Music still a passion for Monson
Published 12:00 am Friday, October 27, 2000
Before he leaves the house each day, the Rev.
Friday, October 27, 2000
Before he leaves the house each day, the Rev. Glenn Monson takes time out of his life for music.
His wife, Ruth, is gone to her organist duties at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church or First United Methodist Church or on a mission involving her piano and flute classes.
Eighth grader, Abby, is at Ellis Middle School and another daughter, Catherine, a fifth grader, is at Banfield Elementary School.
The house is empty except for the man and his trombone.
Monson is quite happy being an ordained Lutheran minister, but to play music, as he says, "just for the love of it" is an insatiable passion of his.
"You know the story about the marathon runner who has given up marathons, but still jogs every day? That’s what I have become," he said.
Trombonist Monson is one of the featured soloists at Saturday’s Austin Symphony Orchestra concert, beginning 7:30 p.m. in Knowlton Auditorium.
Mimi Garbisch Carlson on piccolo is the other.
The concert is billed as "An American Tale" and musical director and conductor Stephen J. Ramsey will guide the talented ASO through a program of Brahms, Larsson, Lieberman, Copland and Kling.
The debut concert of the 44th Austin Symphony Orchestra season is being called "Absolutely Austin" and all of the featured musicians this season have Austin connections.
Monson’s began in 1996, when he and his wife and their two daughters moved here.
Our Savior’s Lutheran Church got an associate minister and the orchestra got more.
An accomplished musician is perhaps the best way to describe Monson. He has experienced music as a student, a teacher, an amateur and a playing professional having made his living as a freelance trombonist in many areas of the country, notably New York, Chicago, and the Twin Cities prior to his present calling as a Lutheran pastor.
He began his musical instruction at a very young age with piano lessons from his mother, but when he discovered the trombone at age 10 it wasn’t long before that was his first love.
"Some of my first lessons were from my grandfather, Herman W. Monson, an accomplished composer and musician in his own right who was known as the first touring director of the Concordia College Choir in Moorhead and the composer of much choral music," he said.
When Monson entered Luther College in Decorah, Iowa in 1973, many people gave him the standard advice that, "I could never make it playing my horn, so I’d better get a teaching degree."
After one semester of teaching at a parochial school in Decorah during his college years, he knew that both he and the students were "better off without him," as he readily admitted, as their band director.
Against the advice of his professors, Monson decided to take leave of his academic studies at Luther for a year and really concentrate on the trombone. This proved to be a pivotal year. He moved to New York and there took up intensive study with the first trombonist in the Metropolitan Opera, Per Brevig, and when he returned to Luther for his senior year he knew what he needed to do to play professionally.
After graduation, he auditioned successfully for his first full-time professional position as first trombonist in the U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point. From 1978-1982 he served in the concert bard, the Jazz Knights, and the marching band.
Leaving West Point in 1982, he entered Northwestern University to take up orchestral studies with Frank Crisafilli, world-renowned trombone teacher and long-time member of the Chicago Symphony.
Next, he became the principal trombonist in the Civic Orchestra At Chicago, the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony, and was able to perform with many outstanding ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony and many freelance orchestras
Moving to St. Paul in 1986 to begin his pastoral studies at Luther Seminary, he continued performing regularly, both recording and playing regularly with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra, and serving as a regular freelance trombonist throughout the Twin Cities.
Beginning in 1991, he and his family moved to Pennsylvania where he served as pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Easton and then in 1996 the family moved to Austin where he took up his present call as associate pastor at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Austin.
He has "been there, done that" as a professional musician.
"I played every day. To be a successful professional musician you have to play every day; maybe eight hours of music or more. There’s a certain skill level to maintain," he said of his years as a professional musician.
Now Monson plays for the love of it. He is a minister first, a musician second. "Music is back to where it needs to be in my life," he said of the transition.
Tickets to Saturday’s concert will be available at the door.