Retired Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, Dr. Geary Henderson Larrick was born on November 15, 1943, in Zanesville, Ohio. In 1965, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from The Ohio State University; a Master of Music in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music in 1970; and in 1984, at the University of Colorado at Boulder he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Percussion and Pedagogy. During his collegiate studies he became a member of Kappa Kappa Psi Band Honorary, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Professional Fraternity, and Pi Kappa Lambda National Honorary Society.
Dr. Larrick has performed with the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony
Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Colorado Philharmonic, and the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra. His compositions have been published by Permus Publications, William L. Cahn Publishing, and G and L Publishing. His academic research books are published by Peter Lang Publishing, and The Edwin Mellen Press. And his numerous articles have been seen in Percussive Notes, Percussionist, School Musician Director and Teacher, The Instrumentalist, National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors (NACWPI) Journal, Rhythm! Scene, Brass and Percussion, MultiCultural Review, Teaching Music, and the Music Educators Journal.
When did you begin studying music?
I began studying piano at age five, before attending public school in southeastern Ohio. At the time, I was playing a diatonic two octave toy xylophone, and my parents thought that since there was no kindergarten for me to attend, I should do something academic. My Dad found a used piano for ten dollars (1949) and I took lessons in nearby Cumberland with Eula Carr for fifty cents a half hour. At my first piano lesson, the teacher asked me if I knew my left hand from my right hand, and I said yes, wanting to impress her with my knowledge. She said, “All right, which hand is your left hand?” I figured I had an even chance of being correct, and raised the wrong hand. At that moment, I learned that the teacher knew more than I did. My Mother was sitting in the room, and got a kick out of the exchange. I continued studying piano for seven years, and enjoy playing it to this day. Also, Miss Carr asked me to play my xylophone in a student recital, and I was hooked for good. My parents bought me a student size Deagan marimba when I was seven years of age, and my piano teacher helped me with that until I started studying with a professional marimba player in junior high school.
Have you studied any other instruments?
I have studied a number of instruments through the years, including trumpet, cello, and alto recorder. At Ohio State, I studied wind and brass instruments in methods classes, in addition to percussion. In graduate school at Eastman, I studied recorder with artist Bernard Krainis who flew in from New York City each week. My very first drum teacher was Jack Beatty in Cambridge, Ohio, and after I moved to Wisconsin, I studied with Albert Payson. In junior high school, my marimba and vibraphone teacher was Al “Rags” Anderson, a retired Vaudeville musician. And to this day, I still play Rags’ “Steppin’ ‘Round” on marimba at home.
What made you choose percussion?
I decided in high school to major in percussion in college; figuring that I had played keyboard percussion for several years, and that would give me an edge in school. My Dad, a public school teacher and administrator, strongly suggested that I work toward a music education degree so I could teach when performance jobs were slow. That was very good advice in my career, as I utilized those skills often throughout my career.
Who were your primary teachers?
At Ohio State, I studied with Charles Spohn and James Moore; at Eastman, it was John Beck who was responsible for much of my professional performance opportunities while in Rochester, New York. This included, but not limited to, playing as an extra percussionist with the Rochester Philharmonic, as well as teaching jobs in the area. At Colorado, I studied with John Galm who provided a lot of wisdom and guidance while I was in pursuit of my doctoral degree in 1984.
When did you decide to pursue a career in music?
I have been a practicing musician practically all of my life. Before the xylophone and piano lessons, my parents would supply me with musical toys to sing into, and I remember conducting an imaginary orchestra with my grandfather’s music stand on the front porch of our farmhouse
before starting school. I was blessed with perfect pitch and good muscle coordination, as well as good hearing, so music has been an important part of my life. To this day, I can sit down to the electronic piano and work on repertoire I previously played in public, as well as practice on a drum pad, timpani, or my concert grand marimba that takes up the space of a second couch in the living room of my house here in central Wisconsin. When I got to college, I knew what I wanted to do–study music, and I did. In youth, I played many keyboard percussion gigs at banquets and talent shows, appearing on television in Cleveland, and in recital at the Columbus Art Gallery on East Broad Street. I was totally into music by the time I reached the seventh grade, and I enjoyed it.
