Meet the SHO – Julie Duel, oboe

I grew up in Ashland, a small town in Southern Oregon that is just 15 miles north of the California border. Ashland lies at the South end of the Rogue river valley and is well known for its Shakespearean Festival and deep traditions in the arts. 
I started playing oboe in the 5th grade when I was 9.  My first orchestral experience was playing in the Rogue Valley Youth Orchestra as a 7th grader. I played oboe through high school and played with the All-State Honor Band & Orchestra, and All-Northwest Honor Bands, as well as performing at the State Solo And Ensemble Competition all 4 years of high school.

I played oboe in college, earning a non-music major scholarship and also met my future husband, Greg, in marching band at Oregon State University. I was the first female drum major for OSU in 1994.  I earned my Bachelor’s degree from Oregon State University, with a major in Science Education and a minor in Music.

After college, Greg and I married, and I stopped playing oboe when I had my first child. I didn’t realize it would be a 15 year break.  7 years ago, I was at a Nashville Symphony concert, sitting in the orchestra view seats behind the symphony where you can hear how it sounds to be sitting in amongst the wind section of an orchestra, and I realized how very much I missed playing. I found myself an oboe, started practicing and was lucky enough to find the Spring Hill Orchestra right near me.  They needed an oboe when I was ready for the next step!  Just recently, I was honored to get to personally meet and thank Giancarlo and members of the NSO oboe section during a recent League of American Orchestras reception held in Nashville for their inspiration in bringing me back to playing oboe and giving so much joy back into my life.  Hearing their music from those seats with that unique sound and vantage point, and then starting the journey to find it to start playing again, truly gave me a piece of myself back that I didn’t even know was missing.

In addition to playing principal oboe with the SHO, I also play with the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra, and am on the sub list for the Mozart Concerto Orchestra as well. I teach private oboe lessons for beginning to intermediate students in Spring Hill and surrounding areas. 

My husband, Greg, and I have 2 sons. Braeden is a student at MTSU and Jackson attends Summit High School in Spring Hill. I am a school bookkeeper for Poplar Grove Middle School in Franklin.  When I am not playing or teaching oboe, I enjoy spending time volunteering with the Summit High School marching band or cheering on the MTSU Band of Blue. I love supporting my 2 sons who are both brass players. 

Featured Musician: Erin Erdos, flute

SHO Member Since: Fall 2016

Current job: Director of Operations – Al McCree Entertainment. Freelance graphic designer.

Degree/college attended: BS in Music Business, Master of Music in Performance. Lee University.

At what age did you start playing flute and when/why did you decide to pursue music as a career:

I started playing flute in 5th grade at age 10. It’s something that came naturally at first, and was more fun to practice (to me) than other instruments I had tried. I had amazing band teachers and musical mentors who poured into me at an early age. I attended a summer music camp for 9 years and there I was surrounded by musical heroes who taught me that practice and experience was just as important if not more than natural talent. I can honestly say that I am probably at my happiest when I’m playing in a room of talented and dedicated musicians. I loved and still love being one little puzzle piece among many that create the final beautiful sound. If you’re sitting in the audience and you get goosebumps from a symphony, it’s because everyone was making something beautiful, not just one person. I love that.

Who is your musical hero or inspiration: Definitely my family. My mother grew up in a musical family and she raised me in the same way. Our house was filled with music and instruments and I’m so glad that it was my “normal.” I also owe a lot to my first flute teacher/band instructor Paula Humphreys. She stayed after school and gave me extra instruction and pieces to work on when I ran out of things to play in the band book. She was always incredibly encouraging and I’ll always appreciate the time and thought she put into my life.

A funny musical experience: At my first solo and ensemble band competition, my stand partner forgot a page from one of our pieces and we didn’t realize it until we were playing, in the concert. We froke out for a second but I kept playing, and at that moment I realized that I had memorized the piece. My band director said I had really excellent eye contact, and I said explained later why that was and he couldn’t stop laughing. That experience always stuck in my mind and lead me to do research in grad school on muscle memory and how our brain processes short term and long term information during practice sessions. Memorization comes easier to some people, and I wanted to learn how to teach it to anyone.

What was your first orchestral experience: I played in my church orchestra in middle school, and I remember being terrified. This wasn’t music camp, it was a bunch of adults who knew their stuff and for some reason they were letting me play long with them. It taught me to have confidence to play in the “silence.” Church orchestrations can be kind of sparse, so sometimes there’s only one flute playing at a time and if you’re too scared to play… nothing gets heard. It taught me to play loud and strong even if it was a wrong note, being too scared to play feels worse than a mistake.

Favorite composer: I love a good moody composer, so I’m very fond of French and Russian/czech music. Guys like Dvorak, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich wrote music that seemed so full of angst. In some cases it felt like their way of protesting political or personal issues, pouring all of it into music. And then Debussy and Faure are wonderful, they’re like stepping into a dream.

What music do you listen to in your free time: I listen to a lot of everything. Anything I listen to ends up getting a little analyzed so I appreciate artists like Ben Folds or Jack White who seem to know how to make every instrument sound the best. I love a lot of Classic Rock, Alt 90’s and singer songwriter styles. You’ll find anything from Metallica to to Simon & Garfunkel on my playlists. I’m also weirdly fond of Skrillex. He makes sounds that are almost alien, it can be a little mesmerizing.

Other: I’m big nerd. I can waste a lot of time talking about Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or the timespace plot holes in the Terminator franchise. I loathe running, but I’m very into fitness and eating healthy. I’ve been told that I know more about planning a Disney vacation than the average adult should know. I love to read and I love to cook. When I’m stressed, I make an absurd amount of baked goods, mostly Cake Pops. That’s about it. Oh and coffee. I drink a lot of that.

Join the SHO!

Are you looking for an opportunity to play with an orchestra? Consider joining the us. We are devoted to bringing classical orchestral music to the communities in the greater Nashville area and giving musicians the opportunity to be challenged. Founded in November 2014, this volunteer group is composed of a wonderfully diverse mix of people. We rehearse on Monday evenings in Spring Hill from 7-9pm and perform an average of five programs per year. Musicians who are currently playing with the orchestra also have the opportunity to solo with the orchestra.

We have some vacancies in our wind and percussion sections and lots of room in our string sections. If you want to sit in on rehearsal to see what it’s like please feel free to contact us and we will gladly make arrangements. We keep a running sub list for sections that are currently full so it’s likely you will get called on even if we do not currently have a vacancy. We have a great time exploring music together and bringing the highest level of music that we can to our audiences.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Please contact Orchestra Manager, Daphine Browning: daphine@springhillorchestra.org 

or

General: info@springhillorchestra.org