Don Hoffman was a clarinetist (not retired) in the United States Army Band “Pershing's Own", and is a piano accompanist. He did his undergraduate degree at the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, spent a year at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary, and did his master’s degree at Temple University before going on to win a job in the Army Band.
In this episode Don describes how his position has grown and evolved throughout his almost 30 years in the US Army Band, and he shares some really powerful stories, about how the Army band navigated through the national crises of 9/11 and the pandemic. As an accompanist, he also covers how he balances that alongside his clarinet playing. DON’S EPISODE RESOURCES Fav Pieces of Classical Music: Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique (Cleveland recording) or Mahler 2 (Vienna recording) Current Fav Movie Soundtrack: anything by John Williams + Gladiator Latest Reading: Tom Clancy, Brad Thor Recommendations: The Bible, and The Grove Dictionaries of Music and Musicians; US Army Band History (mentioned in the episode) *Don’s school that he mentions in this episode (Philadelphia College of Performing Arts) morphed into University of the Arts, and the college of music/classical music department is no longer there. The University now focuses on jazz/commercial and pop music. Audible Free Trial: https://amzn.to/3PDwFu3 Amazon Music Free Trial: https://amzn.to/45289IV CONNECT WITH DON Don isn’t on social media, but you can read more about his career in his US Army Band Bio ORCHESTRATING YOUR CAREER YouTube Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaCPf5xynqMHcFuQhCWrNCQ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orchestratingyourcareer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@orchestratingyourcareer X: https://twitter.com/OYCPod Facebook: http://facebook.com/orchestratingyourcareer
ABOUT THE HOST Rebekah Carpio received her BMus in clarinet performance from the Eastman School of Music. She was awarded a Fulbright grant to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in their Orchestral Artistry program, which was in collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra. She then went on to receive her PhD, also from the Guildhall School, researching the impact of education and community work in conservatoire training.
CONNECT WITH REBEKAH Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bitesbybekah Website: https://www.bitesbybekah.com TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 Podcast Intro 00:01:11 Episode Intro 00:02:26 Interview Start 00:03:08 Don’s Musical Background 00:06:33 Studying Clarinet in Philadelphia 00:11:11 Studying in Budapest 00:15:19 Masters at Temple 00:17:50 Career Goals Throughout Training 00:18:41 Starting Musical Career 00:19:40 Learning about Military Bands 00:21:35 Taking Auditions 00:22:00 US Army Band Audition 00:24:24 Joining the Army Band + Boot Camp 00:30:31 Army Band: The Job 00:31:44 Army Band: Diverse Ensembles 00:35:55 Army Orchestra 00:43:27 Army Band: Diversity and Security 00:45:09 Amy Band: Impact of COVID 00:48:41 Army Band: 9/11 00:52:18 Army Band: Challenges of the job 00:55:25 Army Band: Diverse opportunities 1:02:16 Piano Accompanist 1:05:29 Piecing Together Career 1:09:08 Keeping Going 1:11:07 Transitioning out of the Army Band 1:19:37 Rapid Fire Q&A 1:25:22 Last piece of advice 1:28:37 Outro 1:29:15 Next Episode Teaser PODCAST MUSIC Don shared a few videos with me to include in this episode. The first two are from a feature on Fox 5 Broadcast News - the quality isn’t the best as they were recorded on VHS and then later digitized, but I think they’re so fun so wanted to include them! The last clip is a performance by the Army Orchestra of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds. Enjoy! Theme Music composed by Ben Roundtree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0z6dZJL6GM
