![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.rubright.com\/basement\/wp-content\/uploads\/ted_1975.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWhen I was in high school I decided that I wanted to follow my friend Mark Sparks<\/a> (the former principal flutist of the SLSO) into classical music after he turned me onto such pieces as Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony<\/a> and the Stravinsky’s Firebird.<\/a> Before that time I had not realized how exciting orchestral drumming could be. I began studying with Tom Stubbs<\/a> of the St. Louis Symphony<\/a>. It was a big rush for me when I descended his basement stairs for the first time and saw a room packed to the rafters with percussion instruments, records and music. That opened up a whole new world for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not long after that I auditioned for and was accepted into the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra<\/a> which was as an amazing experience. They had (and continue to have) one of the best orchestral training programs for young players anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another more unusual highlight of those years was joining El Mariachi Guiador as a marimba player. The group was started at Kirkwood High School by Luis Diaz, a Spanish teacher and baseball coach. At its height there were two trumpets, trombone, several guitarists, bass and me. I had a Deagan marimba<\/a> that I lugged around to every gig – and there were a lot<\/i> of gigs – none of which paid well, but all of which were fun. They were more like parties, really. In fact, I naively thought that being a musician would be like that: one party after another. That turned out to be a bit of wishful thinking on my part!<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n After high school I attended the St. Louis Conservatory of Music for two years where I studied with John Kasica <\/a>and the late Richard Holmes, both of the St. Louis Symphony. I loved the way they played and very much wanted to study where they had, so I practiced like a fiend and was admitted to the Juilliard School<\/a> in New York City as a transfer student. This was, to say the least, pretty heady stuff for a kid like me. I was the last student accepted into the studio (from outside of the school) of the late, great Saul Goodman.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is how I like to remember him (with Roland Kohloff), irascible as ever and still very capable of getting an amazing sound out of the timpani. He used to stand behind me in lessons and shout, “The sound, the sound, the sound!” He always emphasized musicality and presence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here I am around the time of my first Juilliard<\/a> graduation, way back in 1982. That was for my Bachelor\u2019s degree. A year later the scene was repeated when I got my Masters, a common occurrence in those days. People used to say that Juilliard was cut-throat and intense, but I thrived there. I stumbled into a rent-controlled apartment on the Upper West Side and fell in love with the city. After Mr. Goodman retired, I studied with the late Roland Kohloff and Buster Bailey, both wonderful players and exemplary human beings who are sorely missed by all who knew them. In 1983 I received the Saul Goodman Award for Percussion Performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Upon graduation I played timpani in the Colorado Philharmonic (since renamed the National Repertory Orchestra<\/a>) and then joined the Evansville Philharmonic<\/a> in Evansville, Indiana and the Owensboro, KY Symphony<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\nMariachi Land<\/h3>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHigher Ed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nEven Higher Ed<\/h3>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe Real World<\/h3>\n\n\n\n