Did you have a specific goal: teach, compose, etc.?
I was most interested in performing. I have practiced music all my life, and taught in public school and collegiately, as well as other venues such as doing research and composing. Those goals have been met in my career, although because of poor health, I have not always been able to work through employment. I started writing for academic publications after graduating from Ohio State, and to this day have publication citations with 10 Books in Print, with 66
RILM Abstracts, with 110 Music Indexes, and 165 WorldCats. My written works are distributed worldwide, and my music compositions are scattered around in university libraries as well.
Do you focus on a specific area of percussion, if so, did you always?
I have always been a generalist in music–perhaps the result of a curious mind. At times I have emphasized on drum set and research, including composition. My first published article that appeared in Percussive Notes featured concentration on snare drum, keyboard percussion, and timpani. When I bought a drum set, I made sure to play enough gigs to pay for it, and that happened with my vibraphone, too. Then when I emphasized on composition, I wrote enough pieces that I could perform recitals at schools on a number of instruments. There was a time period when I focused on scholarly research that incorporated analysis and bibliography, and the result was many articles, compositions, and ten academic books that were published in New York, and distributed worldwide in research libraries. Needless to say, I have fun with music.
Who impacted your musical growth the most?
The answer to this question is probably my major percussion professor in undergraduate school at Ohio State, Dr. Charles Spohn. Charlie, as we called him, was bright, talented, and had a good work ethic. One of his favorite quips was when a class was over, and he was getting ready to walk out of the room, he would say “I shall take my drum and beat it.” Dr. Spohn was an excellent writer which influenced me greatly, and played timpani in the Columbus Symphony Orchestra where I performed a few times as an extra percussionist. He was very disciplined, and that rubbed off on the students as well.
What teaching positions have you held?
I have taught in many settings during my career. Along with teaching private lessons through the years, I helped out the band program for the high school where I graduated in Cambridge, Ohio. And after a season with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, I taught for two years as an instrumental music instructor for the Cambridge Public School District, where I emphasized on the orchestra program and assisted with the band program. As a graduate student at the Eastman School of Music, I taught percussion methods classes. And after completing my studies at Eastman, I moved to central Wisconsin to become a faculty member with the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, where I have resided for fifty years. In addition, I have presented numerous music education performances in the Wisconsin public schools.
What percussionists have inspired you the most, and why?
As a young school student, my parents took me eighty miles to Columbus to hear the United States Marine Band with Charles Owen as the xylophone soloist. Later in my career, I got to meet Mr. Owen while residing in Aspen, Colorado, taking in the Aspen Music Festival for a summer. We talked a lot, and I got to see him perform following his years with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and while he was teaching at the University of Michigan. Additionally, all my percussion teachers have inspired me greatly, including Dr. James Moore at Ohio State, John H. Beck at Eastman, and John Galm at the University of Colorado. My keyboard percussion teacher in junior high school was Al Rags Anderson, a retired Vaudeville musician, and he serves as a positive influence on my career to this day.
Is there a specific genre you enjoy performing the most?
Through the years, I have thoroughly enjoyed performing in wind ensembles and symphony orchestras, as well as solo recitals and demonstrations of my music compositions. Highlights include playing snare drum and cymbals in the Ohio State University Marching Band, as principal percussionist in the Eastman Philharmonia, recording with the Eastman Wind Ensemble for the Deutsche Grammophon label, performing with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, recitals at Ohio State, Eastman, and Colorado, and playing marimba solos with the summer band at the University of Colorado. In retirement, I enjoy utilizing my experience gigging on vibes through the years, and playing ragtime on marimba at home during the pandemic. Actually, my interests encompass the avant-garde, standard orchestral repertoire, and traditional jazz music. Isn’t music a wonderful aspect of our lives?!
What composers do you identify with and why?
