Professional and Career Topics

Brian Brenner tells in ASCE's Source how Sonny Rollins practiced playing his saxophone on New York's Williamsburg Bridge, drawing inspiration from its design and atmosphere. One of my coastal engineering classmates played her bagpipes on Florida's sandy beaches. My failed attempts to play the piano might have been more fruitful had I tried it underwater.

Do you play an instrument? Do you practice it in significant setttings?

Hi William,

I know a bunch of ASCE members that are also musicians and I will see if some of them reply to this thread.  When I am not working in the office or out in the field, I am a church organist and do spend a quite a bit of time practicing for services and concerts.  But I always have time for my ASCE committees and meetings!

Thanks,

Greg Kuklinski, P.E., F.ASCE

Lehigh Valley Section

That's great, Greg. Organ players amaze me with their hand and leg coordinated movement and the opportunity to provide a service like church music is wonderful. Am I sacrilegious for loving the work of Deep Purple's Jon Lord?

Bill Mc

I played the double bass professionally.  I've pretty much led two lives, playing music in professiona, Symphony Orchestra and practicing engineering.  After leaving the Air Force band, I had to make a decision which way I would go. I chose to go to engineering school, However, had the desire to try to maintain my Instrument.  It didn't work well at first, specially as a student when I had very little time to practice.  After a while, I settled in and began performing more with orchestras again. I was able to schedule my time to make it work, fortunately.  Now I'm semi retired with a small single person, LLC and performing classical music and jazz more but still doing a small amount of engineering on the side

I am also a bassist and lived 2 concurrent lives for almost 2 decades.  I had Casino Corporate touring band with my wife.  Once we had kids and they got older and busy with sports we had to change our commitment to their needs.  I still stay busy with other bands and wife did/does theater and sings the national anthem at huge events.   Here is a link to our promo video for our Casino band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13g2EjMRQmA&list=RD13g2EjMRQmA&start_radio=1

That's an impressive demo, Travis. I'm a Joan Jett fan, so the "I Love Rock & Roll" especially appealed to me.

Bill Mc

An absorbing avocation like the double bass is a great transition to retirement, Daniel.

We lived in Gainesville for a couple of years. Loved the town.

Bill Mc

So Bill, as the story goes:

A man gets out of NYC's Grand Central Station and gets into a taxi cab.

He asks the driver "Do you know the way to Carnegie Hall?"

"Yes" the cabbie replied:

"Practice, Practice Practice!"

Cheers,

Bill

I do, actually - drums. No bridge or beach for me though; my most adventurous practice spot so far is my garage. Reading about Rollins on the Williamsburg Bridge (and picturing your bagpiping classmate serenading the surf) has me wondering if I've been underselling the acoustics of infrastructure. Maybe it's time to find out what a drum kit sounds like under an overpass.

You need to try the underpass, Tobi, and report back. Hauling your whole kit might be a chore unless you can set up in the back of a pickup truck.

Bill Mc

I used to play cornet / trumpet elementary through high school. I had too much school work to do marching band in college.  My son later picked up trumpet in school and I dug out my old instrument to play along but, alas, I have had three bouts of Bell's Palsy and my lips no longer vibrate as they need to.

40 years ago, when I lived in central Texas, there was an old quarry that had been developed into commercial development and a junior high school.  I heard a sound one day as I was driving past and learned that someone was practicing their bag pipes on the tennis courts, which were situated in the middle of this old quarry, away from the apartments and homes that surrounded it.  They were trying their best to not annoy any neighbors.  Not everyone appreciates the practice it takes to learn to play a musical instrument melodically!

That's a super story, Brad. Bagpipes would echo wonderfully in a quarry. Sorry your return to the trumpet didn't work out.

Bill Mc

Hi William, 

I like to occasionally play bass guitar! It's very fun and can be quite relaxing. Also, there is a sensation I get that the brain processes learning music not too dissimilar to learning math. Perhaps it has something to do with the rhythmic patterns?

Hey, Alina. I envy your ability to play the guitar as relaxation. The connection to math appears to be real, as reported by many researchers. Perhaps that's why my piano playing was so terrible -- math is a nemesis for me.

Bill Mc

I was a musician first, piano, harpsichord, and violin (the last, very badly).  I took a minor in music performance during my engineering degree and played competitively and professionally until my mid-thirties.  (There really aren't any competitions for -- um -- mature people.)  Today, I play for myself, friends, worship servcies, weddings, wedding receptions, and funerals.  Significant settings?  I've discovered that funerals are the most meaningful, working with the family to select meaningful instrumental music and hymns in their time of loss. 

I've also made new engineer-friends discussing music and sharing obscure pieces that might not otherwise get played.  One friend is Robert Peruzzi, who takes his trombone everywhere and plays on the street and in pick-up bands wherever he is.  He particularly enjoyed the Winter 2026 NAFE conference, which took place in New Orleans.

Wow, Rebecca! You are truly a renaissance person with all those demonstrated talents and interests.

The forensic engineering is of personal interest to me. Do you perform structural failures analysis or some other discipline? I've done some environmental FE, often in collaboration with biologists, and enjoyed the work but not navigating the line between potential perpetrators and alleged victims.

Bill Mc

Mostly residential construction defect analysis, with some commercial and some drainage/storm management failures.  As an ethicist, I also get retained to conduct forensic ethical analyses.  Those are always interesting.

William: My dad was a Professor in the Duke Medical School but true to his North Carolina roots loved country music so I got a steady dose of the Grand Ole Opry growing up. I picked up the guitar as an undergraduate at Duke Engineering School and learned to play on my own in order to lead the singing as a Young Life leader (and also to impress the ladies). I bought a Martin D35 and played in a contemporary Christian band before I got married. Playing and singing has always relaxed and uplifted me. Now I play in our church praise band and some local gigs (with my daughter Emily). But what I like best is playing with my wife and our Down Syndrome daughter Emily in our evening worship times. In my later years I have picked up the banjo and mountain dulcimer. One of my favorite memories is attending a Carlos Montoya concert at Duke and I still have the LPs I bought then and play them on my old stereo. I love all types of music but especially worship music and folk and country.

I play bass guitar. Picked it up in college, played in a few bands when I lived in Kansas City. One band opened for Rick Springfield, which was a unique experience since most of the shows we played were at small bars and clubs. The picture below is from a different band and was taken just before my first child was born (2010) at a place called The Brick - The Order of the Engineer ring is proudly displayed! That band put out an EP of originals, one song of which is "Letter" out here: https://legacy.reverbnation.com/genessee/

I don't play in bands any longer, but enjoy messing around occasionally and trying to teach my kids when they ask to be shown a few things. 

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Kensey Russell P.E., M.ASCE
HNTB
Oklahoma City OK
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