What I Learned in the Lenoir High School Band

I have been oboist of the New York Philharmonic for 18 seasons, but many fans and colleagues still view my success as unlikely—even miraculous—because of two peculiarities in my resume. The first is that I grew up in a small town in North Carolina instead of the kind of cosmopolitan urban center that produces most classical musicians; the second is that attended a liberal arts college rather than a conservatory: But in fact these "handicaps" were crucial assets in my improbable rise to the top of the orchestra world.

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