I played my first tuba concert since 1983 yesterday at the Michigan Tech (Houghton, Michigan) Tuba Christmas concert. I have quite a bit of work to do to get back into any kind of playing shape, but it was very enjoyable.
I learned today after an Internet search that a good friend of mine, Ray DCamp, lost his battle to lung cancer. Ray was an incredible musician, coming from a very musical family. He was also a first class engineer. We were the tuba section for the last few iterations of the Detroit Diesel Allison Concert Band from 1980-1983.
Unfortunately, due to other priorities I gave up playing in early 1984.
I found out about Ray's status by contacting his former band director in the Brazil Concert Band.
Here is the conversation with Mr. Huber:
To: jimn
Subject: Ray DCamp
Dear Mr. Northey,
Thank you for inquiring about my friend and musical colleague, Ray DCamp. Unfortunately, Ray lost his battle to lung cancer and passed away at home nearly five years ago now.
As you know, Ray was an extremely fine tuba player; one of the best I ever had the pleasure of performing with in my nearly 30 years as a conductor.
Ray made the trip to Brazil for many years to play in the Brazil Concert Band. We have a rather large tuba section (8) and Ray served as Principal Tuba/Section leader.
For years he came to the State Solo and Ensemble contest in Indianapolis to hear our son John Philip Huber perform. Ray died during the fall of John's junior year in high school. Ray had given John the music for the Herbert L. Clarke arrangement of "Carnival of Venice" to perform at contest that year. John nailed a perfect score at district and at the state that January/February playing on the exact music Ray had given him. We always thought Ray was in the room with us that contest year. John is now a senior euphonium major at Indiana State University.
Ray's widow sprinkled Ray's ashes in the flowers and bushes which are in front of the Forest Park Band Shell here in Brazil. She called me and said Ray was already at band rehearsal.
Ray was 70 when he died. I still keep in contact with his brother, Dr. Charles DCamp, a retired college band director in Iowa.
If you looked at our web site brazilconcertband.org you will see that we recorded two CDs of music by Fred Jewell. Ray played on the first CD back in 2003. There is an order blank if you would care to get one.
If and when you are in this part of Indiana in the summer, please come to one of our concerts and bring your tuba. One of my tuba men still plays his EEb sousaphone with my two concert bands.
-Musically yours,
Matthew S. Huber
Director of Bands
Brazil Concert Band
Jackson Township Community Band
My Reply
Matthew
Wow – it was amazing. I believe it was either 2003 or 2004 – I just got the urge to get back into music and called Ray to see if he had any horns for sale. Things did not sound good when I spoke to him. But we had a great conversation, reminisced about our old band days and working at Allison Gas Turbine Division of G.M. together. It seem like we both knew we wouldn’t be speaking to each other (on this side anyway) when we concluded the call.
If you don’t mind I will look at your concert schedule and would like to get back in touch with you to find out the set list – so I could practice and sit in with the band as a memorial to Ray. My in-laws are in Plainfield and we look for reasons to get down that way. We live in the UP. I just played Tuba Christmas up here at Michigan Tech for the first time. Resumed playing just about a month ago after a 25 year hiatus. Prior to this my last time playing was when Ray and I played with a community band in Crawfordsville.
Thank you very much for bring me up to date on Ray’s life. He was a great musician and a great friend.
Looking forward to participating in a concert with the Brazil band in 2010.
Best Regards,
Jim Northey
Ray DCamp (left) shown here with Mr. Matthew Huber
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