Author's posts

My Musical Career | Part Twenty-One

In rehearsal

  My Musical Career Part Twenty-One   The Evansville Years – Part Three Owensboro The other major part of the consortium position was that of timpanist of the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra. Owensboro, Kentucky is located about forty miles east of Evansville, on the west bank of the Ohio River. Home to Brescia College and several …

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My Musical Career | Part Twenty

Wheeler Concert Hall

My Musical Career | Part Twenty The Evansville Years – Part Two “The Fourth Piece of the Puzzle” In my previous blog post, I described my new position (or positions) in Evansville and Owensboro, with only a little blurb about the fourth part of the puzzle. This was what was called an “Artist-In-Residence” position, and …

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My Musical Career | Part Nineteen

Eansville

  My Musical Career|Part Nineteen   The Evansville Years – Part One Late September and early October can be gloomy and rainy, and it certainly was the day I left Albany aboard that Greyhound bus bound for Evansville, Indiana. I had just closed out a most enjoyable three year period of my life, one in …

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My Musical Career | Part Eighteen

Greyhound Bus

  My Musical Career|Part Eighteen   Leaving Albany My three years in Albany as timpanist with the Albany Symphony, Berkshire Symphony and Lake George Opera were most fulfilling. I had the opportunity to do a bit of conducting and program presenting with the Albany Little Symphony, as well as personally familiarize myself with some superb …

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My Musical Career | Part Seventeen

  My Musical Career   The Albany Years – Part Three It seems that every time I sit down to continue a certain timeline, certain memories of other events kind of point me to share events that, while occurring during the time period of which I am writing, seem like sort of going off on …

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My Musical Career | Part Sixteen

Andrew Simco 1980

  My Musical Career | Part Sixteen   The Albany Years | Part Two In addition to my position as timpanist with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, I was asked by Maestro Hegyi to act in a similar capacity with his other orchestra, The Berkshire Symphony Orchestra. This last named orchestra was the orchestra of Williams …

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My Musical Career | Part Fifteen

Albany Palace Theater

My Musical Career | Part Fifteen The Albany Years – Part One I lived and worked in the Albany, New York area for three seasons, from October, 1977 until September 1, 1980. During this period I served as timpanist of the Albany Symphony Orchestra and additionally with the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Both …

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My Instruments | A Timpanist’s Toolbox

Timpani Tool Box

    My Instruments | A Timpanist’s Toolbox NB: This post is mainly for those of you (and there are many) who wonder what a timpanist is and what is in that case (or cases) that he carries with him to rehearsals and concerts. To those of you who are already expert, consider this a …

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My Instruments – Timpani Sticks| Part Two

My Instruments -Timpani Sticks Ron Carlisle Mallets It wasn’t until relatively late in my career with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra that I heard of Ron Carlisle and his hand-crafted timpani mallets. The year was 1994, and it was during a tour of the USA by the orchestra that this came about. It happened in Pittsburgh, …

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My Instruments – Timpani Sticks| Part One

Feldman Mallets

  My Instruments -Timpani Sticks|Part One   You might think it a little strange for me to talk about timpani sticks (or mallets –call them whatever you will) in a blog post with the heading “My Instruments.” However, when you think about it, timpani sticks are the tools one uses in the hands to make …

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