (now deceased) saw the letter and tracked me
down
and said let's get together. We agreed to meet the last weekend
of that
month, September, 1983, as I had heard about that Mecca called
"The Walnut Valley Festival" in Winfield, Kansas, and
had made plans to
attend. Winfield was "music heaven" where I met many players
and heard
lots of songs and different kinds of music on the autoharp. I came
home
inspired and anxious to meet even more players and learn still more
songs.
I invited Ruth Coates, who played with the FRIENDS OF TRADITION,
to
the upcoming meeting with Lew and I. Ruth invited Bill McMullen,
Bonnie
Houghton and Karin Stafford, all local musicians. I also invited
Charlotte
Trobaugh, a member of my church, who had an autoharp. These seven
people
were the original mem ers of the "Flying Fingers Autoharp Club"
and we met
in my home from September, 1983, through March, 1984. When we merged
into
OCTMA we had ten members.
Along about March, 1984, Karin gave me the name of a man who
had belonged to a dulcimer club that had dissolved. I called this
stranger
whose name was Neil Gaston and said, "You don't know me but
Karin
Stafford told me to call you and tell you that I have an autoharp
club"
and his reply was "You're JUST the person I've been looking
for!"
The statement mystified me until I discovered much later that he
and
Dennis Jowasis (another member of FRIENDS OF TRADITION)
were in the early stages of re-forming the dulcimer club.
(Karma, I guess!?!?)
Neil had an editor friend at the DAILY OKLAHOMAN (a fan of
traditional music) who put two articles in the paper about the organization
of our club which was great publicity! Neil was a member of the
Tulsa
dulcimer club and he drafted some of those folks to come to our
first
meeting and lead workshops. He gave me Steve Mayfield's name, who
was
and still is an excellent autoharp player, and I did another of
those
"you don't know me but" phone calls and ask him to lead
the autoharp
workshop (it turned out we'd met at Winfield). As a matter of fact,
I
remember making several of those "you don't know me but"
calls for
various reasons.
Our first meeting was held Saturday, April 6, 1984. More than fifty
people attended including Otto McKee, Jean Roberts and myself. The
format of the evening was much the same as it is now with workshops,
the play-around, a meet and greet and a jam. We ended up with workshops
for autoharp, mountain dulcimer and hammered dulcimer. Other instruments
present were mandolin, banjo, guitar, bones, fiddle, concertina
and an
Irish harp. We first met at the Midwest Boulevard Christian Church
in
Midwest City in April and May. The June and July meetings were held
at
Will Rogers Park where the Gazette did a story about us. It was
getting
hot in August so we moved to Crown Heights United Methodist Church
at 37th and Western where we stayed for several years. We grew by
leaps and bounds and needed a larger meeting place so we moved to
the City Arts Center. From there we have moved to the Tom Steed
Centerat Rose State College, then to Central Presbyterian Church
and finally back to City Arts Center!!
Many changes have taken place since 1984. The club has evolved
into what it is today and I have been pulled kicking and screaming
into
the future. It has been very difficult for me to cut the "apron
strings"
when things weren't going the way I thought they should.
I'd like to think that this club began because of that one little
phone call I made to Neil, but I don't believe the OCTMA could have
happened without our joint efforts. We created it together. There
may have been an autoharp club, or a dulcimer club, but not what
we now have.........and probably neither would have lasted thirteen
years.
So we deserve equal credit, but even MORE so, everyone that has
followed us deserves just as much credit as we do........for keeping
it alive!!
Many times I thought the club might die because no one wanted to
be president, but every year some brave soul picks up the "rhythm"...........
and the beat goes on.........
Anita Roesler
1-31-97
Presidents in order of service have been:
1984-1985 Neil Gaston
1985-1986 Anita Roesler
1986-1987 Wayne Cantwell
1987-1988 Lloyd Hise
1988-1989 Jackie Smith
1989-1990 David Higgins
1990-1991 Ed Petitt
1991-1992 Jackie Smith
1993-1995 Holly Van Auken
1994-1995 Steve Muns
1995-1996 Ray Haines
1996-1997 Karen Petitt
1997-1998 Kathy Dagg
1998-2000 Rees Evans
2000-2001 Jacque Rapp
2001-2003 Pam Hamilton
2003-2004 Ray Haines
2004-2005 Ray Haines
2005-2006 Ray Haines
2006-2007 Gary Parent
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