Have Bass, Will Travel

ABINGTON SUBURBAN EDITOR

Colleen Ruddy's life is like an Olympian athlete's.

She practices for years for a one-time opportunity.

She is a professional musician.

At 27, Colleen is committed to performing music.

"It's my passion. I know I couldn't be without it in my life," she said at her parents' Clarks Green home. She was there recently after an 11-week North American tour as part of the "Star Wars Symphony Orchestra."

It so happened that upon her return to Boston that weekend, she met John Williams, the prolific American composer, conductor and pianist whose works include the "Star Wars" movie scores.

Life appears to be an ever-opening series of doors for this talented, highly accomplished young woman with dark bobbed hair and striking blue eyes. She looks on opportunities that unfold for her with "perfect timing."

"Ah! It's been fun! I can't wait to see what's next," she said.

From 'Jaws' to 'Star Wars'

The "Star Wars" orchestra was being assembled by a contractor in Boston, where she lives. Several of her colleagues recommended her.

She flew to Florida with her double bass for one day of rehearsals with 85 musicians from all over the country. They went on the road the next day, playing segments of the movie score while large audiences watched corresponding movie scenes on a huge LCD screen. Anthony Daniels, who played the robot C3PO in the Star Wars movies, served as narrator.

The orchestra performed 58 concerts, with 7,000 to 10,000 people at each venue. Whole families came; people "from 6 to 86," she said. Showing the movie scenes while the orchestra played "was a tangible way to see the music performed," she said. Colleen felt she was part of a larger musical purpose. "It opened their eyes to symphonic playing," she said.

Musicians talk. While widening her circle of friends and potential future performances, Colleen "met a nice guy on the tour." Then she laughed. He's a sound engineer. "We try to take things as they come," she said.

Professional musicians live a quasi-nomadic life, going where the work takes them. "Most people try to juggle career and relationships," she observed.

'in love with the sound'

Colleen calls her introduction to the piano in third grade at Clarks Summit Elementary School "pivotal."

She switched to the violin in the fourth grade at Abington Heights Middle School. Her parents, Michael and Cherilynn Ruddy, had bought her a three-quarter size violin. "I loved playing in the orchestra with my friends," she said.

Between fourth and fifth grades, she grew five inches. "My arms were too long" to play her violin, she said. Her parents couldn't afford a new one.Middle school teacher Denise Searfoss suggested she play on a school instrument. Colleen had three choices: a viola, a cello or a double bass.

"I fell in love with the low sounds of the double bass," she said. "I could almost immediately play the theme from (the movie) 'Jaws'" - another Williams' composition.

By seventh grade, she said, "I knew I wanted to play professionally. That was it."

"My father put a huge investment in me," she said. Her dad is a now-retired mail carrier. She said her two younger brothers, Michael and Ryan, used to play the violin until they discovered football.

Bass lessons began. While a junior and senior at Abington Heights High School, she also traveled for lessons to Ithaca College every other weekend. By now she was playing both classical and jazz music, and also played on an electric bass.

She started auditioning for universities.

Encouraging events

Her family supported her decision to become a professional musician. Her AHHS guidance counselor did not.

"Two events (in high school) encouraged me," she said. Before entering her senior year, she attended the prestigious but now-defunct Governor's School for the Arts.

"It was one of the turning points for me," she said. She was the only bass player from the state. "It was very encouraging," she said.

During her senior year, she progressed through the competitive Pennsylvania Music Educators Association district, regional and state orchestra festivals to become the principal bass player in the All-East Orchestra, composed of the best orchestral high school musicians in 13 states.

Ultimately, she received a scholarship from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She also won an F. Lamott Belin Arts Scholarship. She used all of the Belin money to pay for part of her double bass.

Her private lessons were with Jeffrey Turner, the principal bassist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. "He really grounded me on a holistic level - not just musically," she said.

Pittsburgh's cultural environment "nurtured my talent," she said.

Each summer during her college years, she performed in major music festivals, including Kent/Blossom with the Cleveland Orchestra. She also participated in a New York String Orchestra seminar, which included a Christmas Eve concert at Carnegie Hall.

Musical maturity

She graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a bachelor's degree in music performance and a minor in music education.

She then auditioned for a master's degree in music performance at Boston University. She became interested in teaching privately.

"Orchestra playing has been my passion. That's what drives me. But I love teaching as well," she said.

To learn to play music at any age, she said, "It takes patience, an open mind and a good teacher."

At BU, she took lessons from Edwin Barker, the principal bassist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She called him "an amazing musician. ... He helped me mature musically. My ears started to open up to analyze music differently, therefore, I was a different player."

Then she took time off to tour with the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin. The 14 Russians in the string orchestra "didn't speak English; I didn't speak Russian," she said with a smile. But through the language of music, they performed everywhere from Alaska to the Library of Congress and Carnegie Hall.

"Musically, It was very rewarding to play with refined Russian musicians," she said, explaining that their musicianship is renown. "I came back to Boston with a professional approach to playing," she said.

Before and since her 'Star Wars" tour, she has performed with orchestras, chamber groups, solo "and wherever else it takes me."

She said she had strong family support "from the beginning."

As for her own musical tastes, she said, "Right now, I'm on a Mahler kick."

She was at Tanglewood to hear Mahler's Symphony No. 4 when she met John Williams.

'10-minute moment'

Auditions are a way of life. In the U.S., auditions are blind. Colleen plays behind a curtain and is judged solely on her playing.

Typically for an audition, she receives a list of different pieces of music that could total several hours in length. At the audition, she is given 10 minutes to play from different parts of the assigned pieces. There might be 150 to 200 double bass players competing for the one available seat.

"It's like the Olympics," she said. "You practice for years and years for that one moment - that 10-minute moment."

"It's scary," she said with a smile. "But I'll keep going."

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