Charles David Chick Lehrer UMASS-Amherst Music Department Oboe 1968-1984

Dr. Charles David “Chick” Lehrer (1940- ) was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Dr. Lehrer received his B.A. in Music Education from Trenton State College, M.M. from Boston University, and D.M.A. in Performance from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1968.

Dr. Lehrer became a distinguished member of the UMASS-Amherst Music Department in 1968 where he served until 1985.

Dr. Lehrer taught the entire family of double reed musical instruments including Oboe, English Horn, and Bassoon. Dr. Lehrer was also an exemplary musicologist whose specialty was orchestral and chamber music composed during the Baroque Era.

The was an instrumental

performance major as well as an instrumental music education major at UMASS-Amherst between 1967 and 1972.

As an instrumental music education major, applied educational courses that revolved around the double reed instruments were required courses.

I had the good fortune of having Dr. Charles David “Chick” Lehrer as the instructor of applied music education oriented oboe and bassoon courses.

Dr. Lehrer’s applied ‘double reed’ courses were excellent.  All learning materials suitable for beginning ‘double reed’ instrumental students were well organized and provided a very meaningful learning experience to me in the 1969 time frame.

Dr. Lehrer was a virtuoso oboist whose solo faculty recitals as well as performances with

the UMASS Faculty wind quintet were outstanding.   Dr. Lehrer produced a magnificent, rich tone coupled with beautiful artistic phrasing on the Oboe that projected beautifully throughout the UMASS 700 seat Bowker Auditorium at all volume levels without the benefit of amplification.

Dr.  Lehrer’s performance skills on Oboe were exemplary and were proven so when he made his Carnegie Recital Hall debut in New York in 1980.

Dr. Lehrer was quite affable, had an over developed, sometimes acerbic sense of humor, a well known prankster, and frequently wore a disarming ‘sly grin’ on his face which provided him a rather youthful appearance even as he aged over the years. 

An example of Dr. Lehrer’s willingness to carry out a practical joke on an unsuspecting UMASS Music Department Faculty Member can be found at Vienna Prostitution Scandal Travels to UMASS.

Dr. Lehrer frequent ‘sly looking’ facial expressions reminded one of a young school boy prankster who would put a garden snake in the lunch box of the prettiest girl in his class.  Dr. Lehrer’s personality and ubiquitous. sly smile, made him reminiscent of a very famous and hilarious American and British newspaper cartoon character named “Dennis the Menace”.

 

Dr. Lehrer would also have been well cast as a villain

in a James Bond movie. Dr. Lehrer bore an uncanny

resemblance to famous Hollywood Actor, Louis Jourdon.  

As far as wardrobe choices were concerned, Dr. Lehrer was never a model for ‘sartorial splendor’. Between, 1967 and 1972, his wardrobe consisted of one color and one color only which was ‘BLACK’. The black clothing and shoes matched his jet black shiny hair and black, well polished shoes.

At this time, Dr. Lehrer always wore a black suit (probably the same one daily), white shirt (probably changed on a daily basis), and a dark colored tie (probably the  same one daily).

Dr. Lehrer also had jet black hair that he wore slicked down and secured by a liberal quantity  of “Pomade” that he was rumored to have formulated to his own unique needs.

To further enhance Dr. “Chick’s” already dark, flamboyant appearance was his eyeglasses which were framed by heavy black horned rims at all times.

Dr. Lehrer was always perfectly groomed at all times. His appearance and public persona fit the bill to represent the quintessential evil genius villain, of countless works of literary fiction and vast numbers of Hollywood Film’s.

In spite of Dr. Lehrer’s proclivity to stage a sometimes less than well thought through ‘practical joke’ on others, Dr. Lehrer was a highly regarded and respected member of the UMASS-Amherst music faculty.  Besides being a wonderfully engaging music historian and exceptional performer on both Oboe and English Horn, Dr.Lehrer was also a devoted music educator. Dr. Lehrer developed the “The New Barret Oboe Method” as well as other well received pedagogical methods.

One of the more entertaining activities that the Author of this essay noted about Dr. Lehrer was the fact that Dr. Lehrer spent any and all spare time he might have had in his office, teaching studio was ‘carving the perfect’ cane reed for his oboe.  This in itself is not unusual for a ‘top drawer’ professional oboe player to fashion their own ‘perfect’ reed, but the process is enormously time consuming.  And, if an oboe player makes his own cane reeds, there is a cost savings that can be considerable.  The current cost of a ‘store bought’ oboe reed suitable for a beginner is $13.00.  Artist series ‘store bought’ oboe reeds can run over $30.00 each. As an example of pricing go to this page.  And, these oboe reeds don’t last very long either.  Here is a link to a very time consuming 14 step process on how to make oboe reeds by hand.

