THERE IS A REASON WHY

STAR DELI

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is known as "The President's Own"
United States Marine Band. He was
intrigued with the prospects described
in The International Musician, a union
paper.
"It was a very demanding audition
because they need a player who is ver-
satile," says Wolin, explaining that the
band tries to be prepared with every
kind of performance group — from
string quartet to country combo —
that could enhance a White House
event.
"It's the only organization in the
service that is exempt from going
through basic training and whose
members are considered active-duty
Marines. They start us off as staff
sergeants. If I enlisted with the
Marines right out of high school, it
would take me 15 years to get to this
level."
Wolin was playing with the Rhode
Island Philharmonic and freelancing at
the time he was hired as a Marine
musician. He appreciated the opportu-
nity for stable work because he wasn't
performing enough to go without sup-
plementary employment in a law-
office.
The percussionist has been interest-
ed in music since the first grade at
Dewey Elementary School in Oak
Park,*where choir director Larry Wolf
introduced Wolin to pieces he found
very exciting. He decided to become a
musician when he was a fourth-grader,
leaning toward the trumpet or trom-
bone.
Parents Chuck and Judy Wolin
tried to steer him toward the drums or
violin, assuming he would lose interest
in those other instruments as an older
brother and sister had. Their third
youngster surprised them by sticking
with music, ultimately encouraged by
Oak Park High School band director
Ransel Evans, with whom the Marine
musician remains close.
Wolin's summers were spent at the
Interlochen music camp , first as a
camper in two-week programs and
later as a worker dividing his time
between music store sales and practice
room supervision.
"It was really inspirational for me
to be around musicians of my age who
were serious," explains Wolin, who did
concerts for B'nai B'rith chapters
while he was still in high school. "It's
hard if you're a serious musician and
not around that kind of musical sup-
port during the school year."
Wolin went on to get his bachelor's
degree from the Oberlin (Ohio) Con-
servatory of Music and a master's

degree from the University of Michi-
gan School of Music, where he was
awarded a graduate fellowship and
graduate teaching assistantship in per-
formance.
He has worked with the Sarasota
Opera in Florida as well as the Spoleto
Festival dei due Mondi Orchestra and
Incontri Musicali Chamber Ensemble
in Italy. Wolin also has been an extra
with the Detroit and Toledo sympho-
ny orchestras.
"I was constantly taking auditions
and subbed with the Yale Symphony
Orchestra in New Haven, where I was
taking some African drumming class-
es," recalls Wolin, whose wife, Elaine,.
is from Connecticut.
"I got involved with a pop band and
started playing hand percussions. I was
learning congas and instruments out-
side my orchestral training. At the time
I was branching out, little did I know
that experience would help me land a
job with 'The-President's Own."'
Moving to Boston, his wife worked
on her master's degree and he had a
base for commuting to Rhode Island.
Wolin also found work as a solo
marimbist, regularly appearing at the
Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Although his wife ultimately chose a
career teaching English as a second
language, she had studied clarinet and
baritone sax, and the two performed
with a rhythm and blues band.
The Wolins, now centered in the
nation's capital, have joined a syna-
gogue in Virginia and hope to partici-
pate together in the choir. The two
enjoy cooking, in-line skating, work-
ing out in a gym and camping.
"I think that perseverance really pays
off," Wolin says. "There were quite a
few people hinting I should give up
music, but it was my main goal. I kept
at it, and it's been fantastic." O

For free tickets to the United
States Marine Band concert at 3
p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, in Hill
Auditorium, Ann Arbor, send a
self-addressed, stamped envelope
to University of Michigan Band,
Revelli Hall, 350 E. Hoover, Ann
Arbor, MI 48104-3703 or call
(734) 764-5588. For free tickets
to the band concert at 7:30 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 16, at Detroit's
Orchestra Hall, send a self-
addressed, stamped envelope to
Orchestra, P.O. Box 372, Detroit,
MI 48226 or call (313) 576-5100.

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11/6
1998

Detroit Jewish News

95