Today we’d like to introduce you to Ronnie Sanders.
Hi Ronnie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in the Alamo city, San Antonio, Texas. My family was very musical, aunts, uncles, grandparents all played an instrument or sang, or both. It was very natural to have family sing-a-longs for entertainment. I thought all families did that.
After high-school, When I went to college – I found out that was not the case.
My mother encouraged me to take guitar lessons when I was 14. I flatly refused. As a compromise, I told her I would agree to take one month of lessons ONLY – and that’s it,
After the first lesson I played my first G chord – it was fun! Then I played three or four more chords the guitar teacher taught me.
I was hooked! (I think my mother may have known I’d take to an instrument!)
We started singing in a local church choir, the I joined my high school choir. Then on to college with a music scholarship.
Now I am a composer, an author, conductor and educational consultant for secondary music education. I even conducted in Carnegie Hall.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My greatest struggle was college algebra. I couldn’t figure it out – After many attempts, I finally passed it in college.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I compose music for choirs, performed all over the world. My work, the “Margil Mass” is perhaps the most well known. Written to honor the founder of the missions in San Antonio, Father Antonio Magil, it is a combination of two worlds – 15th century music with a modern harmonic language. https://youtu.be/BuxgT1-KVZY?si=4s0jyAEwy1bj3Tf2
I’m a background Hollywood actor, in several motion pictures and made-for-TV films. Yellowstone’s “1923”, “The Son” with Pierce Brosnan (Season 1, Episodes 1 and 10), “The Long Road Home” by Martha Raddits, “Hysteria” with Mena Suvari,
I am also a painter, using oils to create beautiful outdoor scenery.
I am a writer, and contributor of the composer Tarik O’Regan in the New Grove Book of Music and Musicians.
I served as a state Commissioner on the Texas Commission on the Arts from 2011 – 2018.
I have written a music curriculum that is used all over the U.S., Canada and the U.K. called Sight Singing Made EZ. There are currently 21 volumes for all kinds of choirs. https://beta.jwpepper.com/sight-singing-made-ez-10482773-331749/p
I have an earned doctorate in music from Boston University.
In 2005, I conducted the New England Philharmonic orchestra in Carnegie Hall (see picture).
Who else deserves credit in your story?
I suppose my mother had the greatest impact on my life – always supportive, giving, forgiving, kind, just and fair, she is the one who made sure music was a part of my life.
Plus there are two teachers who influenced me. If these two people had not intersected their lives with mine, I’m not sure I’d be where I am today: Mrs. Irma Taute and Ken Fulton.
Mrs. Taute was my high school choir director. The three years I spent in high school were guided by her hand. She pushed her students to achieve excellence. Ken Fulton was my college choir director at Texas State University, in San Marcos, Texas. He also was a no-nonsense, no excuses kind of leader. Through his teaching, he taught me to never settle for mediocre effort and to always strive for perfection.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ronniesanders.net
- Instagram: southtexassymphonicorc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ronnie.b.sanders
- Youtube: @ronniesanders3675
- Other: https://youtu.be/be7E_OQi_DU?si=P8HLwH5kcleA0MjM
