New York Women's Ensemble at Carnegie Hall
The New York Times, December 2, 2011
Proof of how small and intensely interconnected this world truly is: Marilyn Rife — a percussionist, the director of orchestra personnel and human resources for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the director of orchestra personnel for the newly formed New York Women's Ensemble — was for a few weeks my private percussion instructor at Trinity University in San Antonio, probably in 1985 or at the latest 1986.
At the time, Marilyn was the principal percussionist for the San Antonio Symphony and an auxillary percussionist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. That she was my teacher only briefly owed to my lack of discipline… which, translated, means that I never found time to practice. (Granted, this was because I was already a contributing writer for the campus newspaper, a music director at the campus radio station and a member of every musical ensemble the school had to offer.) After too few lessons, frustrating for both of us, Marilyn and I gave up our collaboration mutually and amicably — which likely is more than certain of my professors of the time might attest.
Sorry again, Marilyn! Guess it took me a while to figure out where I might actually belong. Still, wish I'd hung in with you long enough to pick up a reasonable four-mallet technique…
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