Interview with Dr. Paul Droste
Published on 06-10-2013 07:13 PM
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Paul Droste: This is Paul Droste, and I'm starting on my life story here, very quickly. I think playing the euphonium has opened every door to me, and everything that I've able to achieve in the musical world. I think being in a high school band and thoroughly enjoying playing those lovely euphonium counter-melodies led me to want to continue playing the instrument.
I enrolled at The Ohio State University as a freshman; I was never a double major, but the trombone took a back seat pretty quickly to the euphonium, and I had a wonderful experience in the O.S.U. Concert Band under Don McGinnis, and obviously, the O.S.U. Marching Band under Jack Evans.
I played a little bit of trombone at that time in the O.S.U. Symphony Orchestra, and continued that into adult life in substituting in the Columbus Symphony from time to time, and playing in two very, very good brass quintets on trombone.
But the euphonium opened the door for graduate work at the Eastman School of Music. I was the first doctorate in euphonium performance (a MusD) in the country, I think, from the University of Arizona in 1971. I joined the faculty of The Ohio State University as the euphonium studio instructor in 1965, and became director of the O.S.U Marching Band in 1970. In my retirement from the Marching Band in 1984 I started the Brass Band of Columbus, which is a British-style brass band.
I now work part-time for Colonial Music, making service calls on nearby schools. I think it's an ideal part-time job for a retired band director and music educator. I'm not sure I'd want to make a career out of it - however, looking at maybe a 20 or 30 year span, but eight to ten years sounds pretty good to me.
My main thrust right now is the Brass Band of Columbus. This was formed in 1984. We're all amateurs, but realistically speaking, I have the best of the free-lance brass and percussion players in Columbus, Ohio, and central Ohio in my band. Most recent news of the band, we've been invited to be a part of the British Open (not the competition) but the British Open Weekend in September of 2000. We will be playing at the World of Brass Band concert, that will feature bands from Norway, Belgium, the United States, England, and New Zealand. We are very honored by this invitation, and although it's a headache doing the fund-raising, I think it's going to be a real step-ahead for the Brass Band of Columbus.
Through all of these, again, the euphonium has remained prominent in my thinking and positioning. I think I attended one of the first T.U.B.A. meetings in Chicago in the early 1970s, and have been somewhat on-board ever since. I think you probably have more specific questions about that, so if that's enough of my life I'll stop there.
Best euphonium
Thread Starter: RogerOk. This is just for fun . . . If money was no object, and you could only own one euphonium, which would it be?
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