-: My name is Bill Richards.
I am a musician and a teacher in the Washington D.C. area.
When I was finishing up my undergraduate work at Temple,
I won the audition for the United States Army Band.
And we moved down to Washington in 1977.
So, that was my first playing job.
Once I got down there and established,
I started to take on some private students
and have been doing that ever since.
I retired from the Army Band in 1997.
During my time with the band
and what I continue to do today,
is work as a freelance musician around Washington D.C.
In 2000, I also took on the job
of percussion instructor at Howard University.
Two to three days at Howard.
The other days I would teach at my house.
Amongst all that, again, I am a freelance musician now.
Last week, I performed with the Washington Ballet.
We had seven performances and three rehearsals.
That was quite a busy week.
This week, I have two concerts this weekend in the district.
When I would get the email,
the first thing I do is I go down and check my book,
my date book, to see if I'm available.
If I'm available, I'll respond and they will say,
"Okay. Someone will be in touch with you regarding music."
And if I know the repertoire and I know who's on the job,
it's pretty easy to figure out what I'll be playing.
Then, the process begins, as far as the preparation.
So the ballet that we just finished
took place in the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center.
And the group that we were working with
was the Washington Ballet and they do not own equipment.
They asked me to bring everything,
which involved three tympany, concert bass drum,
cymbals, snare drum,
and a set of orchestra bells.
So, that was my responsibility for that.
Not this week, but next week, I'm also doing a ballet week,
but that's with a touring company, the Mariinski Ballet.
And that is in the opera house of the Kennedy Center.
That orchestra does have their own equipment.
So, next week, I just come in and play.