Drake Mabry
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Wildcard CV ("in the sense of…") 2021
 
 
Drake Mabry
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +33 625587663
Nice, Côte d'Azur, France
 
 
1950-1962 Growing up without an anchor. Iowa City, Iowa to Burlington, Vermont
Lived in 14 houses (and once in a barracks) by the time I was 12
            Learned to adapt (new classmates, neighborhoods, climate)
            Independence and creativity
 
1953 Seeing a mysterious light in the distance while in the car with my father. It eventually
enveloped us. It scared me. He turned around. 3 years old, Duluth, Minnesota
 
1958 First Summer with grandparents in Norwich, England
            Being American and astounded to see a church built in the 12th century
 
1960 First job requiring a social security card
            Giving away deep-fried scallops on the street corner for the opening of a new 
fish restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky
 
1962 Second summer with grandparents in Norwich, England
            Living with a different culture
 
1963-1967 Surviving the complex years of Junior and Senior High School
Burlington, Vermont, Lake Champlain, oboe lessons in Montreal, Canada
 
1967-1971 Bachelor of Music degree (Oboe)
Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School of Music, New York City
Music, clumsy dating, New York, Siena, Italy & Vermont, marriage
 
1967-1968 Admar Research
Coding and analyzing of the effectiveness of candy bar wrappers
Part-time job while a student in New York
 
1970 Night watchman for the Riverside Church, New York City
            Staying awake, overlapping time with the custodian and his wisdom
NYC at night from the roof of the church building next door
 
1971-1974 First marriage, ending in friendly divorce
 
1972-1975 Principal oboe, San Antonio Symphony
Working together in a team of 90 - sense of unity
Hearing your sound float over the orchestra into space during long solos
 
1976-1978 Master of Music Degree, Rice University, Houston, Texas (Composition)
            Music, music, music, living as an educational sponge, Straight A's
 
1977 Tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet and oboe - Aspen Jazz Ensemble, Colorado
Jazz oboe solo
            Working towards a common goal as a 16-piece big band
            Unwritten aspect of feeling and phrasing
 
1978-1980 Los Angeles Consulting Group, Reeve Darling, owner
            Working in diverse situations including taking secret documents to the Hughes
Aircraft Organization, helping companies in difficulty and entertaining new clients
at the Los Angeles Playboy club
            Rented a room at the house of Reeve and his wife in exchange for free room and
board serving as a health backup in case the two health assistants were indisposed
 
1979 Delivered the Los Angeles Times 3-7 am
            courage, heavy Sunday paper, walking, finding addresses in the dark,
tossing papers up to balconies without damaging hanging plants, human insights
 
1980-1983 Ph.D. in music at the University of California, San Diego (Composition)
            Music, Learning, Straight A's, San Diego Symphony, endless opportunities
Chinese brush painting with Chang Yang
 
1981-1983 Record producer for Philo Records, The Songs of Robert Burns arranged by Serge 
Hovey and sung by Jean Redpath
            Best of the Month and Best of the Year record awards
 
1983-1988 Second marriage, ending in friendly divorce
 
1983-1984 Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
            First teaching job, long preparation of classes, chance opportunity to go to Paris
for a year
 
1984-1985 Musical year in Paris, France 
             Concerts, Museums, Paris, Giverny, Urban Sax, discovery, green beans
 
1986-1988 Drake Mabry Reed Supplies, Westford, Massachusetts
            Running a business, filling orders, Nabnasset Lake, squirrel family, Halley's comet
 
1988-2016 Ministry of Culture, France
            Chosen to be a member of juries for the CA, DE and DUMI diplomas for all 
instruments. I was their wildcard jury member. Also wrote short pieces of music to 
be used in the BAC exams, music specialty. This included classical music, jazz and 
"musique actuelle" styles
 
1990-2010 Third marriage, ending in friendly divorce
 
1999-2007 Director, CEFEDEM Poitiers, France – a teacher training school
            No fill-in mold for teaching but students were given the tools from which they could 
create their own teaching style which would evolve over time and experience.
            Took a classically oriented school and added jazz, traditional music and pop music 
called "musiques actuelles" by the French government.
            Irish, Australian and Vietnamese governments sent commissions to study my school
            98% of my students found work after graduation.
            Chosen among the ten directors of CEFEDEMs in France to represent CEFEDEM for 
a Ministry of Culture project to create a European curriculum for BM, MM and Phd
degree programs for all instruments, music school directors and sound engineers and
in all musical styles for the Ministry of Culture. The commission consisted of five
representatives of educational systems in France – universities, music schools, Paris Conservatory, CFMIs and CEFEDEMs.
           In 2010 I won my lawsuit  after being unjustly ousted in 2006. The 115 documents of support from teachers, former students, conservatory of music directors and the Ministry of Culture attested to my abilities as an administrator, musician, pedagogue as well as my heightened sense of humanity. 

 
2010-2021 Travels:
Egypt, New Zealand, Istanbul, Mexico, USA, England, Casablanca, Athens, Italy, 
Germany, Spain, China, Fiji, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria 
Liechtenstein and Canada
 
2011 - Studying ney (Ismail Hakki) and ebru (Ayla Makas) in Istanbul and meeting the
Sufi community
            An on-going activity of entering into the Sufi world of the ney and ebru which 
provides me with new ways of learning to learn, patience, perseverance, and 
enjoyment of an instrument that is considered the most difficult to play. It's not an 
instrument to master but instead, invites the player into a partnership based on feeling 
and connection. Playing inside the notes opens up a colorful, meaningful parallel 
world that when combined with "this" world, creates unlimited richness and
enlightenment. All of this resulted in my writing a guidebook on how to play the ney 
with new, 21st century techniques.
If my house burned down, I would grab my neys
 
 
Spending my time:
Composing – beginning with a blank page and eventually filling it in
                        Preparation, imagination, craftsmanship
Art – Chinese brush painting and Turkish ebru (painting on water)
Preparation, patience, imagination and diligence, breaking the rules
Photography - looking for lines, angles and light in urban and rural settings
Seeing the expected in surprising places, seeing the unexpected in normal 
places Nikon F2, Sony, Leica digital B&W
Poetry - capturing the moment
 
Also:
            Playing with a lion cub, sleeping on the back of a horse during lunchbreaks, being
monitored by the family dog and its collar bell when I would wander off, even into 
dense woods
 
 
This is the CV that I always dreamed of writing, highlighting the truly important moments in my life.
 


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