Profiles

Dick L.

There is something about the spare and haunting sound of a bugle call. Even as a child Dick was drawn to it when he heard one on TV or live at scout camp. He talked his mother into buying him a bugle, which he blew but never learned to play. A Chicago native, he got his BS from Loyola in math. Later he would get a masters degree in business management from the University of Nebraska.

Dick enlisted in the Air Force and made it is his career focusing on computer systems and intelligence, retiring as a full Colonel. His military experience led to post retirement jobs in the same field. His early fascination with the bugle was augmented in his adulthood by his interest in great trumpet players. He took some trumpet lessons, but the demands of work precluded much practice. After his latest retirement he took lessons from Amy McCabe at Levine who suggest the New Horizons Band. Like many band members who have taken lessons but never played with a group as well as many of us who have but long ago, NHB provides the challenge of learning to play in synch with others. Like all of us he thanks Amy and Paul Norris for their encouragement and patience.

There is more to Dick than just music and computers. He and his wife have two children and three grandchildren. They have a second weekend home in Hardy County WV. Dick is a runner, and runs the Army Ten Miller every fall, and hikes the Colorado Trail every summer with a friend.

Paul N.

At the age of six years old, his father obtained a cornet for him and began teaching him how to play. He eventually joined the band in elementary school and learned more. Paul took lessons when he was 13 and played in band and orchestra. He joined his college band and played through those years as well. Paul was in the U.S. Army after college and was convinced to become part of the First Infantry Division Band, where he took on duties as a bugler as well as band member. The Band was sent to Vietnam in 1965 and he soon took on additional responsibility as section leader and bugler. They played at military functions and played concerts and parades and ceremonies for the civilian population. Paul spent many years in the insurance industry and followed his father's example in acquiring a trumpet for his son and encouraging his musical development. He also has a daughter who doesn't play an instrument but has a strong interest in music. Paul joined New Horizons Band as a way to be a part of band again. In addition he sings in his church choir and gets to play trumpet in church on occasion.

Tom S.

When I read of our trumpeter Tom’s hobby as a rusted steel junk artist who walks in the gutter looking for bolts, nuts, and washers, I immediately thought of our clarinetist Anne L. who on her walks collects discarded wooden furniture left on the sidewalk for her hobby of refinishing and repurposing them. Creative people find their way to our band.

Back in grade school Tom chose the trumpet in part to make as much noise as possible and was recruited by the high school band leader who needed volume. He might have looked at the French horn had his brother not played it. They were rivals. Because he could play loud and the high school “junior band” needed volume, Tom was placed in his first band soon thereafter. Throughout high school he played in the concert band, regional bands, the marching band, a brass choir, and a “Glenn Miller octet” that did social events and local fairs. All the while, all he really wanted to do was join the local (rousing) drum and bugle corps, but because they played the same parades as the high school band, he had to pass it up. That undoubtedly contributed to his general compliance with the drinking age rules in PA. He STILL would like to be in a D&B corps someday.

Tom participated in and ultimately “commanded” the 9-member “musical marching unit” of Georgetown University’s Army ROTC Corps in the late 60’s but then did very little on the horn until last year (2017). He started “come back” lessons at Levine then and joined the summer band for his first real concert in over 50 years. From the summer band he was encouraged to come out for New Horizons and liked the idea of playing for the Honor Flights and was pleased that there is a jazz/swing component.

With the exception of 6 years on the Hill (the best 12 years of his life), Tom has been a lawyer/lobbyist for many causes but primarily the American Steel industry. He fully retired on June 30, 2018.

Tom and his wife and have blended a family of five children (present ages 26-43), now spread out all over the country. Luckily, his only grandchild, lives in Del Ray, Alexandria.

Anne R.

Because of a letter her parents received when Anne was in fifth grade, her parents believed her to be musically gifted. Subsequently, she began playing the clarinet in the new band at her small rural school. Not one to practice she dropped the clarinet in the eighth grade to concentrate on basketball which she played through college. Anne's career was in juvenile and adult corrections where she held positions from social worker to superintendent of a maximum security facility. Seeing a poster for the NHB, she joined hoping to exploit that dormant talent. The next year she learned that letter went to everyone in her fifth grade. Though not gifted by that time she was hooked on music and grateful to the Levine sectional teacher and to Paul our conductor for their help and remarkable patience. She plays both the bass and the standard clarinet. Anne currently works part-time for a market research firm and has a small private practice. In her spare time she likes reading, travel and photography.

