The year 1976 saw South Africa become a political hotbed. It was the first rumblings of the events which led to majority rule in 1994. In looking back, I should have been frightened by the events of the day. The enthusiasm of youth has a way of glossing the dangers which lurk in life. It was well that I didn't become concerned at the danger. In the three years I stayed in Johannesburg, a firm foundation for the rest of my musical career was built and many friendships were forged. One of my friends and former collegues, Douglas Blackstone, is now the orchestra manager for the SABC.

Three years in Southern Africa was plenty of time to see Cape Town, Durban, several game reserves, and travel in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe.) The Victoria Falls is truly a glorious sight! On the professional side, I experienced the gamut of the orchestral literature, and performed in many other settings as well. At that time Johannesburg was an "alternate" production site for movie sound tracks, and I was fortunate to participate in my first film soundtrack, Target of an Assassin, with Anthony Quinn.

I returned to the United States in 1979 with the next stop along the way as a return to Minneapolis. My original intention was to complete a master of music degree at the University of Minnesota, but this plan soon changed. The rigors of school were not near and dear to my heart at that time, and I immediately began calling musical contractors. It was only a short time before this proved fruitful.

In the Minneapolis-St.Paul area there are many excellent musical opportunities for the professional and the amateur. Aside from the the professional ensembles, there is no less than seven "full time" community orchestras. Many of them have paid positions, and a number of players make a living by juggling these engagements. My own experiences included performance with The Minnesota Orchestra, The Minnesota Opera, Opera St. Paul, The Minneapolis Brass Ensemble, The WCCO TV Brass Quintet, engagements at various theaters, and numerous recording session. There was no paucity of work to be found. One of the recording session "takes" is still heard daily on the NPR program, All Things Considered. Even still, freelance work lacks a certain amount of security. I actively sought a full time position.

A number of auditions yielded a position in The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra of Hamilton, Ontario. Aside from the notariety of a CFL professional football team and a well known medical school, McMaster University, Hamilton is one of those well-kept secrets. With the heart of Canada's steel industry operating from Hamilton as its center, there was good support of music and the arts. Being located approximately halfway between Toronto and the Niagara Peninsula did not detract from patronage of the arts, it augmented it.

My appointments included a position in the orchestra as well as assignment to the Royal Brass Quintet. The Hamilton Philharmonic was the home of The Canadian Brass Quintet until the quintet decided to join the entertainment world. Fortunately for us, they left a reputation which provided instant recognition in Canada as "one of those brass quintets from Hamilton!" My tenure with the orchestra spanned seven years and framed many changes in my life, including the birth of my two oldest children. My professional life was beginning to expand into the Toronto market, where I became part of stage productions such as "Cats" and began to penetrate the guarded recording industry. Even still, we knew that this would not be a permanent resting point.

The decision to leave Canada was a difficult one. I was well established in the musical community and we were practically entrenched in our home and church. After leaving friends and familiar surroundings so many times before, we were hesitant to leave once again. None the less, there were other considerations. In 1987, I was offered a job in Fort Lauderdale with The South Flordia Symphony. The land of sun and fun was enjoyable, but the orchestra was financially unstable. After several missed paycheques, we decided that The South Florida Symphony was a sinking ship. Our judgement proved to be correct, and the orchestra folded within six months. In the meantime, my wife, Lynne, had been accepted to the Oral Roberts University School of Medicine in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Since we already knew we would be moving to Tulsa, we decided that the best plan of action would be to take the path of least resistance. Music jobs are few and far between so we decided it would be wiser to depend on Lynne's training as a registered nurse, rather than depend on me for income. There was still a rather critical shortage of nurses at the time, so she found a job almost immediately in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. I spent the year as the "house spouse," taking my son back and forth to school, buying groceries, and the like. My musical experience was limited to playing in a bell choir, and I did not perform professionally during that year.

The move to Tulsa in August, 1989, was uneventful. We were fortunate to find good living quarters with a minimum of effort, and everything looked wonderful. We were somewhat unprepared for the storm which followed shortly thereafter, but it changed the entire course of our lives.

Lynne started medical school, and I had apparently found a goldmine of work for a musician: A need for my particular instrument, the horn, willing contractors, and lots of work. Within three weeks I had arranged several permanent positions, including a principal horn in The Bartlesville Symphony, The Oklahoma Pops Orchestra, and was negotiating to coordinate a music program at a private school. The Tulsa Philharmonic had just posted an opening for third horn which seemed to be made for me. It all looked very promising, despite the financial pressures of medical school. It was unfortunate that the ORU Medical School announced that it would be closing immediately, only six weeks after we arrived in Tulsa. We were somewhat concerned, but we were much to busy planning our next move to worry much. As it turned out, Lynne was immediately accepted as a transfer student to the University of Kansas School of Medicine. This solved the immediate problem of Lynne's education, but it ultimately provided the opportunity for me to follow through with my own long-standing dream.

If musical jobs in Tulsa were a flood, they were only a small stream in Kansas City. I found some work almost immediately, but the jobs were few and somewhat far between. Purchasing food and paying bills became a day to day matter. It was a real test of faith, but a test which proved God's faithfulness to us on a daily basis. During the years which followed, I worked a number of positions, including The Northland Symphony Orchestra, The St. Joseph Symphony Orchestra, The Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, The Kansas City Camerata, and many others. Among the best were my positions at the Northland Cathedral, both as an orchestra member and a school of music faculty member. Even though I was quite happy with the variety of work I had obtained, there was still a growing feeling of restlessness and the knowledge that music was not to remain my vocation. Without a specific direction to what I was doing, I began taking classes in the Spring of 1990.

last updated 8/29/98

The Mature Medical Student

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