Elaine Hoffman Watts
{{short description|American klezmer drummer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Elaine Hoffman Watts
| image = File:Elane Hoffman Watts 2007.jpg
| landscape =
| alt =
| caption = Watts in 2007
| birth_name = Elaine Hoffman
| alias =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1932|05|25}}
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|2017|09|25|1932|05|25}}
| death_place =
| genre = Klezmer
| occupation = Musician, educator
| instrument = Drums, percussion
| years_active =
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| website =
}}
Elaine Hoffman Watts (May 25, 1932 – September 25, 2017{{Cite news |last=Cook |first=Bonnie L. |date=September 17, 2017 |url=http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/elaine-hoffman-watts-85-noted-percussionist-who-performed-distinctive-19th-century-klezmer-folk-music-20170927.html |title=Elaine Hoffman Watts, 85, who performed klezmer folk music|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |access-date=2017-09-29}}) was a klezmer drummer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Biography
Watts came from a line of klezmer musicians from what is now Ukraine and was the daughter of Jacob Hoffman,{{cite web|url=https://arts.gov/honors/heritage/elaine-hoffman-watts |title=Elaine Hoffman Watts: Klezmer musician |author= |date=n.d. |website=www.arts.gov |publisher=National Endowment for the Arts |access-date=January 12, 2021}} a klezmer xylophone player and bandleader from the 1920s who also played with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ballets Russes Orchestra. Her daughter Susan Watts is a klezmer trumpet player and an important figure in the klezmer revival. She was raised in Southwest Philadelphia and learned how to play the drums in the basement of her house.{{cite web |url=https://xpn.org/2017/10/31/elaine-hoffman-watts/ |title=Perseverance, Pride, and Percussion: Remembering the incredible life of Elaine Hoffman Watts |first=Yoni |last=Kroll |date=October 31, 2017 |website=xpn.org |publisher=WXPN }} Her father would put sticks in her hands and tell her to play while he played xylophone, and she didn't have formal music lessons until she was 12 years old.{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/05/05/136021232/from-generation-to-generation-klezmer-lives-on |title=From Generation To Generation, Klezmer Lives On |first=Nick |last=Spitzer |date=May 5, 2011 |website=www.npr.org |publisher=All Things Considered |access-date=August 1, 2024 }}
In 1954, Elaine Hoffman Watts was the first woman percussionist to be accepted and graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. After graduation she was hired as a timpanist in the New Orleans Symphony, and over the years played in other orchestras and jazz groups, including sitting in for Duke Ellington and Count Basie.
Beginning in 1998, she was a percussion teacher at KlezKamp, and she taught percussion in the Philadelphia area beginning in the mid-1960s. She was awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 2000{{cite web |url=https://www.pewcenterarts.org/fellow/elaine-hoffman-watts |title=Elaine Hoffman Watts: Pew Fellow, 2000 |date=May 19, 2023 |orig-date=2000 |website=www.pewcenterarts.org |publisher=Pew Center for Arts & Heritage }} and was a recipient of a 2007 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.{{cite web |url=https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/elaine-hoffman-watts |title=NEA National Heritage Fellowships: Elaine Hoffman Watts |author= |website=www.arts.gov |publisher=National Endowment for the Arts |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521112848/https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/elaine-hoffman-watts |archive-date=May 21, 2020 |url-status=dead}}
References
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External links
- [http://www.klezmershack.com/bands/watts/klezmer/watts.klezmer.html Klezmershack review] and brief biography of Watts
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20081201080554/http://www.phillyklezmer.com/aboutelaine.htm Philly Klezmer site] timeline of notable events in Watts' life
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Category:Drummers from Philadelphia
Category:Curtis Institute of Music alumni
Category:American women drummers
Category:20th-century American drummers