who are we? -- woodwinds section


Janice Lipson is principal flautist with the Really Terrible Orchestra Of the Triangle (RTOOT). Janice normally plays the cello but doesn’t own one at the moment. Second flute is played by Sue Tideman, The flutes are ably augmented by the Zachary Taylor Smith Distinguished Term Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina, Brent Wissick. Unfortunately, Professor Wissick's principal instrument is the baroque cello or viola da gamba, whilst in the Really Terrible Orchestra Of the Triangle (RTOOT), he is our third flautist and piccolautist. [Professional musicians are not allowed to play their principal instrument, since that would violate the mission statement of the RTOOT, which is to be Really Terrible]. [Not to suggest that Professor Wissick is really Really Terrible on the piccolo ... we shall see ... and hear ... ]. Rounding out the flute section are Alison Finley (Ally) and Crystal Potter.

We have an oboe section!! Paul Baerman will play first oboe as well as English Horn. Not to mention the fact that his mom is in our clarinet section and his wife will be playing viola. We are fortunate also that Charles Elliot found us, oboe in hand. Welcome!

We have on clarinet Shirley Baerman. Shirley is also our concertmaster, since when The Really Terrible Orchestra Of the Triangle (RTOOT) was organized we didn’t know that the concertmaster was supposed to be a violin. We just got together and figured out Shirley was the best player. So we made her the concertmaster. We hope this doesn’t upset your musical sensibilities nor cause the music world to fall to pieces. However, we are in dire need of a second clarinet!! Otherwise Mr. Hobgood will be obliged to bring out his old instrument and then where would we be?

Our bassoon section consists of our trombone player, Daniel Ponder; i.e. he will play both instruments, though not simultaneously. Tasi Matthews, concertmistress of the Raleigh Symphony, whose other claim to fame was teaching Mr. Hobgood how to play the violin terribly, will assist Mr. Ponder at Bassoon II.

 Alec Grossman will be playing saxophone. Mr. Grossman was born and raised in Durham, NC, and has been drawing and painting since his youth. He attained a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Painting from the Savannah College of Arts and Design. After college, in the spirit of Jules Verne, Mr. Grossman travelled around the world in 80 days. Drawing upon his breadth of experience in the far corners of the earth, he paints spontaneously, with memories and experiences igniting the "quick burning fire" of his brush. Nowadays Mr. Grossman leads a double life, soon to be a triple life with his involvement in the Really Terrible Orchestra Of the Triangle (RTOOT), his "normal" nine-to-five job, and furiously painting the night away. See his work at www.alecgrossmanart.com. Mr. Grossman is also an actor with the 301 film collective (301films.com). Also in the Sax Section is our Composer-in-Residence Enrique Varela. Biographical information can be found on our "Composter-in-Residence" page.

From time to time, Mr. Hobgood himself joins the woodwinds section, to play the clarinet, Terribly.