Anne is also our website reporter and writer.

Cathy W.

You have to admire someone who could pull off going to college on a music scholarship but not majoring in music. Cathy did. She began playing the flute in the 5th grade and played through her second year in college.

Cathy married, had two children, became a social worker, then a computer programmer, and then a social worker again. She said social work was better.

Forty-some years after college she took up the flute again, playing for about a year with the Bay Winds Band in Annapolis. She heard ads on WETA radio for Levine Music, and while browsing the web sight discovered the New Horizon’s Band. She also plays with the Greenbelt Concert Band, and their Wind Ensemble.

Now a widow and retired she enjoys spending time with friends and family and doing all the things she never had time to do while working and raising children. Music, including performing and listening, is her main hobby. She especially loves classical music and listening to jazz. Another love is globetrotting. In more or less chronological order, she has been to Ireland twice, Finland, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria (and Beethoven’s grave!!), Mexico, Italy twice, Croatia, Turkey, Greece, Navajo and Hopi reservations, Spain, France, and Canada. Her favorite was the month in Ireland, renting a house in a tiny village in County Clare.

As if her life of music isn’t full enough, she is thinking of taking up the cello.

Bernard G.

Bernard started his musical life at age 8 when he began four years of private piano lessons. While he tried trombone in elementary school and the baritone horn in early high school, he ended up assigned to the high school band’s percussion section to play the bell lyre because of his familiarity with the keyboard from his piano training. He went on to play all the percussion instruments in the school’s concert and marching bands.

He also used that piano training to play in a high school combo, but switched to the bass guitar his junior year when the previous bass player graduated. In college he briefly tried the upright acoustic bass but stuck with the bass guitar. He played it throughout his college and early adult years, playing in R&B and jazz bands. In later years he occasionally played keyboards (synthesizers) in a couple of small combos and solo performances, but primarily as a solo instrumentalist at home.

He always regretted not continuing to study the upright bass but got back to it when he acquired an ‘electric’ upright bass a few years ago. He notes that it takes up far less space and does not disturb his condo neighbors since he can practice with headphones. When he read Dick Lang's article about New Horizons in his neighborhood newsletter, he saw it as an opportunity to further his development as an upright bass player.

Bernard retired this year from his work as an electronics engineer for the Federal Communication Commission. He is divorced with two adult daughters living in the area. In addition to playing and listening to music, Bernard plays tennis.

Frank T.

Growing up, music was important to Frank. He enjoyed Big Band music, especially Guy Lombardo. In high school he played either an alto, tenor, or bartitone sax in the band. Frank attended several colleges and played in their concert bands and informal jazz trios.

He has a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Seton Hall University and a master's degree in library science from Pratt Institute. Before Frank finished college he enlisted in the Marine Corps. After basic training he was sent to the Monterey Defense Language Institute to study South Vietnamese and then was sent to Vietnam. After military service, Frank finished his formal education and went to work for the Government Printing Office, Depository Library Program. He managed the documents collection and was the last editor of their printed catalog. Frank met his wife Joan, a cataloger, at work. They've been together for 36 years and have a daughter, who manages a store in Alexandria.

Years ago, I met Frank at the Mount Vernon Rec. Center. I was in a water aerobics class, and he was water-walking in the next lane. We talked about music and how I'd joined the New Horizon Band. I was astounded to see Frank at the Band's Fall 2018 Session practice.

With his arthritis he'd thought he'd try the trombone. Paul was issuing music and said there was no alto sax. It was an aha! moment for Frank. Fifty years ago that was his first instrument. Later that week he successfully played one at a music store.

Growing up, he was an altar boy and knew the Latin responses to the priest during services. Later in a seminary college he learned Gregorian Chant and chanted acapela with the students during services. Years later he studied American Sign Language at Gallaudet and did informational interpreting for the deaf at work.