A recent article reported in the American Symphony Orchestra League Newsletter referred to the obvious fact that every fifty or one hundred years a brilliant composer comes along to the delight of audiences world-wide. The article tends to emphasize the extreme rarity of genius in the field of symphony composition. This treatise will speculate and contribute to a very interesting debate ongoing in the world of academia and behind the scenes in the Board Rooms and offices of symphonies around the globe.

I am often asked where I studied music; what Conservatory I attended. When I campaigned in the New Hampshire Republican Primary (1976), reporters wanted to know where I attained my law degree; what previous offices I had held. In essence they wanted to know my credentials. Their questions made sense to me until I had to ask myself, "What conservatory did Beethoven attend? Where did Abraham Lincoln gain his law degree or George Washington for that matter.I neither attended a conservatory or had a law degree. I realized that nearly all composers studied under someone at some time in their lives. Most successful politicians have held public office some where. My response in the first instance (politics) was that ideals form the foundation for great leaders, history has well proven. Further, that genius was the most obvious characteristic of great composers, not schools or colleges. Mentoring was obviously important. and essential.

It is entirely possible that I have had more mentors than any other composer in the world, but no degree in music. My mentors have been far reaching and go back 60 years. One or several remain my mentor to this day. I will mention several to give credence to my assertion. The first was Howard Tuvelle who performed Grieg's Piano Concerto for me and my fellow students in grade school back in 1945. His mother gave me my two piano lessons at the age of seven. The second was John and Sherry Ostborg who introduced me to symphony on Sunday afternoons following a great dinner at their beautiful home in the country near Springfield, Ohio. The third was my father who made the 78 RPM selections on Sunday afternoons which often permit us to hear Enrico Caruso, Mario Lanza and other symphonies which led me to aspire to be a great tenor, during my grade school years. To this day, my Sundays are filled with opera which permit me to enjoy again and again the voices of the great tenors to my extreme delight.

The intervening years were filled with music from the 20th Century including every Broadway play imaginable including my visits to such performances as Silk Stockings, Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, Bye Bye Birdie, The Bells are Ringing, No Strings, The King and I, Gypsy and an array of others. Maybe my favorite experience was singing as an improvising tenor in an award winning boys quartet as a teenager. Improvising the tenor harmony for Dry Bones and other classics was not easy, yet we were apparently very good! My harmonic talent was evident at the early age of seven.

While I had no degree in music I did have mentors of outstanding qualities and superb quaifications. Kirk Trevor who conducted the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and others around the world began my long term effort to refine and perfect my symphonic scores. David Bailey who conducted the Lowell Philharmonic (now retired) was kind enough to review all my scores preparatory to recording performances by the London Symphony Orchestra, Martinu Philharmonic and Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestras. Kirk Trevor's wife Maria, a brilliant harpist from the Czech Republic, reviewed all my harp scores for the above performances and gave me compliments which further led to my addition of second harps in most of my fourteen symphonies. There was a violinist (concertmaster) in Hamburg, Germany who's name escapes me that reviewed my early efforts at violin virtuosity to his great credit and my extreme satisfaction. Simon James, principal violin for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra poured over my Violin Concerto before he performed it with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra in Bratislava, Slovak Republic. Surprisingly only two or three double stops had to be corrected. I had done my homework on the violin. Simon James is a superb virtuoso violinist and highly respected throughout the music world.

Dr. Robert Raker, MD, President of the Land of Legend Philharmonic Orchestra in Newark, Ohio was my great influence on the bassoon. His renditions were so magnificently beautiful that I insisted on his review of my bassoon scores before their orchestra's performence of my Waltzing Strings symphonic poem.

I often ask my self if conductors realize how they are being influenced to perform new music. Most people that I speak to are not fond of contemporary compositions. They almost always ask me if my symphonies sound like "contemporary music". I reply saying, "No, my music is in the classical paradigm. I wanted to compete, so to speak, with the classical composers and had no intention of being weirdly different! I wanted to compose beautiful music."

Can genius really be taught? While I do not consider myself a genius I have clear understanding of the total dedication and devotion probably required of most geniuses throughout history. Intellect and untiring persistence are required for great achievement. I also clearly understand that mentors are an absolute necessity for a composer. Success requires also a friendly conductor and approximately 75 wonderful instrumentalists.

And now I return to the roses in my nine beautiful gardens.