Guitar -I began playing guitar taking an adult education course at Brooklyn College in 1969 taught by Leon Block. I had inherited a 1930's Gibson flatback acoustic guitar which I still play. These days, I play mostly classical with an Orpheus Valley model made in Bulgaria in 2009. I have played in the Hochstein Guitar Ensemble and the ECMS Guitar Ensemble with Petar Kodzas where I am still playing these days. In 2006, I joined several other guitar enthusiasts in founding the Rochester Guitar Club where I still maintain the website calendar and articles on Club activities. I have studied with Kinloch Nelson, Dennis Monroe and Petar Kodzas among others.
Cornet - I did not play in school as so many have done, but began to teach myself during the 70's, My sister had switched from her Olds cornet to flute in school and we made an exchange for a student loan. I then joined ICCB (Irondequoit Community Concert Band) which was like being thrown in the water to learn how to swim! Eventually, I got the hang of it and played there for about ten years. I also played for a couple of years in the RIT Symphonia, now the RIT Orchestra. But, one day, in frustration, I gave away the horn and didn't expect to ever play again. Twenty years later, hearing about New Horizons, I got my cornet back and began refurbishing my brass skills. I’m still working on that! New Horizons has been invaluable in honing my musical skills. I currently play in the concert band, red band, vintage jazz and the brass ensemble. The friends I have enjoyed and still enjoy there are irreplaceable
Recorder - I took up recorder in the 90's because I missed playing a wind instrument. My wife, Mary and I played in the ARS (American Recorder Society) for many years. This included lessons, ensembles and outreach to markets, schools, elderly homes and several performances at Gardenscape. There was also an appearance by a group of about ten recorders with the Penfield Symphony under David Harman, and another performance of Benjamin Britten's Noye's Fludde with the the Rochester Oratorio Society directed by Eric Townell at Hochstein. We have also studied with Martha Bixler, a major promoter of recorder music in the twentieth century.
Mandolin - in the 80's I acquired an old nineteenth century bowlback mandolin and more recently, an octave mandolin. I have played plucked stringed instruments and recorder in a number of small ensembles including the Mandolin String Song Orchestra founded by the late Dennis Monroe.