About Paul

brass Specialist

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• National Association for Music Education
• Florida Music Education Association
• Phi Mu Alpha
• Tau Beta Sigma
• St. Thomas More Catholic Church
• Tai Chi Society
• Kappa Kappa Psi

My Story

I grew up in Mason City, Iowa. This is significant as Mason City is nicknamed “River City”. Yes – that same River City that Meredith Wilson wrote about in his hit musical “The Music Man”. There is a pool hall formerly named the “Pleezall”. There is a Meredith Wilson footbridge near the library. Iowa is also important as Iowa has a “Band Law” which gives every city to power to levy a “Band Tax”. Music is serious business in Mason City.

My first instrument in the fourth grade was the trumpet. My parents were lower middle class and the principle of my grade school had an old trumpet that he let me use. Well, trumpet and I never quiet got along. The best I ever got was second trumpet in the Intermediate Band. At least I didn’t have to start in the Elementary Band.

My band director asked - for some reason - if I wanted to switch to tuba and play in the All-City Band. Boy, I jumped at the opportunity. My brother was in the Army at the time and I idolized him.  The All-City band members got uniforms and were on local TV for band festival day. The uniform sold me. Plus – they went out to all the other grade schools to play recruitment concerts. It was fun.

The year before I went to Jr. High, I was watching the North Iowa Band Festival. The Jr. High I was going to had chevrons on their uniforms. Remember my brother? Well, now I could earn chevrons just like my brother.

So – going into High School, we had to fill out these cards with our extracurricular activities listed. I did not put down band. I was kind of tired of band. While I was attending orientation, the band director from the high school chased my down. He and the Jr. High director had talked.  The high school band director said the band was going on a trip to Fargo, ND and we would miss five days of school. I thought that was a good deal, so I stayed in band. While in High School I sat first or second chair in the Iowa All-State. My junior year I took the ACT/SAT test. The tests asked about future careers I might be interested in. I put down, Forest Ranger and Educational Administration.

My senior year in high school, my band director suggested I audition for some university scholarships. I said ok – I did – and I got a scholarship offer from the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa. Since my parents could not afford to send me to college, I took the largest scholarship offered and went to the University of Northern Iowa. While at UNI I studied with Don Little (currently Regents Professor of Tuba at the University of North Texas) for three years and one year with Fritz Kaenzig (currently Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Michigan).

While at UNI I drove eight hours to Chicago to take lessons from Arnold Jacobs, tubist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. While in Chicago, I also went to Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts.  It was after my first live CSO performance of Bruckner’s “Eighth Symphony” that I knew my dream – I was to be the next tuba player in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

My senior year at UNI, I applied to three places to do work on a Master’s Degree. I applied to Eastman, Indiana University and Northwestern University. Eastman sent back my tape unopened – no vacancy. Indiana sent me a nice letter hand written by Harvey Phillips saying there was no assistantship available. It wasn’t until July that I got a call from the Dean of the School of Music at Northwestern University in Chicago. He offered me a nice assistantship offer but told me that Mr. Jacobs was no longer teaching at Northwestern, but that Harvey Phillips was going to take over for Mr. Jacobs. I called up Mr. Jacobs and he said he would teach me in his downtown studio. Man – was I set! Mr. Jacobs and Mr. Phillips would be teaching me at one time!

Harvey was co-founder of the “New York Brass Quintet”, the first quintet in the United States. When he was playing in the NYBQ, there was only one full-time college level tubist teaching at the University of Kentucky. By his death in 2010 there are over 60 full time teaching positions on the United States, I feel that most if that increase was totally due to the Champion for the tuba – Harvey Phillips.  Harvey was always thinking about how to get the tuba in people’s minds. He started a concert series called “Octubafest” and a fundraiser for fireman that he called “Tuba Christmas”.

So my year at Northwestern began. As soon as I got to Chicago, I auditioned for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago (the training orchestra for the Chicago Symphony). I came in second but still ended up playing Berlioz, “Symphonie Fantastique” under the direction of Carlo Giulini. The Civic list was the call list for work in the Chicago area. It’s because of my placing in Civic that I got to play with the Mormon Tabernacle Chorus. Members of Civic could go to Chicago Symphony concerts for $1. I rarely missed a Friday afternoon concert.

Harvey Philips could not come to Northwestern every week as he had a full-time job teaching at Indiana University. My assistantship involved arranging for other famous tuba players to come to Northwestern. Part of my assistantship was I got to chauffeur them around and go out to dinner with them. Additionally that year I got to study with Dan Perantoni (now Provost Professor of Tuba at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music) and Fritz Kaenzig.

So, now I am nearing the end of my Master’s Degree. It’s April and I have not sent out one application for doctoral work, when Harvey Phillips came up to me in the hallway at Northwestern offering me an assistantship at Indiana University. I said I would love to. So off I went to Bloomington.

It was at Indiana University that things really started to pick up. During my time there I auditioned for the New York Philharmonic - I came in sixth. I won the Brass Concerto Competition at IU and soloed with the second orchestra on Ralph Vaughan Williams “Concerto in f Minor”. I played “The Rite of Spring” with the St. Louis Symphony, Leonard Slatkin conducting. 

I still wanted to be the next tuba player in Chicago Symphony, but I thought I might chill at FSU until Mr. Jacobs, the current tubist with CSO, decided to retire. To my surprise, a couple of years into teaching at FSU - I was having a blast! I knew my true place. And my place was teaching and my home was FSU. The CSO tuba position opened up, but I did not even apply. The strange part is I had no desire to audition for CSO. I had no regrets. As a matter of fact, I was satisfied at FSU.

While I have been at FSU for 39 joyful years, I have performed in Carnegie Hall twice, the Kennedy Center once, Europe twice and have performed and given lessons and masterclasses in most states in the US. I have played with the Rodeo and have performed with “The Moody Blues” – twice. I have had wonderful colleagues and administration to work with. My students have gone on to play and teach professionally in universities, colleges symphony orchestras and middle and high school bands all across the United States and Canada.

I now want to open a private studio for students in the area and hold Skype lessons for those outside of the Tallahassee area. I have felt “led” my entire life and I know that I will be led into retirement.