The Inside Story: Gary Dranch and THE DAWN OF THE BICAMERAL CLARINETIST

Imagine the clarinet like you’ve never heard it before — elevated by cutting-edge technology and taking flight to new, uncharted frontiers. With THE DAWN OF THE BICAMERAL CLARINETIST, clarinet virtuoso Dr. Gary Dranch offers an extraordinary exploration of the pivotal era between 1968 and 1979, when portable synthesizers first made their way onto the concert stage. 

Today, Gary is our featured artist in the “Inside Story,” a blog series exploring the inner workings and personalities of our composers and performers. Read on to learn how he’s balanced lives in music and IT, and his passion for travelling and becoming immersed in foreign cultures…

If you weren’t a musician, what would you be doing?

It’s fascinating how my career has woven together the threads of IT and music. If I weren’t a musician, I’d still be deeply entrenched in the world of technology, which has always been my parallel passion. The two fields might seem worlds apart, but for me, they complement each other beautifully. In IT, I thrived on problem-solving and innovation, skills that are surprisingly similar to performing music and creating new sounds. Both require a blend of creativity and analytical thinking, and I’ve often found that breakthroughs in one area can inspire new ideas in the other. Whether I was debugging a piece of code or fine-tuning a melody, there’s been this unique satisfaction in the process of creation and refinement. So, in essence, my dual career in IT and music hasn’t just been about balancing two jobs — it’s been about nurturing two sides of the same creative coin.

How have your influences changed as you’ve grown as a musician?

As I’ve grown as a musician, my influences have shifted from being purely about the technical aspects of performance to a broader appreciation of how music fits into a larger project-based framework. Early on, I was obsessed with perfecting every note, every phrase — relentless in my pursuit of musical excellence, almost to a neurotic degree. But as I’ve matured, I’ve come to see that this obsessive attention to detail is part of a larger goal-driven approach that mirrors the way I worked in IT.

Music projects, much like IT initiatives, take months or even years to fully develop. I’ve always juggled multiple projects at various stages, constantly planning the next big endeavor. This forward-thinking, long-term approach reminds me of the way DevOps operates in the tech world. Balancing both music and IT has also helped me find harmony between my creative and analytical sides. Whenever one mode started to dominate, I shifted gears and tapped into the other, thereby maintaining a healthy balance.

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to perform with several New York performance ensembles, including the Greenwich Village Orchestra, The Westchester Band, and The Lehman Community Band, where I’ve had the privilege of performing as a clarinet soloist. These ensembles have not only kept me evolving as a musician, but they’ve also allowed me to share my passion for creating fresh and engaging musical experiences with enthusiastic audiences. Being part of these vibrant communities continues to fuel my artistic growth and inspire new creative directions.

What were your first musical experiences?

Some of my earliest musical memories involve sitting next to a monaural speaker, completely captivated by an LP recording of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. The powerful sounds of that opera filled the room, and I was utterly mesmerized. Around the same time, I remember swooning to Sidney Bechet’s Petite Fleur. When I started learning the clarinet at age 8, I would try to play along with that record, even though I could barely get through the notes. I was also in awe of Hubert Rostaing, the clarinetist in Django Reinhardt’s Hot Jazz Quintet, and I loved other early clarinet jazz influences like Benny Goodman and Acker Bilk. Those musicians inspired me from the start and really shaped my passion for music — particularly jazz.    

Where and when are you at your most creative?

I’m at my most creative when I’m drawing connections between seemingly unrelated disciplines, particularly music and IT. My transition from a rigorous musical education at The Eastman School of Music to a career in technology may seem unconventional, but the skills I honed as a musician laid the foundation for my success in programming. In music, I learned to analyze and interpret complex compositions, a process not unlike coding. The confidence and performance skills I developed as a soloist have carried over into making elevator pitches to executives, where I showcased ideas with clarity and conviction. My doctoral dissertation explored multidisciplinary collaborations and the acquisition of competencies needed to create contemporary, experimental works of art. As an instrumental performer, I was required to step outside the practice room and learn to network with composers, media planners, photographers, dancers, actors, and electronic music laboratory technicians. I subsequently learned to transfer this same versatility to the world of IT, where successful collaborations with other departments led to the co-creation of automated solutions that produced value for the enterprise.

What are your passions beyond music?

One of my biggest interests outside of music and work is travel, especially when it allows me to immerse myself in the history, culture, and cuisine of different countries. I’ve always been fascinated by how much you can learn about a place through its food, and as an amateur cook, I’m always looking for new culinary inspiration. A few years ago, my family and I did a bicycle tour through Croatia, which included a side trip to Venice and a sailing adventure to Montenegro. More recently, my wife and I fulfilled a dream by purchasing a villa in the south of France, a place that holds special meaning to me since I spent a lot of my childhood there. We’re excited to spend more time abroad, and I’m especially looking forward to reconnecting with my Parisian relatives.

What musical mentor had the greatest impact on your artistic journey? Is there any wisdom they’ve imparted that still resonates today?

I’ve been fortunate to have had many incredible clarinet teachers throughout my musical journey. Two of my earliest influences were Melvin Rodnon and Wallace Shapiro, and I was deeply inspired by Jacques Lancelot as well. My time at Eastman was shaped by studying under Stanley Hasty, and later, I was profoundly influenced by lessons with Robert Marcellus and Joseph Rabbai.

However, the mentor who had the greatest impact on me was Paul Martin Zonn, my thesis advisor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. I even dedicated my album, THE DAWN OF THE BICAMERAL CLARINETIST, to him because he played such a pivotal role in shaping my approach to contemporary music. What stood out about Zonn was his ability to guide me towards understanding what the music was trying to say, often using very few words. He had this incredible way of answering my questions by posing new ones, almost like a Socratic method of teaching. That approach still resonates with me today — it taught me how to think critically and trust my instincts in interpreting music.