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TOM TERRELL
Principal
Clarinet
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The wonderful music of Symphony of the Hills is created
by talented and dedicated musicians, most who are still
holding down a day job. A case in point is local
attorney Tom Terrell, who is the Symphony’s principal
clarinetist and has a law office on Sidney Baker Street
where he specializes in family law and estate planning.
Terrell didn’t start off wanting to be a musician.
(He seemingly didn’t start off to be a lawyer, either,
given that his undergraduate degree from Rice University
is in civil engineering.) And in fact, Terrell was
well along in his career before he ever even picked up a
clarinet. It wasn’t until his oldest daughter, Evelyn,
joined the band at Tivy High School.
“Her younger sister, Elizabeth, was in the junior high
band and I arranged lessons from the principal
clarinetist with the San Antonio Symphony, Larry Mentzer,”
Terrell said. “As I took them back and forth to San
Antonio, I learned I was a whole lot more interested in
learning the clarinet than my daughters. So all three of
us went.”
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The Terrell girls might have been comparatively
uninterested, but that didn’t mean they were also
untalented. “I used to brag that Terrell girls occupied
the first chair in band for six years,” Terrell said.
“After graduation, they hung up their clarinets and
never touched them again.” Terrell continued to play,
however, and to study with Mentzer. “Any time you start
to play an instrument, you sort of dream about what you
can do with it some day,” Terrell said. “I dreamed of
doing what my teacher did, playing with an orchestra. So
I stuck it out and here I am.”
In fact, he has been with Symphony of the Hills – and
principal clarinetist – since the Symphony started. "I
was grandfathered in,” he said with a grin. In addition
to Symphony of the Hills, Terrell also plays with the
Incarnate Word Symphony, the San Antonio Municipal Band
and with Klarinetten Kuntsler, in which Mentzer also
plays. And Terrell continues to study with Mentzer.
“Every couple of weeks I still have a lesson,” Terrell
said, “and he tells me what I’m doing wrong.”
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