Toot Your Own Horn: Music Matters with Gail Levinsky (Episode 17)

I am excited that Gail Levinsky is our 17th episode of Toot Your Own Horn: Music Matters and airs on New Year's Day 2025! Gail Levinsky started on the violin in the 3rd grade until her teacher made her feel unsafe in the classroom from the way he behaved in front of the class with another student. While in hindsight it may have been overplayed in her mind, that experience caused her to decide she should play a different instrument and join the band instead of play in the orchestra, at the time. With a brother who played the clarinet 3 years her senior, whom she looked up to, Gail decided that would be her next instrument. Although she didn’t have an instrument of her own, for a long time sharing it with her brother, Gail’s band director discovered that he could ask her to try to play the bass clarinet, the Eb clarinet, and the alto clarinet- because Gail was up for any musical challenge-- before she finally said, ‘that’s enough’! Indeed, it was the alto clarinet that brought her to her instrument- the saxophone. (Of course, it was the alto clarinet that did that.) Having attended my alma mater Northwestern University, Gail always acted like a professional in school, having taught privately in the Garland area in Texas for 7 years, before returning to school for advanced degrees. Her career path was really well thought out, albeit, not fully within her control how it would turn out. From her first job she didn’t dream would be in Mississippi, to her long career as an educator at Susquehanna University, in Pennsylvania, this episode will inspire you to believe if you want to be a musician you can be. Having honored the teachers who inspired her throughout her career, this episode has some wonderful stories of how truly talented students learn from professional musicians while still remaining true to who they are. Wishing all of our listeners to experience the joy of wind playing, like Gail does, in 2025.