ometimes, a hobby like cooking, sports, or engineering may become a focus in your life. If you are lucky, that focus can become a passion, and if you follow that passion, you will never feel like you’ve worked a day in your life. Such is the case of David Vose, conductor of the Deep Blue "C" Studio Orchestra of Maine. David’s interest in music was kickstarted by his father, a trumpet player. Wanting to give it a shot, David began taking trumpet lessons, but he quickly became fascinated by the drummers in his music classes. A drummer friend of David’s taught him a pattern to play. David would practice it over and over until he got it right. Then he would start on another pattern, then another, until his focus on drumming became his passion. He idolized an older drummer, a talented 24 • MAINE SENIORS
student who went on to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston. In David’s mind, that meant he had to go to Berklee, too. David remarks that his days as a student at Berklee were some of his fondest memories as a young man. Those days were primarily spent learning music, but he also taught on the side. After graduating, David played for The Drifters and Freddy Cannon, but his experiences teaching others had helped him realize that he was most interested in music education. Besides, he knew the hectic world of rock and roll just wasn’t for him. So, when his alma mater offered him a teaching job, he jumped at the opportunity. Forty years later, David retired from the college having published over 50 articles, books, and arrangements and having been inducted into
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the Massachusetts Music Educators Hall of Fame. Even during his decadeslong teaching career, David continued to perform in the orchestra pit for various musical events. To this day he still performs with the Patriot Fife & Drum Duo as a regular at the Paul Revere House in Boston, Strawberry Banke Museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and at the Christmas Stroll in Kennebunkport, Maine. He also founded and conducts the Maine-based orchestra, the Deep Blue "C" Studio Orchestra. Today, four years after its founding, the Deep Blue "C" Studio Orchestra remains David’s passion. Seventeen members strong, it’s divided into horn, string, guitar, and percussion sections, along with outstanding vocalists. A crowd favorite is titled Composers and Their Songs: Songs from Bernstein to Lennon and
PHOTOS: (TOP) ROBERT DENNIS; (RIGHT) COURTESY DEEP BLUE "C" STUDIO ORCHESTRA
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A Passion for Music
