055 - Jeff Irving

During her tenure at Interlochen, Megan sat down with Jeff Irving, another percussion faculty member.  Jeff resides in NYC, freelances as a contemporary, orchestral, and Broadway player, and co-owns New York Percussion Service, a percussion instrument rental company.



Topics: Interlochen, freelancing, blogging, Jan Williams



Watch here. Listen below.



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0:00 Intro and hello

2:27 Interlochen Arts Camp

5:00 Brett Morris: In your success in acquiring performance opportunities, what’s the balance between your musical skills, networking, and knowing people who can help in job placement?

10:12 Building connections in school

13:54 Ben: Jan Williams

19:33 Megan: High school percussion camps

25:57 Jeff’s experience at Interlochen Arts Academy

34:08 New York Percussion Service

38:57 Life as a freelancer in NYC

42:10 Ted Jackson: Could you explain how you have crafted your career out of many different opportunities? I love how you are able to play in some of the finest orchestras in the world, perform contemporary music, run your own percussion business, and have a blog. How have each of these things developed the way you perceive music?

46:54 Bird perch timpani mallets and forgetting your pants and underwear

57:19 “Two out of three test” from Jeff’s blog

1:04:34 Nathaniel Gworek: How did it happen that you got a job while already living in New York City. Subbing with the Met is a pretty big deal. Was it luck that the job opened while you were already living in New York City?

1:09:07 Wrap