Richard Ramey:  

Hi, everyone, Well, here we are..checking out memories from our past. Who would have thought...! Here's the short version: It seems like I never left school! (read on and you'll see why that's true)... I graduated from Grandview Elementary (after continuing on from Solano) in 1971. I went to West High School (Phoenix), graduating in 1975. On to Arizona State...University of Southern California...back to Arizona State..then finally, Michigan State. Thanks to Warren Slocum (Grandview's band director) visiting Solano one semester, I discovered music and never left. Starting with saxophone (alto to be exact), I later "discovered" the bassoon (didn't know what it was at the time) and that instrument became my main focus. I continued playing saxophone and bassoon through elementary school (with a short stint on cello). By 8th grade, I was studying privately with an undergrad student from ASU (Chris Holdcraft, who charged $2 a lesson!). Private study was the key I needed to really get going on the instrument. At West High, I hung with the music crowd, played in 5 orchestras (both school and community groups), and kept doing all things music. Fast forward through college, I got my first teaching job at the University of Arkansas (never in my life did I think that I would be wor...Expand for more