Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, United States
In the last 45 years I have lived across the country - Norman, Oklahoma; Jacksonville and West Palm Beach, Florida; Kansas City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. I was blessed to study at three of the finest music schools in the country (UMKC Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory and the University of Southern California) with some of the most luminary musicians in the world, including members of the San Francisco Symphony, the LA Philharmonic, and legends in the film music industry. I attended music school for 11 years, ultimately obtaining my Doctorate in Horn Performance from USC in 2002 with the intention of teaching college and playing in the film music industry. During my time as a student, I won numerous awards as a soloist and performed as a professional musician in many groups in Missouri, California and Utah. My final year as a student, the first of two cataclysmic world events happened which would bookend my professional career. The events surrounding 9/11 profoundly affected me and I decided to pursue a career outside of music as a paralegal for law firms in the LA area. Fifteen years later, I retired and began playing again, nurtured my genealogy business, lost 240 pounds, and became a writer (I’m currently preparing a historical website and blog for the Los Angeles Horn Club, lahornclub.org, which was a focus of my studies in grad school.) I had only been playing again for two years when the second world-changing event which would bookend my music career occurred - the Covid-19 pandemic. My musical groups in California disbanded and I again stopped playing the horn. My husband retired in 2021 during the pandemic (yes, he was part of the “Great Resignation”), and we fled California (our home of 26 years), moving to the refuge of a national forest in the middle of Arkansas. A year later, I began playing horn again in the Hot Springs Concert Band, and that fall learned another instrument (tenor horn) to play in the Natural State Brass Band, a competitive British-style brass band in Little Rock, and also began soloing at churches in Hot Springs Village. By Christmas I was playing professionally again, and in January of 2023 I auditioned for and was accepted into Little Rock Winds. In February I gave my first recital in 21 years; and by fall I was playing principal horn in Arkansas Master’Singers orchestra and Hot Springs Concert Band. My move to Arkansas has provided many new and spiritually fulfilling musical adventures for me. I am excited to see how the Lord is using my talents in this new chapter of my life.
Brass & The Bible is a Christian musical duo consisting of Mary and Tony Ritch. Mary performs traditional hymns and inspirational songs on French horn accompanied by professional prerecorded backing tracks, and her husband Tony recites scripture, song lyrics, and a brief inspirational message in between the musical selections. They have various 25-minute programs suitable for any worship service or holiday presentation. They have performed at churches, senior living facilities, and rescue missions in Hot Springs and Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, and can travel to any location to share their love of God through music. The Ritches both have instrumental music performance degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory and the USC Thornton School of Music. After careers as freelance musicians in Florida, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, California and Utah, and teaching and working as a paralegal, they retired to Arkansas in 2021. More detailed information can be found on Dr. Ritch’s website, maryritch.com. Samples of their work can be seen on their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BrassTheBible-e8w. Donations are appreciated to help pay for music and transportation and may be made via PayPal to @BrassnBible.
• Responsible for assembling and organizing the ensemble of musicians needed for various performances. • Understands the specific musical requirements of a project and efficiently selects, hires, and coordinates the musicians who can best meet those needs. • Oversees logistical aspects of the project, including scheduling rehearsals and ensuring that musicians have the necessary information and resources for a successful collaboration. • Acts as intermediary between the client and the musicians required for a particular musical endeavor. • Assembles orchestras or ensembles to provide live music for special events such as religious holidays, weddings, corporate functions, or private parties.
• Freelance band/orchestral French horn player in performances throughout Southern and Central California, Central Europe, and Arkansas • Published author in peer-reviewed music trade journals • Currently researching and preparing LAHornClub.org, a website and blog about the history of The Los Angeles Horn Club
I first became interested in the LA Horn Club when I was a graduate student at USC. At the time, Vince DeRosa and Jim Decker were still teaching there, and I was one of Decker’s last students. I had a part-time job as music librarian and copyist of the Wendell Hoss Memorial Library of the Los Angeles Horn Club, where I inventoried and catalogued over 1,200 solo and ensemble works for horn and worked with such noted film composers as Elmer Bernstein, Bruce Broughton and Michael Giacchino to prepare the LA Horn Club’s newly-commissioned works for publication and sale. Many years later, I realized that the library was a valuable piece of history worthy of preservation, and I'm currently exploring ways to conserve the collection for future generations of horn players. I'm also interested in documenting the history of the horn players who were members of the LA Horn Club and played on its recordings (as well as the other musicians on their two albums). Information about the better-known players such as Vince and Jim is readily available; however, information about the other players is hard to come by. As a genealogist, I specialize in researching people's stories and family histories, and have employed my genealogical skills to help shed some light on these great players' histories. They all have fascinating stories, and a lot of them are immigrants or first-generation Americans. The stories of how they ended up in Hollywood are fascinating. I will be blogging periodically about a horn player who was a member of the LA Horn Club, or other musicians, conductors and composers who were involved with the LA Horn Club's two recordings. Since there were so many people involved (over 81), it will take me a while, but I hope to have most of them done by the LA Horn Club's 75th anniversary in 2026. Additionally, I will be posting articles about the events which shaped these players' lives and music making in Hollywood in general.