Remembering Bill

Thinking of Bill today. I knew Bill Bennett for several years while living and working toward my master's degree in oboe performance in San Francisco. There are several things that stick out in my mind about him; the main one being that though he must have faced great amounts of stress and adversity in his day to day professional life, he was never ill natured. Bill was always in a likeable way. I think that this simple trait is something that sometimes people take for granted in the music profession. How much one's attitude can affect circumstances. If there is one thing I take away from having known Bill, I think this would have to be it.
He was always striving forward, trying to be creative and think of new ways to interpret music. Even if it was a piece he had known for years and interpreted a number of times already in performance. I remember him bringing to studio class once a big pile of opera arias, all of the most famous ones. When he asked us each to choose a different one and interpret it as if we were a singer, we all thought he was crazy. As the next week arrived and we played his arrangements, I think it taught us all something about musicality, interpretation and the capability of the oboe as a supremely vocal instrument.
I can't imagine how he will be missed by the orchestra, his oboe section, and his family. I am sure the orchestra will eventually find his successor, though I don't envy the person who will have to fill Bill's shoes simply because it will be an impossible feat.
You can read the San Francisco Symphony's statement if you so choose.

I actually just went online to Forrests and purchased this. I have never owned one, but will now proudly have it in my oboe studio to remind me of Bill and his legacy, and so that I can tell my students about him when they look at it :)