TED: I was 9 years old when, after two-plus years of badgering my parents, they bought a piano and I had four years of lessons. When I was 12, the Catholic school I attended started a band program. I was intrigued by the trombone and started in seventh grade. The next year, our family moved and I went to public school. I had never seen things like baritones, tubas, bassoons and low clarinets before. I was fascinated. I started playing tuba in ninth grade. In tenth grade, my high school band director thought I would play better on euphonium. That's where I stayed for the next 50+ years.