Friends & Neighbors: Meet the musician you've always heard

Top: Marshall Philharmonic Orchestra and Marshall Community Chorus perform at the orchestra's annual Christmas concert Sunday, Dec. 4, in Harold L. Lickey Memorial Auditorium at Bueker Middle School. Sitting in on French horn was retired L.A. Philharmonic musician Bill Lane. Above left: Lane talks with MPO trumpeter Steve Green prior to the concert. Above right: Lane plays during the concert. In the foreground is MPO flute and piccolo player and Marshall High School Band Director Kate Farris. (Eric Crump/Democrat-News) [Order this photo]

But not a new sound.

Anyone who has watched television or seen films in the past several decades has probably heard Bill Lane's French horn.

Lane is retired from first chair in the horn section of the L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra.

But in addition to a nearly four-decade career with the orchestra, he has for many years performed music for film and television shows.

The list of titles includes some of the most popular movies and shows of the era: "Little House on the Prairie," "Starsky and Hutch," "Dynasty," "Dallas," "Love Boat," "The Simpsons," "Family Guy" and "Night Rider," to name a few.

He has also contributed to recent films like "Pirates of the Carribean," "War Horse," "Green Lantern" and "Fast and Furious."

Studio work, he said, is "90 percent preparation and 10 percent sheer terror.

"You never know what you're going to do, until you get there."

All that popular entertainment work had to be fit around the rigors of playing for the LAPO -- especially challenging in later years when he had duties as the sole principal horn player to tend.

The orchestra, with its 52-week season, was a full-time job.

"When you aren't playing, you're practicing," he said, noting that he always had "a mountain of music" to prepare for.

The TV jobs have been fewer in recent years. At one point, shows went from having live performers to using synthesizers, and that dramatically effected that part of his career.

Since retiring, Lane spends more time at the family farm near Knob Noster.

He chuckles a bit, as he notes that a mid-Missouri band lists him in the program as a farmer rather than as a professional musician.

"I appreciate that, because my family were farmers," he said. "It's better than tooting your own horn."

His family also has roots in Marshall.

His mother, the former Mary Charlotte Laurie, graduated from Marshall High School in the late 1930s.

His grandfather once owned a drug store on the northwest corner of the Marshall square.

His mother and father met while attending Missouri Valley College in Marshall.

Both his parents were talented musicians. His mother played violin in high school and played piano, too.

His father was a singer.

"He was really good," Lane said. "He sang opererttas."

His father ended up remaining in mid-Missouri to farm rather than pursuing a profession as a singer.

But he sang all his life for pleasure.

"He would sing in restaurants," Lane said. "That's very embarrassing to a kid."

Lane credits his mother for getting him involved in music.

When he was 10 years old, his family was living in Illinois.

"She took me to a St. Louis Symphony concert at the college," he said. "She asked me which instrument I would like to play."

He told her he thought the tuba or harp would be fine.

"The next day, she came home with a French horn," he said. "I think that's what she really wanted me to choose.

"It worked out really well, though."

One complication was the lack of horn teachers in the town.

Lane's mother solved the problem by teaching him herself.

She taught him the basics of music and the horn. Moreover, she helped him become disciplined.

"She kept me focused," he said.

Like most kids, his interest flagged on occasion, but his mother helped him keep going.

"Most of learning anything is time on the instrument," he said.

And when he grew tired of practicing, and preferred to play with friends, she made deals with him, keeping him practicing at least a half-hour per day.

When summer came, he went to a music camp.

"That was a mind-setting experience," he said.

Not an easy one, though. Without a real horn teacher to guide him, he came to camp with little knowledge compared to the other campers.

There were 25 horn players there.

"I was the worst one," he said. "I didn't know anything."

He not only learned fast, but he was energized by being around so many other musicians.

"It sounded good to be in the middle of all this sound," he said. "It was exhilarating."

From then on, he was really hooked.

"I was devouring everything," he said.

Lane said he offered to perform with Marshall Philharmonic Orchestra after another horn player couldn't attend the concert and asked him to fill in.

He said it might not be the last time Marshall music patrons see him play, though.

He said he is interested in performing again with MPO and is interested in Marshall Municipal Band's summer season, too.

According to a biography on the L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra website, Lane studied at the University of Kansas and the New England Conservatory of Music.

He played solo horn for the Buffalo Philharmonic for six years before joining the L.A. orchestra. He also appeared as a soloist with the Boston Symphony.

Contact Eric Crump at ecrump@marshallnews.com

Online:
www.laphil.com/philpedia/artist-detail.c...