Baltimore mourns first woman player
RIPThe Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has announced the death of Joan Champie, the first woman to be admitted to its ranks. Champie, who was 92, played second oboe from 1955 to 1962.
She had a struggle to get there. At the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, the influential oboist Marcel Tabuteau told her ‘I don’t want to waste Curtis’s money on a woman,’ before taking her on as a private student. By way of reward, he let her sweep his studio floors.
Eventually, unable to reconcile her orchestra duties with raising two small children, Champie stepped down from the Baltimore Symphony after seven years.
She went on to obtain a university degree in speech pathology and a pilot’s license.
“By way of reward, he let her sweep his studio floors.” Appalling.
It true, it is indeed appalling. But how do we know?
Who knows, maybe it was in lieu of paying for lessons.
She paid for her lessons with USD. In her interview this year about Tabuteau she said she made $40 a week and $10 was for lessons. The order she paid her bills was: lessons, rent, and food. And she had almost no money left over for food. Check out the interview (in her own words).
https://marceltabuteau.com/interviews/a-v-interviews/joan-browne/
In this interview my mom notes that all students (male and female) were treated a little tough, if you will. It wasn’t confined to just her. When I included it in her obit, it was with a smile, just as she always told the story. She was proud of studying with him and had to put up with a lot of criticism by him. It made her better, but it was hard. A good lesson for all of us who teach in some format: try to be nice! https://marceltabuteau.com/interviews/a-v-interviews/joan-browne/
That’s a few years after Tabuteau would have taught Laila Storch, so I wonder how true that anecdote is.
Career-wise, she may well have been better off in speech pathology.