I'm Glenn Roberts. I was born on Long Island, NY in Patchogue in 1964. As I was growing up, my mother was always taking us (I have one brother) to concerts and she had lots of Dave Brubeck records that we listened to. I still hear Paul Desmond's sound in my head. I signed up for cornet in 4th grade because my brother already played trumpet. Just enough like him, but not enough to be called a copycat. My grandfather was a trumpet player, too, but he never played for us. He gave it up after serving in WW2. Both of my parents are musical. My mother was a violinist (quite good, from what I gather) and my father played tuba (he studied with Walter Ebersold; hope I spelled that right), bass (he even made all state), and sang in the choir (I think).
When I got to 5th grade, my parents split up, and it was a hard time for me. I quit playing trumpet for a year, and basically shut down for many years. I went back to trumpet in 6th grade. It was then that I discovered Drum Corps (this is 1977). I marched with a small rinky-dink corps, using a G/D valve-slide bugle (thumb equates to 1st valve, pull a slide for second; no third valve combinations). I moved up to Bridgeport Connecticut the year after, and that was where I was introduced to DCI level competition, touring, and Herbert L. Clarke's book. That was by the high school band director...i was in hs band in 7th grade because there was no middle school band in Elias Howe Middle School at that time. The hs band didn't even do concerts. Pretty sad. I ended up heading down some dark paths beginning with my experiences there; made some bad choices. Very bad.
I marched drum corps, not really caring about anything else (that was the only musical challenge I had). I moved back down to Long Island with my mother in my junior year of high school, determined to "turn my life around". Old habits die hard, and I changed for a short while, but then went from bad to worse.
My senior year brought about a new band director. He had a profound impact on me; he picked great music, and was really good at getting us to pull it out of ourselves. I also made a good freind in the corps who was attending Berklee, a really good trumpet player who marched with the corps, who upon graduation from there with a performance degree went to Queens College Aaron Copeland School for a masters in composition. (We unfortunately lost touch). He also had a huge impact on me, musically. It was him who introduced me to real Salsa and how it works (the clave, the mambo, how they talked about keys as "this is in La" or "This is in Mi"). I had heard it alot in Bridgeport, being around the corner from the mostly Latino neighborhood, but never really took the time to understand it. Those 2 people came about right at the right time. Funny how that happens. Everything I did from that point forward leads to where I am and who I am now. My grades were too low to get me in to any kind of 4 year college, and I had never taken any private lessons, either. So I went to the local community college, and applied for there computer science degree. I had taken computer math in high school, and had a feling those things would be big in the future.
(We used Commodore Pets with cassette tape drives! My first computer class in Bridgeport had no computer at all; the day the printer arrived (yes, it came before the computer) was a BIG day for us!). The computer program was full, so I applied for the music department. 3 years later (and no associates degree), I finally got some lessons with Mr. Dave Naylor. He started me rolling on some Colin, Arban, and (ick) the Gianinni for my audition I bought my first professional horn (a Yamaha 6345), and a Bach 3c, and got myself straightened out enough to go to the Crane School of Music for a Music Ed. degree, and then a Masters in Performance.
At Crane, I studied with Dr. John Ellis. His sound had a HUGE impact on me. I never heard anything like it. It was so warm and rich and relaxed; it is still my aural model of tone. I loved it there, and made some great freinds there, as well.
It was also there that I met my wife, and were it not for her, I would be "sitting on a park bench" "spitting out pieces of my broken luck"
We have four children now: a girl, age 11, who plays clarinet like her mommy; a boy, 10, who just started trombone this year; another boy, 6, who started trumpet last summer to "grow up and be like the guy on that website" (yes, Manny, that's you)
, another boy, 4, who just started pre-k and wants to play clarinet (we have an old Conn and some fibercane reeds).
I love to play my horn. Through everything, it seems to be the glue that held me together; the thing that finally ended up forcing me on the right track. That message, that lesson, is the core of who I am, and why I will never give up on taking auditions I have no snowball's chance of winning; and maybe someday I will win one. It's why I am dedicated to teaching music; a connection I never really made until this moment. (This site really pulls things out of a person...) I enjoy photography, specifically nature and landscapes (I love the photos Art Wolfe takes), and we as a family have just discovered a love of camping.