#190 Eric Renick- Principal Percussionist for the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra!
Eric’s photo taken by Adrian Malloch.
This week’s guest is Eric Renick. He is the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s Principal Percussionist since 2010, Eric Renick began his musical studies at the age of 12. A native of Indianapolis, he received his Bachelor’s degree from Butler University, where he studied with Jon Crabiel. While at Butler, Mr Renick also won first place in the University’s Concerto Competition. He gained a Master’s degree and artist certificate from Chicago’s Roosevelt and DePaul universities under the guidance of Ted Atktatz, Eric Milstein and Ed Harrison. While in Chicago he performed with the Lyric Opera, Chicago Symphony’s MusicNow Series, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, as well as co-founding the Chicago Arts Orchestra.
In 2007 Eric Renick was awarded a Fellowship with the New World Symphony (NWS), where he performed under the batons of Michael Tilson Thomas, Osmo Vänskä, Marin Alsop, Robert Spano, John Adams and Vladimir Ashkenazy, among others; performed as part of NWS’s Percussion Consort and participated in digital media collaborations. Mr Renick has also performed with the St. Louis, Kansas City, and New Mexico symphonies, Grant Park, Breckenridge and Spoleto (USA) festival orchestras, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Malaysia Philharmonic orchestras.
Eric Renick is a regular collaborator with cross-genre musicians as well as film scoring. He also performs in the Antipodes Percussion Project, an ensemble focused on using percussion chamber music to educate young musicians. Mr Renick is an Artist Teacher at the University of Auckland.
Gig Alerts
The Democratic National Convention is happening this week with plenty of musical acts participating. -Article
Damon mentions the concert seating he saw posted by BBC News that could be the future of outdoor festivals (for now), during this time of Covid-19.
Damon performed a live stream concert at Daryl’s House Club with Morgan James in an acoustic setting. That live stream is now up and you can watch the concert HERE.
Educational Spotlights
The Zildjian company has been posting the new series of Zildjian Live! concerts featuring various drummers. The Stanton Moore one has been posted and with the help of Tim Buell, you can also see the transcription of what Stanton plays.
Shout-out to Tim Buell for his transcriptions of the Zildjian Live! series and others you can find on his page.
If you are interested in checking out some of the excerpts required for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (a DIFFERENT organization than the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra), you can click on THIS LINK HERE.
The Morris Goldenberg Books Damon mentions are the Modern School for Xylophone, Marimba, Vibraphone and the Modern School for Snare Drum (which has more than just the snare drum in it).
Iconic Recording
The iconic recording this week is another Flamenco style recording by the singer Potito called “Por Cajones” from the album ‘El Último Cantaor’. It features for cajon players. Chaboli, Piraña, Bandolero, and Ramón Porrina.
Music News
How much does Spotify pay per stream? Spotify pays most artists between $.003 and $.005 (one-third of a penny to one-half of a penny) for each stream. However, the precise per-stream rate can vary based upon a user’s region and account type (premium or ad-supported). Read below to learn how Spotify payouts are calculated and why the numbers suggest that Spotify royalties could be trending downward. -Article
Musicians will now be able to monetize their appearances thanks to Facebook Live Events. The new Live Events feature launched on Friday for businesses in the United States, as well as 19 other countries. Head of Facebook App Fidji Simo says the feature was developed quickly to cater to the public’s needs during the pandemic. Twitch made a similar pivot, partnering with SoundCloud to onboard musicians to its platform. -Article
Just last week, estimates pointed to the arrival of a second stimulus check starting August 24th, pending presidential approval of a renewed stimulus relief bill. Now, that relief bill remains completely stalled, with Republicans and Democrats in a hopeless deadlock. -Article
The song leading into the interview is “Oiseaux Exotiques (Exotic birds)” by Olivier Messiaen.
