Author's posts

My Musical Career| Part Fourteen

Albany Palace Theater

My Musical Career | Part Fourteen From New England to Albany – 1977 In my previous blog post, I talked about my experiences with the Vermont Symphony and Dartmouth College. In looking back over these experiences, I remember these as a most fruitful period of my early musical career, and it turned out to be …

Continue reading

My Musical Career | Part Thirteen

Hand Tuned Timpani

  My Musical Career | Part Thirteen   New York Interlude – 1975 -77 After graduating from Manhattan School of Music with my Master’s degree in June 1975, I remained in New York City for a period of two years. I had been living away from my parent’s home in Yorktown Heights, New York since …

Continue reading

My Musical Career | Part Twelve

Maestro George Schick

Final College Years My Musical Career | Part Twelve The years 1972 through 1975 comprised my final years at Manhattan School of Music. My senior year was 1973 -74, and I elected to do a one-year Master’s program during the 1974-75 school year. MSM was offering this one-year program, and it seemed like a good …

Continue reading

Timpani|Light Timpani

Metropolitan B timpano

Timpani|Light timpani My first encounters with Light timpani came in my first lessons with Mr. Hinger during my sophomore year at Manhattan School of Music. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, Dan had his teaching studio at his home in Leonia, New Jersey. His students were required to take the subway and …

Continue reading

Timpani|Hinger Timpani

Fred Hinger

  Timpani |Hinger Timpani In a musical career that has spanned the course of forty years, I have used many makes and models of timpani, ranging from the old Ludwig Universals of my junior high school days, all the way up to the Hinger Touch-Tone Timpani of my professional career. I suppose I should be …

Continue reading

My Musical Career|Part Eleven

Professional Symphonic ca. 1970

  My Musical Career|Part Eleven   1971- 1972 Part Two In my previous post, I left off talking about performing George Bizet’s “L’Arlisienne” with the Repertoire Orchestra at Manhattan School of Music. We used an orchestra of about 30 musicians, which is what Bizet scored if for, and it was a most delightful musical experience. …

Continue reading

My Musical Career |Part Ten

Borden Auditorium

My Musical Career|Part Ten In my last blog post, I talked about my summer out at the Aspen Festival in 1973. It was my first sojourn out of New York, and it opened my eyes to the world outside of the Big Apple. I loved Colorado and thought the country out there was just great, …

Continue reading

My Musical Career|Part Nine

Aspen, Colorado

My Musical Career | Part Nine In my previous blogposts, I wrote quite a bit about Fred D. Hinger, my main percussion instructor and mentor and some of the experiences I had with him at the school. I had four good years working under his tutelage – including a summer at Aspen, Colorado. This was …

Continue reading

My Instruments|Chain and Cable-Tuned Timpani

Stotz-anheier 23 inch

My Instruments|Chain and Cable-Tuned Timpani I have played on pedal-tuned timpani for most of my career, which now spans a forty-year period and have always enjoyed the experience. However, whenever I have had the chance to play on timpani that were either hand-tuned, or equipped with an Anheier-like cable system or a chain system such …

Continue reading

My Musical Career | Part Eight

Fred Hinger

My Musical Career|Part Eight I ended my last blog entry in the Leonia, N.J. studio of my teacher and mentor, Fred. D. Hinger. I had many, many hours of superlative instruction from this gentleman. Mr. Hinger was my principal teacher for four years – from the fall of 1971 until June 1975, when I received …

Continue reading