Tom Terrell

Tom Terrell

Principal Clarinet

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 St. 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.”

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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