Eric Renick Interview
Damon and Eric start by talking about New Zealand facts and trivia. The festival Eric talks about is Rhythm and Vines. If you would like to visit Hobbiton, you should CLICK HERE to schedule your visit. There are way more sheep than people in NZ. Eric talks about how herds can take over the road. Damon mentions that NZ has some good cheese and butter. The Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is a 300 metre hill in NZ. This is how you pronounce it. Lastly, here is the Tongariro Crossing, and some other places to visit if you do make it to NZ.
Before moving to Auckland, Eric was in the New World Symphony Orchestra.
Damon and Eric talk briefly about having a competent leader in Jacinda Adern and the different levels of lockdown.
The U.S., Liberia and Myanmar are the only countries to use the imperial system of measurement primarily over the metric system (which the rest of the world uses). Why does the US use the imperial system? Because of the British. When the British Empire colonized North America hundreds of years ago, it brought with it the British Imperial System, which was itself a tangled mess of sub-standardized medieval weights and measurements.
Eric talks about his job(s) as the principal percussionist for the orchestra, including some of the challenges, like logistics and travel.
Eric mentions he enjoys playing Messiaen’s - Turangalila-symphonie and Exotic Birds (as mentioned earlier in the show notes). This is the XYLOPHONE EXCERPT that is mentioned.
Eric talks about where to look for possible jobs within the orchestral scene. Musical Chairs, The Musician’s Union, & Audition Cafe are some sites that will have auditions posted.
Here are some tips to having a successful audition. Other things you can do include (but not limited to) playing for others, recording yourself, & going on several auditions.
Eric started wanting to play drums, but also REALLY wanted to play saxophone. Eric’s first introduction to drums was the 80’s toy, Hit Stix back in Greenwood Indiana. Damon and Eric reminisce on some of the best 80’s saxophone songs.
Eric was into marching band and drum corps. One of his instructors was David Herrick who marched in the Madison Scouts in 1976. He even auditioned for the Star of Indiana’s Brass Theater.
Shout-out to Stephenie Wise for bringing out (friend of the show) Nick Angelis to Eric’s high school.
Eric went to Butler University for his undergrad, which is the same school as another friend of the show attended in Jeff Queen.
Shout-out to Jon Crabiel for his mentorship to Eric. From Butler, Eric went to the University of New Mexico. In New Mexico, Eric studied with Scott Ney. While in New Mexico, he worked with the New Mexico Philharmonic.
Damon brings up the Earthships he saw in Taos, NM. Bio-Dome is the movie Eric brings up with Pauly Shore.
Eric was riding with Ted Atkatz when he decided to head to Chicago. In Chicago, he studied with Ed Harrison of Roosevelt University and the Chicago Lyric Opera. Other percussionists he studied with while in Chicago include Ruben Alvarez and Paul Wertico. Next Eric performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He then attended DePaul as a grad student and also studied with Eric Millstein. While in Chicago, he saw the audition for the New World Symphony in Miami and subsequently got the job.
Eric has a new website called ThePercussionER (dot) com. It is meant for both students AND educators.
The book Damon references is called Teaching Rhythm (not percussion). The full title is: Teaching Rhythm: New Strategies and Techniques for Success by David Newell. It is a unique, innovative, and comprehensive textbook devoted exclusively to the teaching of rhythm. This book presents traditional, as well as non-traditional, 21st century, outside-the-box concepts, and strategies relative to the teaching of rhythm.
Below are the Quarantine Rhythms Damon mentions.
Damon and Eric talk about the coronavirus from the viewpoint of living in the USA and watching the USA.
The part of Eric’s website that will showcase other percussionists of different orchestras is the videos section.
Eric uses Zildjian cymbals. Shout-out to (friend of the show) Keith Aleo.
You can follow Eric on his Website, Facebook, and Instagram. You can follow the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra on their Website, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
The song leading out of the interview is “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” performed by Eric during an encore.
The bonus excerpt is Eric telling a story about Ed Harrison and his relationship with the Magic Flute. For those of you interested in the excerpt, you can check it out here.
The song leading out of the bonus is Paul Schoenfield's “Four Parables for Piano and Orchestra - Movement 1.”
