The Short End of the Stick

Nov 28 2007
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William Eddins
William Eddins

William Eddins is Music Director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. A native of Buffalo NY, he currently resides in Minneapolis with his lovely wife Jen, a clarinetist, and their two boys Raef (AKA Raefster; Munchers) and Riley (AKA Squeaky; The Imp; Dr. No).

Bill has been playing piano since he was five when his parents bought a Wurlitzer Grand piano at a garage sale. He started conducting during his sophomore year at the Eastman School of Music, and most of the '80s were spent trying to decide whether to pursue a career in conducting or piano. The quandary was answered for him when he realized that the life of a poor, starving pianist was for the birds. In 1989 Bill decided to study conducting with Dan Lewis at the University of Southern California, from whence he managed to land assistant conductor posts with the Chicago Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra in 1992.

Bill has many non-musical hobbies including: cooking, eating, discussing food, and planning dinner parties. He is also quite fond of biking, tennis, reading, and pinball. Unfortunately, due to pianistic paranoia his days in the martial arts are long over.

Bill is committed to bringing classical music to the greater public. He has started a podcast – Classical Connections – which is dedicated to exploring the history of classical music and highlights live chamber music performances in which Bill has taken part (check it out for yourself at Bill Eddins' website ). He has also produced a solo piano CD – Bad Boys, Volume I – which features Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata and Albright's Nightmare Fantasy Rag.

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That’s a great question. I think I have a somewhat broad assessment of this question because in living memory I’ve played in orchestras as an Orchestral Keyboardist, and I have also appeared as a Guest Soloist as well as conducting. You notice different things from the three different situations. Here would be a short list:

1. Know the music – if everyone adequately practiced their parts before the first rehearsal life would be so much easier for everybody.

2. Be on time – there are some folks who have the bad habit of skating in 2 minutes before rehearsal, sitting down, and spend the first 30′ of rehearsals warming up.

3. Speak up – if there’s something wrong say so. Of course this works better if you have a conductor who will actually listen to you.

4. Concentrate – that’s self explanatory.

5. Enjoy – look, let’s be honest – we are getting paid to play music. That certainly beats working for a living. When things sound good it’s beautiful to be alive.

Five simple things. Please note that I use the word “simple.” I did NOT say that these are easy. That’s a different matter entirely.

About the author

William Eddins
William Eddins

William Eddins is Music Director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. A native of Buffalo NY, he currently resides in Minneapolis with his lovely wife Jen, a clarinetist, and their two boys Raef (AKA Raefster; Munchers) and Riley (AKA Squeaky; The Imp; Dr. No).

Bill has been playing piano since he was five when his parents bought a Wurlitzer Grand piano at a garage sale. He started conducting during his sophomore year at the Eastman School of Music, and most of the '80s were spent trying to decide whether to pursue a career in conducting or piano. The quandary was answered for him when he realized that the life of a poor, starving pianist was for the birds. In 1989 Bill decided to study conducting with Dan Lewis at the University of Southern California, from whence he managed to land assistant conductor posts with the Chicago Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra in 1992.

Bill has many non-musical hobbies including: cooking, eating, discussing food, and planning dinner parties. He is also quite fond of biking, tennis, reading, and pinball. Unfortunately, due to pianistic paranoia his days in the martial arts are long over.

Bill is committed to bringing classical music to the greater public. He has started a podcast – Classical Connections – which is dedicated to exploring the history of classical music and highlights live chamber music performances in which Bill has taken part (check it out for yourself at Bill Eddins' website ). He has also produced a solo piano CD – Bad Boys, Volume I – which features Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata and Albright's Nightmare Fantasy Rag.

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