Timothy Muffit

On the eve of most performances by the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Music Director Timothy Muffit goes on air on Max 94.1 with Supa Mike and DJ Incredible to play some Brahms and Beethoven for listeners more attuned to Beyoncé and the Black Eyed Peas. So this Connecticut-born maestro is taking classical music to new places in local culture. Here he tells 225 the benefits of big sisters, live music, and letting your 11-year-old listen to hip hop.

You started playing piano, viola and trumpet at an early age. Were your parents musicians?

My mother was a high school English teacher, but her mother was an accomplished pianist, and my mother did play in the house. My father had also an interest in music. He was retired from the Navy and a hospital administrator. I remember he taught himself to play the organ well into his 50s.

Who were your big musical influences early on?

In our home it was my sister, Diane. Now she’s a professional musician and teaches in Boston public schools. She was older so I grew up hearing her practice. She was very dedicated, and I remember her playing hours and hours a day. I liked what I was hearing.

Do you have a favorite teacher or memory from your days in public school music programs?

It was just the entire group of people throughout my development that understood the importance of music, and the power of music to reach people. That’s the lesson we learned every day, and it inspired us. Like any kid I didn’t want to practice every day. But I stuck with it, and once you cross the threshold where you realize it’s really important to you, the inspiration to practice is stronger.

What age was that for you?

Probably around junior high. But from the very beginning I knew music was going to be a big part of my life. It was a powerful connection for me.

What music first grabbed you as a kid?

Classical was really my main fare. In high school I started to notice some other popular music. Most of that was through radio shows like The King Biscuit Flower Hour that had live broadcasts of rock-n-roll concerts. One day I was flipping through the dial, and I stopped because I heard this symphony orchestra playing, only they were playing with some band. And it was really great music. I remember that night as clear as it was yesterday—hearing that on the radio and going “What is this? This is pretty powerful.” It turned out to be Emerson, Lake & Palmer. They were doing a world tour with a symphony orchestra. I thought that was an inspired collaboration. They incorporated a lot of classical music. They did a whole album of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, which is one of our staples at the symphony.

What composers were you drawn to as a teenager?

That was a time of incredible discovery for me. Anton Bruckner was new to me, for example. I was in a record club where you had to buy a certain number of them, so I got all I could get my hands on. Steve Reich was a minimalist composer at the time who opened up a whole new world of electronic and acoustic music. I was also really fascinated by Renaissance and Medieval music, both vocal and instrumental, which is way outside of what I do now.

What composer biographies have you read, and who can’t you get enough of?

Sometimes, for example Brahms, his musical creation is so perfect it’s hard to believe it was created by a living, breathing person. It’s like looking at the Parthenon, or the sun and sky, like it’s always been there. For me it’s great to read about Brahms to know that this was a guy who got up in the morning and lived a life like the rest of us. Then there are composers whose music is so reflective of their life, which would be the case of Tchaikovsky, that it’s wonderful and insightful to dig deeper into the details.

With such a heavy schedule of traveling and performing, do you have to make time to listen to music?

It’s interesting you ask that because I do try to set aside a few blocks of time to listen to music. It’s great to just sit down and listen and do nothing else. Part of that is to broaden my horizons and to hear pieces that are outside of my area, like chamber music. It also reminds me what it’s like to be in the audience, to hear music for the first time. It’s always inspiring. It brings me back to my work with a renewed enthusiasm.

What contemporary music do you enjoy that might surprise people?

It’s interesting having two children aged 11 and 8. When we’re in the car I’m listening to what they want to listen to. My son loves hip hop, and there’s some inspired things being done in that realm. And then I just love to experience any type of live music that is great, to hear something being created for people. Live music is best when there’s a connection with the audience. There’s an electricity there that doesn’t happen over the iPod.