Coming Attractions!

Exciting new content is in the works! I have interviewed composer Joseph Hallman, a remarkable person you will learn a lot from, so please stay tuned. All of the interviews are giving me more insight into my own journey so I'll be writing more articles about that, too.

The interviews do take quite a bit of time to put together: scheduling, the actual interview, transcribing, and then lots of editing to make sure they're perfect and that the interviewees are comfortable with them because it's pretty personal stuff we're talking about. 

Christina Schmidt, oboist and children's librarian, Allentown, PA

As mentioned in a previous post, Chris's story is incredible and without her, this entire project never would have happened! I can't thank her enough for participating in the project and for being an awesome and patient editor. 

What I find most interesting is that Chris actually took ten years off from playing the oboe, then took it up again and went on to do so many amazing things -- not only with music, but as a children's librarian and raising a family. She is a true inspiration to all!

Oboist Christina Schmidt of Allentown, PA, recently retired from a professional career spanning more than four decades, including many years with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra. Chris earned a BA in English at the University of Rochester, where she studied with Robert Sprenkle at the Eastman School. Throughout much of her performing career, Chris also worked as a librarian, earning a Master of Library Science degree at Kutztown University and heading the children's departments at Parkland Community Library and Allentown Public Library.

Let’s talk mostly about the time period when you were doing both jobs -- so, oboe and the librarian job.

Dr. Brian Peterson, Bassoonist and Surgeon, Salt Lake City, UT

Of the many insights from my remarkable interviewees, something you'll read below from Brian Peterson still stands out to me after countless hours working on this project. When asked what motivated him to pursue his medical career, he responded: "I got to re-thinking my music degree and realized that I probably wouldn't have a career in an orchestra because I just didn't think I was going to work hard enough." 

This sentence exemplifies the incredibly high standard Dr. Peterson -- and all of the interviewees you'll meet here -- have set for themselves, and passion, dedication, commitment to excellence, and extraordinary accomplishments that most of us can only aspire to. Enjoy!

Bassoonist Dr. Brian Peterson (pictured at left with his wife, oboist Barbara Peterson) of Salt Lake City has performed with the Utah Symphony, the Utah Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra in Temple Square, which accompanies the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He earned a BM from USC where he studied with Norman Herzberg and an MM from Brigham Young University. Dr. Peterson is an otologist (ear surgeon) at Jordan Valley Medical Center and Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City. He attended medical school at the University of Utah; completed his residency at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, New York; and held a fellowship at the Michigan Ear Institute.

Click on the video below to hear Brian rock out on the contrabassoon! (More vids on his YouTube channel.)

 

What's your non-music career?

 
I’m an otologist -- ear surgeon -- at Jordan Valley Medical Center and Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City.

What’s your training on the bassoon?

Welcome to Recovering Oboist!

The launch of this blog coincides with the publication of my first article, "Cut Time," seen in the Summer 2012 issue of The Double Reed, the quarterly journal of the International Double Reed Society (IDRS). IDRS members can access the article for free online; I'm working on getting a scan to post here. Most music schools subscribe to The Double Reed; if you find yourself in a college music library, you can read it there, too.

This blog, like the article, will feature interviews with professional musicians who have full-time day jobs outside of music. I will start by telling you more about myself and why I started this project. Then I'll post complete interviews from the IDRS article, because I had to condense them for publication. Then I'll begin posting new interviews branching out from the oboe and bassoon world. I hope to meet some of you here, so please introduce yourself in the comments.

I'm one of you: fund-raiser by day, musician by night....sometimes vice-versa if we have a gala and I'm playing a matinee. Work-life balance and the motivation for pursuing "a double life," as I often refer to it, is of great interest to me. The good news is, we're not alone. A lot of musicians make this work, and pursue two -- or more! -- careers at very high levels. I will showcase their stories and hope to inspire those of us for whom this is a reality. It's not an easy life, but it is possible and can be very rewarding. 

Thanks for reading!