Making your own oboe reeds is a learned and highly specialized skill that takes lots and lots of practice.

Making the ‘perfect reed’ is a very precise process. And, that ‘perfect’ reed may only last for a single rehearsal or a couple of concerts.

See interview with New York Philharmonic Principal Oboist, Liang Wang about how neurotic oboe players can be about reed selection.

It must have taken Dr. Lehrer at least a minimum of 30 minutes to hand fashion an oboe reed out of cane. Upon completion, Dr. Lehrer would give it a try after wetting it properly by ‘crowing’ into the newly fashioned reed. Far more often than not, the newly fashioned reed would be tossed into the waste basket after a couple of trial toots. It takes the creation of many hand carved reeds to find a ‘keeper’ that will not last much long.

Dr. Lehrer would frequently become quite angry in the privacy of his office, teaching studio after each failed reed carving effort. Dr. Lehrer must have gone through well over 100 lbs of cane each year in order to create custom hand made oboe reeds.

On a side note, Dr. Lehrer had an excellent student, oboist and music major, Norman Vexler who happened to also be from Dr. Lehrer’s home state of New Jersey. Norman Vexler was in the same class as me and the two of us became friends. Norman was the first chair oboe in both UMASS Symphony Band as well as UMASS Orchestra.

What is remarkable about Norman is that he attended UMASS-Amherst by way of an athletic scholarship. Norman was a remarkably skilled all around gymnast that spent an enormous amount of time practicing extremely complex gymnastic routines plus traveling all over the United States with the UMASS men’s gymnastic team to perform in collegiate competitions. In the entire history of the Planet, Norman Vexler has to be the only oboe player to be able to execute and sustain a perfect ‘Iron Cross’ on the Roman Rings as the photo on this page will attest.

Norman took playing the oboe very, very seriously and was an excellent performer. Norman would typically be at the old chapel by 7AM if not earlier to practice on a daily basis. Norman also fashioned his own oboe reeds as well in the same ‘neurotic’ manner that Dr. Lehrer fashioned his own oboe reeds.

What was particularly interesting about Norman Vexler was the condition of his hands. The palms and fingers of Norman’s hands were covered by enormous heavy callouses that must have been 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick and the skin would be peeling off of the over worked callouses all of the time. I used to wonder how Norman could play the oboe with such proficiency with hands and fingers that were so heavily calloused from the heavy workouts as a top level gymnast.

Of further interest is Anne Burmeister. Anne also received an out of state resident full gymnastic scholarship to attend the University of Massachusetts in 1970. From 1971 to 1974, Anne was one of the best female gymnasts in the United States. Anne helped UMass win the AIAW national championships in 1973, the same year she competed at the World University Games in Moscow.  Anne was also a finalist on the balance beam at both Nationals and Easterns in 1972. At the 1974 Eastern Championship meet, VAnn finished second in the all-around, first on the balance beam, second on the floor exercise and fifth on the uneven bars.  Anne is a member of the UMASS Athletic Department Hall of Fame.

Between 1967 and 1972, I watched both Norman and Anne compete at UMASS located gymnastic events and their gymnastic prowess was nothing short of remarkable to witness in person.

Anne and Norman got married in 1971. And, in the fall of 1974, they formed the Hampshire Gymnastics School in Amherst, Massachusetts.

In joint student solo recital performances, Norman Vexler and I performed:

• Johann Wilhelm Hertel – Concerto in E-flat major for trumpet and oboe
• Antonio Vivaldi – Concerto for Oboe and Trumpet in D major

Back to Dr. Lehrer>>>

Dr. Lehrer attended most if not all of this Author’s numerous trumpet solo recitals as well as brass ensemble recital performances including my senior graduation trumpet recital.

At the conclusion of the five selection trumpet senior recital, Dr. Lehrer personally congratulated this Author for a job ‘well done’!

The Music Department at UMASS was very fortunate to attract and maintain the services of such an outstanding Oboe Instructor as Dr. Charles David “Chick” Lehrer from 1968-1985.