The early 1960s was a great time to be a student of percussion in Philadelphia. In 1963 I was a senior in high school, and I had already decided that I would go to college to major in percussion. I had applied to three schools, but the responses regarding acceptance for admission were yet to be determined. (Eventually, I was accepted at all three - The Eastman School of Music, The University of Michigan, and Temple University.)
The fabulous four of the Philadelphia Orchestra - Alan Abel, Michael Bookspan, Dan Hinger, and Charles Owen - were all devoted to teaching young players of high school age, so there were a number of career track students, who made lasting friendships and excitedly shared their enthusiasm. Among the students in Philadelphia at the time were Richard Wiener (Cleveland Orchestra), John Wyre (NEXUS, Toronto Symphony), Steve Weiss (Steve Weiss Music), John Soroka (Pittsburgh Symphony), Michael Udow (University of Michigan), Matthew Hopkins (composer), Russell Hartenberger (NEXUS, University of Toronto), Bill Hinger (Touch-Tone Percussion), Mark Sunkett (Arizona State University), and Lee Gurst (Barry Manilow’s music director)
Lee Gurst and I had only recently met in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. He studied with Michael Bookspan and his orchestral snare drumming was superb. It was an exciting telephone call I received from Lee in the fall of 1963 inquiring as to whether I would like to perform in a concert at the University of Pennsylvania. The U.P. Chamber Orchestra, conducted by the resident composer, Ralph Shapey, would be performing a piece by Edgar Varèse, “Offrandes,” and they needed an extra percussionist.
I already knew Varèse’s music from my LP recording of “Poème Electronique” and “Ionisation,” which I had listened to many times. I gladly accepted Lee’s invitation, so I soon went downtown to the Fleisher Collection at the Philadelphia Free Library to look at the score and hand copy out my part on manuscript paper. (Of course, Xerox photocopy machines were yet to be invented.)
As a student in Alan Abel’s Settlement Music School Percussion Ensemble, I had learned to be organized and to prepare a setup chart for each piece in advance of the first rehearsal. I still have the chart I made for “Offrandes.” (At the Eastman School I later learned how to spell ‘mallet’.)
In November 1963 we had our first rehearsal at the University. What a surprise it was to see Edgar Varèse - the same face as on the LP recording - standing in front of the orchestra to be introduced. His face was very distinctive - rough features, disheveled hair and big bushy eyebrows. He soon walked back to the percussion section and after greeting us, he stood behind the percussionists for most of the rehearsal. There were questions from us and comments made by him to us, but the main thing I remember was his insistance that the quintuple rhythms be absolutely precise: “one-two-three-four-five” and not “one-two-one-two-three” or “one-two-three-one-two.”
The performance was scheduled for 8:00 PM on November 22 and Varèse would be there. That afternoon, while in my high school classroom, an announcement came over the school’s intercom that President Kennedy had been shot and that school would be dismissed early. At home I tried to contact anyone who might know if the concert at the University of Pennsylvania would still take place. In those days before cellphones and the internet, telephone communications could be difficult, and the fact that there was an ongoing national crisis made things even more so. It would take an hour or more to travel by public transportation - bus, subway, bus - from my house to the University. Considering that I would have to arrive early to setup and that I needed to dress appropriately, there was very little time before I would have to go and take my chances. I was unable to reach anyone by phone, so I traveled to the University where I learned that the concert had indeed been cancelled. It was rescheduled for December, and the performance went very well, although Varèse was not able to attend.