William Short

William Short was appointed Principal Bassoon of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 2012. He previously served in the same capacity with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra and has also performed with the Houston and Detroit Symphonies and the Philadelphia Orchestra. William has performed as soloist with the Vermont and Delaware Symphonies, the New York Classical Players, and the Strings Festival Orchestra. He is a founding member of the Gotham Wind Quintet and is a regular performer with Camerata Pacifica and Dolce Suono chamber music series.

A dedicated teacher, William serves on the faculties of The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and Temple University, and is a Valade Fellow at Interlochen Arts Camp. In addition, he is a Visiting Faculty member at The Tianjin Juilliard School and has held visiting guest positions at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has presented classes at colleges and conservatories around the world and at conferences of the International Double Reed Society, for which he served as a board member from 2017-2021.

William has performed and taught at the Lake Champlain, Lake Tahoe, Mostly Mozart, Stellenbosch (South Africa), Strings, and Twickenham Festivals. An occasional arranger, editor, and composer, his works have been published by the Theodore Presser Company and TrevCo-Varner Music.

Committed to forging connections between audiences and performers, William's articles on the subject have been lauded not only by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, but also by noted arts consultant Drew McManus and prolific cultural commentator Norman Lebrecht.

William received his Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Daniel Matsukawa and Bernard Garfield, and his Master of Music at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Kamins. He attended festivals including the Music Academy of the West, Pacific Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and the Verbier Festival. Additional major teachers have included Jeanine Attaway, Kristin Wolfe Jensen, and William Lewis.

It's Not About "Cool."

January 04, 2015  /  William Short

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Here's the thing that bothers me about Jim Rome's ill-considered tweet: He's asking the wrong question.

Marching band shouldn't be about "cool." I'm not saying that it is or isn't—that's too subjective. No, marching band—any extracurricular activity—should be about being good. Good for communities, good for spectators, but mostly good for students.

I wasn't the typical marching band kid: I was serious about making music my life and livelihood. This complicates things for many in my situation, but for me, it was an opportunity to learn how to play percussion, which had a direct and very positive impact on my rhythmic development, not to mention the close friends I made during my four years on drumline.

In contrast, for the vast majority of marching band members, music is a hobby. It provides community; it provides the satisfaction of working toward a tangible goal; it provides the thrill of live performance and gives you a workout along the way. (Marching band is a sport. It just is.)

It's a gateway drug to classical music. I saw or marched shows that included music by Adams, Stravinsky, Mozart, Shostakovich, Dvořák, and so many others. Marching band presents a tremendous opportunity to develop personal connections to the great masterworks of the classical canon. At its best, it's a full-sensory experience of some of the towering achievements in Western art.

Is that cool? I don't know. But it is good.

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