Phil

Flower Power

Phil, AKA “Bruno,” discovered his love for music at a young age. After picking a million quarts of berries for a strawberry farmer, he earned the money to buy his first instrument, a Sears Roebuck cornet. 

In junior high, he learned to appreciate the sound of another instrument – the French horn, as it was known back in the Dark Ages. (In 1971, the International Horn Society renamed it simply The Horn. No, not just Phil’s horn – all horns.) Phil bought his Conn 8-D horn in college, and for some unknown reason, it was dubbed “Mancipal P. Horn” by a fellow hornist. (Spell Check wants to make that “fellow hornets,” but it was actually the girl sitting next to him.) He started as a math major, switched to chemistry, then discovered that he was spending all of his time in the music building. After realizing how much he enjoyed harassing the cute bassoon player sitting in front of him in band, he finally made the right choice to prepare for a career in music. Fortunately for him, the bassoonist decided to marry him anyway. 

After surviving several decades as a band director and then a computer teacher, Phil happily retired. He plays in and sometimes directs the Valparaiso Community/University Concert Band. As Minister of Music at his church, he directs the choir and plays trumpet and flugel horn. He also plays in the professional band Windiana, Ein Prosit German Band, the Alphorngruppe, and the South Shore Brass Band.  He has traveled to Europe with the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp International Community Band and the China with the South Shore Chamber Orchestra.

Phil’s alphorn was carved from alder wood in Anrochte, Germany, and custom painted by his sister in Massachusetts. The painting includes the Alps in the background, with Edelweiss, blue Gentian, and pink Mountain Laurel. (Mountain Laurel is not native to the Alps, but Phil wanted it painted for his wife, Laurel. She appreciates that!)