Professor Claire Taylor can do it all.
Taylor is the current Professor of Bassoon at Millikin University. This Saturday, she will be performing John Williams’ “The Five Sacred Trees” Bassoon Concerto with the Millikin Decatur Symphony Orchestra.
Professor Taylor grew up in Decatur and around Millikin. With both of her parents as musicians, she joked about not wanting to “go into the family business.”
For her undergraduate degree, she pursued a double major in Biology and Music at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. After graduation, she spent her summers out west in Wyoming and Utah working for the Bureau of Land Management and winters on cruise ships doing music.
Fourteen years ago, a job at the Macon County Conservation District brought her back to Decatur.
Despite her work in the lab, she began playing music more and more and found herself wanting to come back to music. Professor Taylor then got her Masters in Bassoon from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a job at Millikin.
“Way back when, I played cello with MDSO when I was in high school as an intern,” Professor Taylor said. Since getting her adjunct position, Taylor has been the Principal Bassoonist of the Millikin Decatur Symphony Orchestra.
When Dr. William McClain, MDSO’s conductor, programmed this piece, Professor Taylor knew she had a “lot of work” ahead of her.
The scariest part? She only has two rehearsals with the orchestra before it’s performed.
She started preparing for this concert back in June. There’s “lots of stuff on the page.” This preparation consisted of lots of slow practice and really understanding the mythology behind “The Five Sacred Trees”.
“They all have things I’ve learned to love about them,” Professor Taylor said. She did point out that the second movement, Torten, is very fun and mischievous and the most rhythmic.
Earlier this month, Professor Taylor hosted a small lecture recital about the piece at Rock Springs.
“Man, I’m doing this piece that has to do with nature, which is a love of mine and a focus of my career,” she said.
So, she reached out to the conservation district and was even able to get a small hike through Rock Springs added to the event.
“I was happy there were people I didn’t know,” she said.
As for the day of preparations, it won’t be all rest and relaxation. Professor Taylor, alongside Professor Evan Tammen, Millikin’s Adjunct Instructor of Oboe and the Principal Oboist of the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, will be hosting a Double Reed Chamber Fest, an opportunity for oboists and bassoonists of any age to work together in small and large group settings.
This event will run from 1-5 p.m. on Saturday, with a closing concert at 4 p.m. in Kaeuper Hall that is open to the public. This concert will feature not only the people at the event, but also the Millikin Bassoon Studio.
Outside of teaching bassoon and performing with the MDSO, Professor Taylor coaches chamber ensembles and Blubop and teaches classes, such as Music Theory and Double Reed Methods.
Outside of Millikin, Taylor teaches band in Decatur Public Schools, is the music director at First Presbyterian Church, does instrument repair, and performs with a variety of area orchestras and her very own jazz group.
“There are lots of different ways to have music in your life,” Professor Taylor said. “Music was the thing that was fun that wasn’t my job, [but] music made me stand out as a candidate.”
Masterworks II: American Soundscapes will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 9th in Kirkland Fine Arts Center. Tickets can be purchased online or at the door, and Millikin students even get in free with their Millikin ID.
