Tom Terrell

Jan Schmidt, Principal Bassoonist

Symphony of the Hills principal bassoonist and musical trailblazer Jan Schmidt was born and grew up in Monte Vista, a small town nestled in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado.

Jan's interest in music seemed to come naturally to her. Although neither of her parents played professionally, her mother was a pianist and organist and her father played both clarinet and saxophone. "Music just came easy to me and I've always enjoyed it," said Jan.

When she started junior high, the band director invited Jan to begin bassoon lessons so that she could play in the school band. By the time she was 14 years old she knew that she wanted to pursue a college major in music and to play the bassoon for a lifetime. She spent so much of her time practicing and as music librarian at the school, her mother told her, "You might as well take a cot and sleep there."

Enrolling at the University of Colorado, Jan began attending summer band camps and it was there that she learned to make her own bassoon reeds. This is a craft requiring expensive tools, which Jan was able to acquire by spending two weeks during harvest season digging potatoes all day. Throughout her career, Jan has made hundreds of reeds for herself and her students.

Jan earned a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Colorado - Boulder and a Masters Degree in Woodwinds from The University of Michigan. In 1961, as a graduate student, she went with the University Symphonic Band on an extensive tour of Russia and the Middle East under the aegis of the US State Department.

In El Paso, Jan began her teaching career as an elementary school band director, teaching in four different schools. During this period, she was also adjunct bassoon instructor at what is now UT - El Paso, and a member of the El Paso Symphony and Santa Fe Opera Orchestra.

Subsequently, Jan was bassoon professor at Florida State University for 13 years, where she taught woodwind courses while performing with faculty chamber orchestras, and a woodwind quintet. It was at FSU that Jan met and married the love of her life, a celebrated and well-know clarinetist, who was also a Professor of Clarinet at FSU.

In addition to concerts and clinics throughout the Southeast and serving as adjudicator for state contests, Jan has also been involved in writing and publishing filmstrips, video-tapes and books on bassoon-teaching techniques.

Jan and Harry retired to Kerrville in 1999, where, besides serving as principal bassoonist of the Symphony of the Hills, Jan soloed with the orchestra during the 2006-2007 season. Jan is on the Board of Directors of the Hill Country Youth Orchestra, teaches private oboe and bassoon students, and is an adjunct instructor at Schreiner University. She is soon to be featured in a Texas Tech documentary concerning teaching views of “older” bassoon players.

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