We recently connected with Jenna Boone and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jenna, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on was my timpani method book: One-Handed Etudes and Solos for Timpani. It was meaningful not only because it was the first of its kind, but also because I used my experience with injury to write it. Five years ago during my undergrad, I developed De Quervain’s tenosynovitis in both of my wrists. I thought it would go away shortly with enough rest and ice. After various braces and splints, multiple injections, two surgeries, and a year and a half off from playing later, it persisted, but now with tendinosis too. However, this never stopped me on my academic journey. I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree and immediately started my Master’s degree with the persisting pain. It became evident early on that composing music could be added to my curriculum. I started by writing a couple of timpani etudes, but they quickly grew into the book that exists today. I spent my Master’s degree writing the book and submitted it for my culminating degree requirement. Instead of letting the pain keep me away from the field, I used it to fuel my motivation to help fill the gap of accommodating musical resources. The book is now available for purchase on my website.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was born (b. 1998) and raised in California and I knew by my junior year of high school that music was going to be more than just a fun elective. Thanks to the great music educators I had, I was able to earn both my BM in Percussion Performance Music Education and my MM in Percussion Performance from California State University, Sacramento. Throughout those two degrees, I performed in various masterclasses, the Northwest Percussion Festival, and won the Festival of New American Music Student Performer’s Competition three times. Outside of school, I also performed with Northern California groups such as Modesto Opera, Sacramento Master Singers, and Vox Musica and Austin groups such as the Austin Civic Orchestra.

Based on my experience with gender inequality and inaccessibility in the field, I push for performing more works by women and creating more accessible music for those with injury and disability. My notable achievements include the U.S. premiere of Concerto Grosso for Timpani and Piano by Maya Badian, the only timpani concerto written by a woman, commissioning and premiering the first one-handed timpani solo and composing the first one-handed timpani method book.

I’m currently pursuing my DMA in Percussion Performance at the University of Texas at Austin with a teaching assistantship for an undergraduate film music and sound class. Compositionally, I am writing a large work for solo marimba to be premiered in the fall.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Creating better accessibility in the field of percussion has driven me in recent years. It took me getting hurt to realize what little I could keep doing and that was frustrating. Even though injury and disability can happen at any point in someone’s life, there are still not many accessible resources we can draw on. I’m hoping to help change that.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Physically and mentally persisting until you run yourself into the ground. I originally learned that if I can keep doing something, even if the quality of my work is subpar, I should keep going until I physically can’t anymore. It took me a long time to realize that this wasn’t okay. If I’m sick, I shouldn’t wait until I’m “on my death bed” to finally stop and rest. I realized that staying up all night after 15-hour days to finish homework meant my homework quality was subpar. If I had gotten some sleep and woken up early in the morning to complete the assignments or just completed the assignment the next day when I was well-rested, I probably could’ve gotten more points on assignments, even if I did turn it in late. Will there be times when I have to meet a deadline no matter what? Sure. But there will be plenty of times when that’s not the case.

Contact Info:

• Website: jennaboone.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiptoptimpanist/
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/@tiptoptimpanist

Image Credits
@vanillasacs on Instagram for the 5th image. Thea Venturanza for the 6th and 7th images. Erwin Wibowo for the 8th image.