Ron - ProfilesArchive

About Me

In my day job I'm a television producer/director working for New Hampshire Public Television in Durham, NH.

From Fall 2001 - Spring 2007 I worked with the Marshwood High School drumline. My responsibilities included writing and arranging music for, and instructing a 10 person battery during the marching season. During the off-season I worked with up to 20 members of the Marshwood Winter Drumline/Percussion Ensemble.

Since Fall 2006 I have been the Assistant Drumline Instructor for the Wildcat Marching Band and Winter Percussion group at the University of New Hampshire. I enjoy a strong working relationship, and friendship, with long-time instructor, Mark Adams. Together we are responsible for writing and arranging parts for, and teaching a battery of a 10-15 member section. Hopefully a 15-20 member section is in our not-so-distant future.

I enjoy writing and arranging, and I've been lucky to have had the opportunity to write percussion charts not only for UNH and Marshwood, but also for Manchester Memorial HS in Manchester, NH and Brooks County High School in Quitman, GA.

In my "free time" I am furthering my education part-time at UNH where I am currently studying conducting and taking classical percussion lessons along with a number of other classes. My hope is that my studies will eventually culminate in a Bachelor's degree in either Music Education or Music Theory.

I have been married for almost six years to my wife, Casey, a former Instrumental Music Director at Marshwood High School and currently the Director of Athletic Bands at UNH. We live in Dover with our two cats, Traitor and Abby, who always keep life interesting!

My Interests

Music, band, drumline, composition and arranging, traveling ... I'd like to do more, theme parks, thrill rides and other fun distractions. I like to rollerblade and I'm a novice (with emphasis on the word novice) snowboarder. I have also been known to enjoy playing volleyball. Though I don't generally watch a lot of live, or televised sports I do enjoy watching hockey games (UNH in particular), and occasionally football.

Music:

Country music will probably never find its way into my list of favorites. Other than that I like everything from Chant to Modern Rock, Wind Ensemble lit. to Broadway and Film Scores. I try to keep an open mind.

Movies:

Impossible to list just a few, though these days I don't have a lot of free blocks of time. I really enjoy the whole movie-going experience though, especially if we're talking stadium seating.

Television:

In no particular order: Lost, Battlestar Galactica (the new version), Arrested Development, South Park, ER, Buffy, Boston Legal, M*A*S*H, Angel, Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and The Next Generation, Desperate Housewives, Gilmore Girls, Jericho, The X-Files, Grey's Anatomy. Tivo rocks!

Books:

Someday I might have time to do pleasure reading again. Currently trying to read: "The Muse That Sings" by Ann McCutchan & "A Concise History Of Western Music" (Third Edition) by Barbara R. HanningRecently finished: "Composers on Composing for Band, Vol. 1" edited by Mark Camphouse, "The Winds of Change" by Frank L. Battisti

My Blog

It's Official!

Today I got my long-awaited "Dear Ronald" letter from the Director of Admissions at UNH. Apparently my "academic achievements and special personal attributes" are just what they're looking for, so aft...
Posted by Ron on Wed, 21 Mar 2007 07:31:00 PST

The End of My Week

So, it's 5:15ish tonight and I'm just leaving my desk when the phone rings. It's a call from outside of the building, so I thought maybe it was Casey calling. I answered the phone with my typical gree...
Posted by Ron on Sat, 10 Mar 2007 06:40:00 PST

Tomb of Jesus

Anyone else see the Tomb of Jesus "documentary" on Discovery last Sunday? Not that it really matters to me one way or the other, but the film maker didn't exactly seem unbiased as he salivated over al...
Posted by Ron on Sat, 10 Mar 2007 05:54:00 PST

'Tis The Season ...

So, now that Thanksgiving has come and gone it seems the Christmas season is in full swing. Parades and lighting ceremonies are happening all over. Of course, for the retail outlets Christmas started ...
Posted by Ron on Mon, 27 Nov 2006 07:02:00 PST

Stuff!

So, on the one week anniversary of my birthday I thought it appropriate to let you all in on what I got:Casey, being the awesome (and techno-savvy ) wife that she is, surprised me with a brand new 80G...
Posted by Ron on Mon, 06 Nov 2006 09:08:00 PST

Marshwood High School ... Percussion ... 3 Stars!

Well, another marching band season over. Tonight was the Maine Band Director's Asociation (MBDA) finals, and despite the cold we made our goal of achieving a 3 star rating (out of 4) for drumline. The...
Posted by Ron on Sun, 05 Nov 2006 08:15:00 PST

One Down, One To Go

So, I taught my first college class yesterday. Yeah, that's right ... weird, huh?I'm covering Percussion Methods for Nancy Smith this week, which is cool, but a little strange. I think that's mostly b...
Posted by Ron on Wed, 25 Oct 2006 08:10:00 PST

My least favorite weather ...

Cold, rainy days have got to be the worst. Well, maybe cold freezing rain or sleety days are the absolute worst, but days like today aren't much better. Fire and brimstone days probably rank right up ...
Posted by Ron on Mon, 23 Oct 2006 08:28:00 PST

Unfortunate Haircuts

Following up on Casey's post about our cats' incontinence (from both ends):We had to give one of them a hiney haircut (with scissors) as a result. Picture a sort of flat top (bottom?) with a few rando...
Posted by Ron on Mon, 11 Sep 2006 09:14:00 PST

Fugly ...

I'm taking a page from Erika for this blog. This is random, I know, but last week when driving home from band camp at night I was on a back road and encountered an oppossum crossing the road. They're ...
Posted by Ron on Thu, 31 Aug 2006 08:20:00 PST