So Long, John Russell—and Thanks!

Retired ESO timpanist John F. Russell was born in ­Gloucester, England. His parents worked in a nursing home there ­until an American relative in Cicero offered his father work and housing. Britain was rebuilding after World War II, and good jobs were scarce, so the family packed up and came to the States when John was 4 years old. 
John’s first musical influences came from his mother’s side of the family. His grandfather played harmonica and danced soft-shoe, and John had pleasant memories of winding up the old Victrola in the hallway to play 78s for him. He fondly remembers his mother singing to him and his brother at bedtime. She also sang with the Elgin Choral Union (now the Elgin Master Chorale since 2014) until new music reading requirements exceeded her skill; she learned everything by ear. John’s father had played piano as a child but preferred art and eventually worked in the advertising department of the Chicago Sun-Times, among other jobs.
When John was eight, he attended a concert of a school orchestra in which his brother was a violinist. One piece on the program made John decide he wanted to play in an ­orchestra, but not because his brother played the violin. The piece was Leroy Anderson’s The Typewriter, “a strong ­influence toward percussion!” John said, and imitated the delightful “Takatakataka, sringggg, click, bing!” signature of the piece!
John started out on snare drum, but the glockenspiel ­fascinated him in grade school band. It stood all alone across the room, and no one ever played it. After gathering his courage, he boldly strode, hidden, behind the brass and sat down to play. Unfortunately, it was only then he realized he couldn’t read the notes. As a drummer, he only read rhythms. This realization, however, motivated him to make a glockenspiel by drawing the bars on a shirt box, and he taught himself to read real music. Another fond memory of the glockenspiel was adapting the odd 5/4 meter ­second movement of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 as a piece for the band marching in the Veterans Day parade. Unlike a Sousa march always beginning each measure with the left foot, every measure started on the “wrong” foot!  
When John was 12, his family moved to Elgin, and he played percussion in the middle school band. There were two ­timpani but again no one played them, so he once again took over an orphaned instrument. Unlike the glockenspiel, there were only two notes to play, so that takeover was easy this time. Much later in life, he recalls a rehearsal of something loud and fast with the ESO—and losing control of his sticks. One flew into the middle of the orchestra, but no instrument was damaged, and luckily no horn player was harmed. (Sorry, Laura!).
The summer after graduation from high school, he studied piano, trumpet, and flute to prepare for entering Northwestern University as a music major. The highlight of that year was playing the Henry Cowell Percussion Concerto with eight timpani. However other interests prevailed, and he left Northwestern for a year to work as a psychiatric aide at Elgin State Hospital, a life changing experience, and he returned to NU to study psychology instead. 
After college, John worked at a number of jobs, including 10 years as a computer programmer in the 1970s. Married in 1979 to Yvi, a native Italian speaker, and with a newborn son in 1988, it was time for a new career. Yvi was 
teaching Italian at home, and one of her students told her of a cataloging position at the Northwestern University ­Library. His ability to read in several European languages eventually led him to become Special Collections Cataloguer for the Library, where he worked with rare and unusual books ranging from illuminated works from before 1500 to ­manuscripts of Robert Burns. 
John joined the ESO in 1981, two years before the retirement of legendary conductor Frank Miller, who was also ­principal cello of the Chicago Symphony. When asked about his favorite moments with the ESO, John said that there were many over his 44-year tenure, but most memorable was a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances from the ESO’s concert on February 11, 2024. “The music was ­difficult, but the Orchestra responded with great ensemble, intonation and enthusiasm,” he said. “The percussion ­section did especially well with the difficult rhythms.”
He recalls that among the most challenging performances of the ESO was Beethoven’s 9th, where the timpani are ­required to play very fast notes in strict rhythm with the strings. “The temptation is to blur the part for convenience sake, but Beethoven clearly wants to hear every note in ­order to reinforce the violins. And in the second movement you actually play the tune!” A different challenge was Ennio ­Morricone’s theme from the film Cinema Paradiso, which the ESO played in its April 7, 2024, concert. “The timpani don’t often get the tune, but here they play the same line as the basses, and not just two notes!”
John has stepped down from his longtime position as ESO timpanist because of health problems that began after Covid. Nevertheless, he continues to pursue what music he can produce from the organ, the violin, and the recorder. He also writes and maintains a webpage devoted to Robert Louis Stevenson, but here the focus is not on that Scotsman’s ­classic adventure books, but rather on his little-known ­musical compositions. 
Enjoy your retirement, John, and thank you for your many years as the ESO’s outstanding timpanist! 
—Kelly Brest van Kempen