ROBERT CARPENTER: TUBA PLAYER, ROCKET SCIENTIST.

OPO: Mr. Carpenter, you have a musical background and an engineering background. Tell us a little bit about both.

RC:  Well, I studied both music and science in high school, and then continued at Northwestern University, where I was awarded a Bachelor of Music in performance, and also a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.  I studied for 5 years with Arnold Jacobs, the legendary tubist and guru of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, so my music education was incredible.  I never changed my life study and practice habits or lost interest, and have been incredibly fortunate to maintain dual careers.

OPO: How did you get a job with NASA? What did you do for them?

RC:  I was playing a tuba gig with a German band, and the accordion player was a NASA engineer.  He told me who to contact in human resources, and I pestered him until he let me come interview.  It turns out NASA likes musicians, and that was part of the reason they hired me.

I worked on space shuttle instrumentation, preparing shuttles for over 50 flights.  It was a “bigger than life” kind of job. I had the thrill of operating the systems in the flight control room during many launches.  I was one of those guys on TV, saying “ready for launch,” and sending commands to the astronauts and to flight hardware.

OPO: Wow! That sounds like an incredible job. What do you do now?

RC:  I have the honor of being principal  tubist with the OPO.  I am engaged as an artist and developer for Kanstul Musical Instruments, where I get to lead a project developing tubas.  I also am a project management and engineering advisor to the U.S. Army, here in Orlando.  There, I work with an office that manages the development of complex electronics that are used to test Army assets.

OPO: Engineering and playing music seem like two very different jobs. Do you feel like there are similarities between the two?

RC:  I did not realize it when I was starting out after school, but now I realize that there are incredible similarities, and that they compliment my thinking process.  For example, a musician makes hundreds of decisions in any given minute while playing in an orchestra, reacting in real time.  This was desirable by NASA, because that is what is needed to handle a space shuttle launch. My engineering career has centered around testing and evaluation, which is something musicians are constantly doing.

Without getting too deep, music involves frequency analysis, and musicians are constantly aware of the overtones of their instruments.  Overtones, “harmonics” are naturally occurring phenomena, throughout the scientific world, and are especially interesting to transmitter (radio) and antenna developers.  So I find myself frequently having very similar discussions with engineers and musicians, but for different reasons.

OPO: How long have you been with the Orlando Philharmonic? What is your favorite part about this orchestra?

RC:  I started with the OPO on its first day!  (Oh my gosh…almost 20 years ago).  The people that make up the OPO are my favorite part.  By this I mean everyone – the performing musicians and conductors, the staff, the board of directors, and also the patrons.  I have personal relationships with people in each of these groups.  The orchestra is a thrill to play with.  It is a great orchestra, with fabulous musicians in every section.

OPO: What is your favorite memory with the Orlando Philharmonic?

RC:  In the early days of the OPO, we played a lot of outdoor pops concerts, which was tremendous fun for me.  One day, we were performing at Mead Gardens, in Winter Park, and the clouds opened up very suddenly, with a famous Florida rainstorm.  Maestro Andrew Lane turned around and kindly invited the audience to come under the cover with the orchestra, and many of them did.  So as I recall, we went on and played in the rain with the audience standing right next to us.  It was a special time.

OPO:  What is your favorite piece of music to perform?

RC: Favorite piece…I have to say it is Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5.  We are performing this piece in March 2012.  In this piece, the tuba has soloistic roles in the orchestra, and also plays as part of several sections of the orchestra (plays with the basses, the horns, the trombones…). Beautiful writing for the tuba.

OPO: You are currently working on a project with Kanstul, the instrument manufacturer. Tell us about that.

RC:  Without going into detail (yet), we have redeveloped an instrument that has all but been lost.  J.W. York built tubas from about 1900 until 1939, that are to the tuba as Stradivarius is to the violin.  They had not been successfully sonically replicated, until now.  My project partner, Tom Treece, and I applied our science and project management backgrounds to the problem, and engaged Zig Kanstul, who also has strong ties and history to York.  Kanstul, with our help, designed and now manufactures several tuba models.  We are working with tubists in the Boston Symphony and Chicago Symphony, and modified the Boston Symphony’s large orchestral tuba with our tuba bell, with excellent results and acclaim from the BSO brass section.  And we just finished development of our first complete new large tuba designed for symphony orchestras.  Can you tell I’m excited about this?

OPO: How does your tuba development project fit in with the Orlando Philharmonic?

RC:  The OPO has been incredibly helpful!  I have tested many prototype and test article tubas with a real professional symphony orchestra.  This has been a critical part of the development.  Tubas, because they are low pitched, and have a lot of overtones, impact every instrument in the orchestra.  So when I play, it affects the overall sound of the orchestra.  Members of the orchestra have provided a lot of feedback that would otherwise never be known.  Maestro Chris Wilkins has been very helpful and patient, while I bring 4 or 5 tubas on stage during a rehearsal for testing during actual masterworks rehearsals.  With Tom Treece listening and judging the tubas at OPO events, we determined the effectiveness of the development efforts.  OPO has been crucial and supportive of the project.

OPO: Do you find that being an engineer helps you be a better musician?

RC:  Being an engineer, and working in another discipline has made me appreciate  being a musician, and value the opportunity from a unique perspective.  I feel so fortunate every time I get to sit with my orchestra and play music.  It has also made me approach things and think in a different way than I would if I were not in the sciences.  In a tangible and significant way, being an engineer has enabled me to give back to my art form both financially and through efforts like the tuba development with Kanstul.

OPO: What do you enjoy doing when you are not playing tuba or working with the Army?

RC:  I have a fantastic family and great friends.  My wife, Julia, and my two boys Alex and William (13 and 9) are all brilliant and full of humor.  So we watch dumb movies and play football, and have a lot of fun.  When they aren’t looking, I like to brew beer and ride motorcycles!  Fun!

Principal Tuba

Robert Carpenter (Tuba) has held the chair of Principal Tuba in the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra (OPO) since its inception in 1993.  Robert has combined careers in musical performance and also in the sciences.  In addition to the OPO, Robert is a founding member of Sovereign Brass, and performs often with symphony orchestras throughout the southeast.  Robert has performed as an invited guest artist at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute in Massachusetts, and for several years, served on the Rollins College music school faculty. Robert is a performing artist and development consultant for Kanstul Musical Instruments, in Anaheim, CA.  He provides technical input regarding materials and processes, and also performance quality assessments during instrument development.  Kanstul’s new line of tubas is now being played in major American symphony orchestras.

In 1988, Robert received two bachelor degrees from Northwestern University – one in Music Performance and another in Electrical Engineering.  While at Northwestern, Robert studied with Mr. Arnold Jacobs, of the Chicago Symphony, and performed as a member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Evanston Symphony Orchestra, and Lake Forest Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to a full musical life, Robert is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE), a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and also a Certified Modeling and Simulation Professional (CMSP).  Robert was a systems engineer for NASA, responsible for Space Shuttle instrumentation systems during launch operations.  He is currently an advisor to the U.S. Army, providing management and engineering support for research and development of complex testing capabilities.