Mark Sloniker Music Service

Website Links

Description

A bio, sort of... Mark Sloniker grew up (or failed to grow up – as the case may be) in Cincinnati Ohio. His grandfather worked for The Baldwin Piano Company. An upright piano occupied a corner of the family’s living room. And every night at bed time Mark’s mother would call the fire fighters over to the house with their “jaws of life” extraction tool to separate Mark from the piano and get him to bed. Piano Lessons: At an early age he was sent down the street for lessons. Mark however did not fancy the black dots on the page (he would hold the lesson book close to his ear and say “how is it they call this music?…I can’t hear a thing!). And so it came to pass, Mark exited the formal-training-highway-of-music in favor of an informal backroads-back-alley-back-country approach. Play by ear. Play by the seat of your pants. Go to a movie and bring home the themes in your head and figure them out on the old Baldwin. A sizable repertoire ensued. But something darker and more foreboding lurked on the horizon. It had a name and they called it the trombone. Trombonology: At this time in America, the famed Hollywood Director Ron Howard was a child actor of television and screen. When America fell in love with the lovable lisping Winthrop (played by Ron) Mark fell for the band (all that brass) – Marching Band Brass, the Tijuana Brass. Bras (and what was behind them) might have piqued his curiosity but brass captured his heart. Horns were hip to him. And so it came to pass that Mark enrolled in fifth grade band. He picked the trumpet, just like Winthrop. “Your lips are too big for trumpet” the band director buggled, “but they’re just right for the trombone! Even if we will need to attach a string to your finger and the slide in order for you to reach seventh position.” Tromboning became a second language for Mark, or maybe a third or fourth language – maybe Pig-Latin. He ended up studying trombone with the esteemed bass trombonist for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Betty Glover. At that point in time, Ms. Glover was one of the few women to occupy a seat in the brass section of a major symphony orchestra, much less a seat in the lower brass section. She was a serious player and a stern teacher. Some students didn’t make it through the first or second lesson, but Mark buckled down and continued with her for three years (string and all). In the meantime, he continued to play piano on his own and he began to compose music. Pieces for piano and other instruments that had several movements and modulated to different keys were mapped out with those same black dots he once despised. One day as Mark’s mother heard him piano-ing, she (wise woman that she was) encouraged Mark to take his compositions to Ms. Glover and play them for her. As Mark finished performing one of his compositions for Ms. Glover on her baby grand, she slowly put the score down and after a long, long pause said, “For three years, I knew there was music in you, and it sure as hell wasn’t coming out of the trombone!” Ms.

Products & services

Similar companies nearby