| By Megan Rose
For DSO trombonist Randy Hawes, music and family are inextricably linked. One of his earliest musical memories is growing up listening to The Nutcracker in the living room during the holiday season. Music was ever-present in his childhood home. “We listened to classical, of course,” he says, “but also folk, like Joan Baez and Pete Seeger.”
Music is an essential ingredient in the lives of Hawes and his family. His parents met while they were attending Albion College and playing in the university orchestra. Randy’s mother played the violin and his father, the clarinet. “Brahms’ First is ‘their’ song,” says Hawes.
It seems natural in such a family that Hawes began playing an instrument at an early age. But the trombone wasn’t his first love: he started out on the viola in fourth grade. Just before he entered his teens, however, his older sister began dating a trombonist. That boyfriend became his first trombone teacher, and later offered him a favorable recommendation to Central Michigan University.
Hawes’ DSO career began in 1985, and a few years later, he met a friend, Kim, in the symphony’s chorus. This new friend would soon become his wife. “Music was a common language for her and me,” he says. It is a language they still speak, as Kim is now an active member of the DSO’s volunteer education committee. The family musical legacy continues with their two children; a daughter, 14, who accompanied Hawes out west last summer for his turn at the Grand Teton Music Festival, and a son, 15, who plays trumpet in a DSO civic group.
In the years Hawes has been with the DSO, he has seen many changes in administration, facilities and leadership. As one of the more tenured members of the Orchestra, he weighs in on his ideal music director.
“It’s important the director is accessible to musicians and the public,” he says. “The public in Detroit is unique,” he adds, “finding a music director that fits the personality of the city is no simple task. We have a very rich tradition of music in general, and the DSO in particular.”
Hawes thinks this tradition has benefited greatly by the Max M. Fisher Music Center — a facility that blends the new (The Music Box, Allesee Rehearsal Hall and the Pincus Education Center) with the old (Orchestra Hall), to create a center for musical excellence.
“The space, the ability to go off and find your own corner and to practice privately is what I like best,” he says. He should know: during construction of The Max, he snuck into the uncompleted Music Box. “I think I can say I was the first musician to ever play The Music Box,” he chuckles, before asking if he might get in trouble for his melodic maneuver.
He also likes the camaraderie The Max creates. “The administrative staff and the musicians housed together solidifies the common purpose of exposing Detroiters to great music” he says. “We’re all here in the same building. It’s fantastic.”
It is that common purpose that renews Hawes’ passion for music. He is currently lecturing trombone students at Northwestern University, and while he enjoys teaching, it also reminds him of how much he loves playing in the Orchestra. He realizes how “lucky” he is, and he appreciates his position with the DSO even more when he is surrounded by students seeking what he has — a coveted spot in one of the nation’s best orchestras.
Of course, there’s more to even Hawes’ life than music. He aspires to improve his photography skills. He finds people his most interesting subjects.
He loves to sail and hike, and hopes to include a climb or two on his next trip out west for the Grand Teton Music Festival.
But when it’s time, he’ll come back east, home to the DSO. With him, he’ll bring a renewed energy for what he loves — playing in Orchestra Hall while shaping the rich tradition musical tradition of Detroit.
Megan Rose is an intern in the DSO’s Public Relations Department. Reach her by email at mrose@dso.org.
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