We were lucky to catch up with Rich Holly recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Rich thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I have a joyful and vivid memory of first wanting to play music: At age six, I came down the stairs of my childhood home, stepped into the living room, and saw my parents watching television. I turned to watch just as the camera was zooming in on a drummer. Once the camera zoomed out, I turned to my parents and asked “Can I get a pair of drumsticks?” Two days later, on his way home from work, my father stopped at a music store and bought a pair of sticks for me. Not owning any drums, I used a chair with a vinyl seat and metal back as my snare drum and cymbal, and upturned plastic trash cans as my tom toms. I played along with anything and everything that was being aired on the radio. My first lessons were at age nine, and by then I was practicing two to three hours a day and playing in the elementary school band. At age 12 I got my first drum kit, joined my first rock band, and also started playing percussion in orchestras. I continued adding percussion instruments to my practice and performance regimens throughout junior high and high school, went to college and graduate school to major in percussion performance, and played hundreds of professional performances while in school. For me, it has all come down to passion and joy – I get such a heartwarming feeling when I’m involved in making music.
Having spent many years in arts leadership positions, I often speak with high school and college music students. What I tell them often gains a reaction of surprise – while they certainly need to listen to a great deal of music and practice more than they think they need to, just as important are communication (written and speaking) skills, curiosity, and business acumen. I was extremely fortunate that my mother was an executive assistant to a corporate CEO and taught me much about budgeting and organization during my childhood. These skills are imperative in today’s world, likely even more so than when I was in my development years.
We all face obstacles along the way. For me, many have been health-related. My parents were not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, and I started working part-time at nine (yes, 9!) years old. I knew to save my money for larger, more meaningful items which allowed me to buy instruments and recordings and decent stereo systems along the way. For me, I’ve found it very helpful to look at the long-term goal and not focus on the obstacles. Do what you must to put the obstacle behind you and get right back on the road to improvement and success.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I frequently give credit where credit is due. To my parents, for allowing me to play drums and hold rock and jazz rehearsals in our house, and to the many teachers and mentors I’ve had throughout the years for the great opportunities they afforded me and their tremendous advice, urging, and support. As you’ve read, I got into music through sheer joy and fun, and realized that’s what I want to spend my life doing. Gaining a full-time university professorship was my goal, and for those of you not familiar with that process, institutions conduct a national search for their professors. And in percussion, since most institutions have only one percussion professor, those positions are few and far between. To this day I still feel fortunate that I was able to gain such a position right out of graduate school, launching my career all those years ago.
In addition to having served for 4-plus decades as a professor of percussion and jazz and world music, I have been a composer since my high school years. I have been an author since my junior year in college, and I have held arts leadership positions for more than 30 years. I have had the great fortune to perform around the world, be published over 150 times, and compose and arrange music for live performance, films, and visual art exhibitions.
Now that I am retired from higher education, I’ve gotten back to what started it all – the joy and fun of making music. I am providing the recorded drum tracks to other rock/jazz/fusion composers, composing a variety of works for projects from custom birthday songs to documentary and feature film scores, and consulting as a higher education and non-profit organization arts leader. I help early- and mid-career higher education music professors with their application documents and career goals, and continue to write and edit when possible.
One thing that I believe is not stated often enough is that it’s important we all strive to be servant leaders. You might find that your career is as a sole proprietor (solo artistry) yet the servant leader mindset will serve you very well in your communications with venues, agents, managers, and so on. You may move into actual leadership positions, and this approach will endear you to your colleagues and earn loyalty more quickly and firmly than any other approach. Having the belief and subsequent actions that you are here to help others succeed will bring immense joy to you and the people you work with and for.
This is why it’s important to me that in working with others we have clear and ongoing communications. I want to provide the best service possible, and I want us both to have fun along the way!
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I suspect any number of us can extoll the virtues of living at this point in time. The internet, smart phones, social media, streaming services and others allow us to be connected with people, thoughts, ideas, news, entertainment, and shopping at any point in the day, anywhere. And while some of that is truly impressive, I do feel that we have lost and are continuing to lose the sense of being together, in person, with no distractions – “being present.”
I believe that the arts are one of the best, if not THE best, ways to bring people together, and create an end result of no winners vs. losers. While sporting events bring us together, roughly 50% of the spectators are upset or downright mad at the conclusion. Visiting an art museum, going to a concert, play, or dance performance rarely makes anyone upset to that degree. In fact, the arts are the sports team that never loses!
I want to encourage readers to become an arts advocate. We are blessed with a significant (and growing) number of world-class artists in all media, and what we are not spending enough time on is creating audiences for and consumers of these arts offerings. Can you teach a class at a life-long learning institute? Can you earn a seat on your local school board and not cut the arts? Can you host performances or exhibitions at your place of work?
In addition, we all need to work to get our elected officials to understand that the arts ARE jobs. All too often bills are passed providing government benefits to corporations while the arts (which also include many corporations) receive a pittance comparatively. And yet, the arts sector annually contributes more to the US economy than either agriculture or transportation! I hope you will find a way to make it known to your representatives how important the arts are to our communities, economy, and even humanity, so that they will provide economic support to artists and arts organizations.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
One book that I will encourage all artists and all arts leaders to read is “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, as well as his follow-up for non-profit organizations. None of us can do this by ourselves. We all have to be part of a team, a community, join forces for collaborations, etc. While the focus of these is on what makes corporations and organizations great, there is much to be learned about what makes YOU great. What traits, approaches, actions, and goals would make you more successful in your artistry and getting your artistry out into the world. We need as many successful artists of any and all media as possible, and Jim’s books will help you get there!
Image Credits
Head shot: Jay Orbik Bowers Medal (podium): Ross Joyner Rich with Lunna: Robin Harris Rich Holly Caiques drum: Oliver White Rich Quadrivium: Robert Davezac