Ellie Snyder: Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me today, Professor Kennedy! It means a lot that you're willing to help me with this project!

​

Bryan Kennedy: You're welcome! 

​

ES: So, to get started, you went to the University of Michigan, too, yes? What are some of the differences you've noticed from attending as a student, compared to teaching here now? 

​

BK: When I was in school, we didn't have all the information that students in your generation have. You guys have a much better picture of what the job outlook is, how hard it is going to be. If you're going into the orchestral field, there's even more information out there for students to make decisions with. An advantage with that is that students now have been forced to broaden their education, forced to consider a less-narrow pathway. A student will now learn how to promote and market themselves, how to be proficient in more than one type of music. It's not as narrow of a focus as people tended to have when I was in school. The one advantage of when I was younger was that I never really had any thought of how hard it would be to get a job. Nobody ever told me that there weren't many jobs out there for horn players. I was very naive. In a way, being naive helped because all I really did was work as hard as I could. I just enjoyed playing. I enjoyed being in orchestras. I enjoyed my undergrad experience outside of music. I had a great time and I had a lot of friends. And the drinking age was only 18. 

​

ES: Did any events in your undergrad really stand out and sculpt your career? 

​

BK: My sophomore year I took an audition for the principal horn of the Costa Rica Symphony. The conductor was traveling to conservatories and music schools like Juilliard and Boston, and I was fortunate to win the job! So I quit halfway through my sophmore year and moved to Costa Rica to play first horn in an orchestra. I had the time of my life, playing great music, teaching at the National Conservatory, and getting to immerse myself in a new language. I really had no idea how to speak it. It took about six months to understand Spanish and start conversing with it a bit. I always looked at playing the horn as a vehicle for a really great life. I was never just a music nerd. I played the horn and worked really hard, but it wasn't my whole life. And I think that's what made itt a better experience, and what made me a better musician. I wasn't so overly focused on lasered-in on music. I played down there for three years, came back to school as a second-semester sophomore at the age of 21. I came back right where I left off. I had a scholarship, a stipend. However, I should add that tuition was only about six hundred dollars per year. Again, I immersed myself in the University of Michigan. I graduated with honors, "cum laude" or whatever that is. I took hard academic electives. I took accounting and business law classes, as to not waste the fact that I was at a great university. I won a job in the Richmond, Virginia Symphony, so I finished school and had a great summer before moving down there. Then, later, I was able to fulfill my dream of winning a job in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. So, at the age of 27, I began playing with the DSO. I started playing as an extra with the DSO when I was 17, so I knew what it was like to play in a major symphony. 

​

ES: Did you always want to play in the DSO? Even as a young child? 

​

BK: I actually wanted to be a dentist. I was accepted into the University of Michigan College of Language, Science, and the Arts. I wanted to do predentla stuff, go into the dental school. All of that. It was very last-minute when my audition happened. There was only one date in April, which was kind of the junk date because all the scholarships had been spoken for. So I came in and I played for Louie [Stout] and he said, "How come I've never known you?" I said I'd always been around, in the Detroit area. He said, "Well, we're full. 36 horn players. 8 in each ensemble. I think we can find room for you, though." I didn't have a scholarship at that point, but it was cheaper to go to school then. So I came here and moved into 5th-floor Lewis at Bursley Hall and had the best time of my life. The horn has taken me all over the world, and it's provided a great standard of living that hasn't hardly felt like a job, as all other jobs would've. I've had 34 years with the DSO. And, I get the joy of working with all of you, the young people in the horn studio--teaching at my alma matter, which is a big deal! 

 

 

ES: Did you ever want to quit the horn? As a young player, or in college? Or even after? 

​

BK: Oh, yeah. As a young horn player, like in middle school, maybe even thte early days of high school, I had to practice so many hours a day and I didn't always want to do it. I tried to quit a few times because I wanted to be out playing with my friends. They wouldn't even come up to the door to see if I could play because they could hear me practicing. I had plenty of time for sports, but you always think that you want more free time as a kid. My mother didn't let me quit. She said, "Ok, you can quit. But you can't do this, or that, or any games with your friends." My grandma told her to let me quit, but my mom said no. My mother was extremely demanding and critical and her praise was infrequent. My junior year, at Solo and Ensemble Festival, I was playing a Strauss concerto, and I though I'd done pretty damn well. Maybe I'd nicked a couple of notes, but I thought I did a good job. I come out into the hallway and my parents are there. I think to myself, "Finally, my mom is going to tell me I did a great job!" What comes out of her mouth is, "I heard those two notes you missed." She didn't let me quit those few times when I was younger, and I always thanked her later.