Ludwig van Beethoven has to be first in line for this question. I have written about the timpani parts to his symphonies for publication, and have performed much of his music. Additionally, I play a little Beethoven on the marimba: the backstage trumpet solo from his Leonore Overture No. 3. That being said, I have learned a lot from many composers through the years, including Xenakis, Varese, J.S. Bach, John H. Beck, Charles Eakin, John Ness Beck, and of course, Mozart, Handel, and Vivaldi. I am also aware of the values of composers before 1600, and 20th Century composers: John Cage, Warren Benson, Samuel Adler, William L. Cahn, and Bob Becker. As well as Wisconsin composer Barney Childs, Charles Ives (who has always been a favorite of mine), and Haydn.
Do you get nervous before you play–if so, how do you deal with it?
Yes, somewhat. I try to think positive, and consider the value of what I am doing; that is, making beautiful music for people’s enjoyment. I think about what I want to accomplish and my priorities. If possible, I consider the makeup of my audience as well as what I especially have to offer them.
Do you ever make a mistake while performing? If so, how do you go about resolving it?
Yes, every time. However, I keep going and concentrate on the musical performance in a timely manner. In fact, accentuate the positive, and don’t worry about the in-between.
Has your practice regimen changed from when you were a student? And how do you keep your technique fresh on all primary percussion instruments?
Yes, but not a lot. I have always limited my practice sessions to about an hour, and take timely breaks. This helps to keep my mind uncluttered, and grants me the ability to focus on what I am trying to accomplish. Regularly, I practice marimba for about an hour, and snare drum (practice pad) for about ten minutes with relevant practice materials. On my timpano, I start with a soft roll, then crescendo and play the opening to Brahms’ First Symphony, then decrescendo and stop.
How do you define a good musician and a good teacher? And has your definition of both changed from when you were a student to the present?
A good musician is one who listens a lot to various types of music, as well as carefully listens to his/her work. He/She tries to get inside the music he/she is playing, while considering the composer, and the times the piece was written. He/She plays appropriate dynamics and phrasing, and is mindful of the specific aspects of good technique and musicality. I believe that every teacher who is trained well has something to offer that the student can benefit from. When I was a student, my ideas were sometimes filling in the spaces of larger questions. Now that I have at least some of the answers, I continue to be a student who is curious about both concepts and details.
Do you think that performing and teaching are intrinsically intertwined?
Yes, and teaching is also a performance. Both are personal and expressive. The various techniques of teaching can supply knowledge and motivation. Some teachers don’t perform, yet they have something to offer that is valuable. Other teachers like to “teach by doing” and allow the student to copy in various ways. Both kinds are legitimate and valuable. For instance, one of my teachers had a big sign on the wall of the studio practice area that said, “Was that a beautiful sound?”
Has teaching made you a better musician, if so how and why?
Yes, it involves enlightenment, compared to the performer who does not teach. Hearing is believing, and my repeating and figuring out how to say something makes me a better musician. There are of course various ways to teach: I feel that my writing for publication is a form of teaching, only quieter than performing. Nuance and suggestion are important aspects of teaching, as well as in music performance. Sometimes I get ahead of myself and learn something new by teaching others.
What inspires you to compose?
This is a hard question to answer. I have to say that it is a gift from God. I studied historic composers and learned a lot from them, and also learned from my teachers.
How do you feel when someone performs a work of yours differently than you intended?
This has never happened to me. I am appreciative of whomever for performing my work, and I understand that the performer has his/her own unique interpretation and background.
What motivated you to create G and L Publishing?
I wanted to be my own boss. So, In 1985, I published under the name Geary Larrick, DMA, and in 1986 I created G and L Publishing as a partnership with my wife Lydia.
What would you like others to know about your compositions?
My work is based on history going back to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It is also inspired by historic composers like Bach and Beethoven, with an emphasis on percussion music which is the work of my era.
What is the impetus behind your scholarly work?
I was inspired by my Mother, who was a good writer, and also was inspired by my teachers who were published.
Is there anything you would have changed on how you prepared for your career?
No, I wouldn’t change anything. I am a child of my abilities and my environment.
What words of wisdom would you share with a student who aspires to make a career as a performer and/or educator?
Seek helpful and good teachers who serve as models for you. Take care of yourself and work for the future. Be considerate of your abilities, and know your limitations. Concentrate on what you want to do, as well as considering the values of others. Good luck!
