Today we’d like to introduce you to Shannon Wood.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I remember writing a song with my fraternal twin brother at the age of 5 or 6 and performing it for my parents. It was called “Hot Dog”. Shortly after, I got a toy drum set for Christmas. At the age of 9, I started drum lessons at a local music store in Ann Arbor, MI. In 3rd grade, our school district offered band and orchestra. I took up percussion. At the same time, I started a 3-piece band with my best friend and my brother. We wrote and performed our own music as well as progressive rock band covers, winning Battle of the Bands and recording originals in studio. The GW Connection lasted through college, and had a reunion performance at our 30th high school reunion. I attended UM and received a Bachelors of Music Performance. In college, I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do between marimba soloist, timpanist, percussionist or drum set player, I just knew that I wanted it to be something in music. So after my undergrad, I moved to NYC to study drum set but I missed the classical realm. I decided to audition for grad school, and was accepted into Alan Abel’s studio, then Associate Principal Percussion of the Philadelphia Orchestra. After graduating, I played a year with the Charleston Symphony, then joined New World Symphony as a Fellow, and shortly after won my first Principal Timpani job with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra (FPO). From there I joined the Grand Rapids Symphony and then landed here in Saint Louis with the SLSO. Along the way, I started a company, Mallet Shop, (malletshop.com). I’m married with 3 kids, currently 8, 10 and 11 and live in Sunset Hills. We love life here and I love SLSO.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Auditioning can be brutal. You spend hours in a practice room. It’s a lonely space full of endless repetition. Hopes soar each time you set foot on that audition stage somewhere in the world – wherever that opening happens to be. Often you’re flying home empty handed with only the experience, and hopefully enough dignity left to do it all over again.
And it’s not a financially secure field when you rely on the support of a community and donors to fund the institution. Ticket sales account for a fraction of the revenue. Non profits are tough, and sometimes you get burned. As difficult as it can be to win a job and get tenure, you hope your organization is financially secure. As fate would have it, FPO folded after my fourth year. I had just bought a home; it was surreal. I started gigging, chasing the dollar, and auditioning again. Thankfully, I had my business, Malletshop. Echoes of my Dad’s advice to diversify never rang more true to my ears than it did in that moment. Even still, back to the drawing board.
Owning and running a business has its challenges as well. There are a lot of tough decisions to make. Cash flow, managing projects and satisfying customers is tough stuff. Venturing into design & fabrication is daunting too. Lots of doors close in your face along the way. You can easily drown in self doubt and fear of failure. It tests what you’re made of. One of my biggest challenges has been getting inventory restored in an industry where there are few tradesmen capable to service these rare, vintage instruments. It’s labor intensive and costly. I have approximately a hundred plus instruments in inventory and only a half dozen restorers around the world. Meanwhile, it takes a few months to restore a single instrument which ties up capital. My role as project manager involves having difficult conversations with my restorers about timelines and costs which isn’t my favorite place to be.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am the Principal Timpanist of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. I joined SLSO in 2013. It was an incredible year; I had auditioned for several orchestras and won multiple positions – like winning the Triple Crown in the equestrian world. It led to Masterclass invites around the world, guest Principal Timpani appearances in other orchestras, and gave me long lasting confidence in myself. It was also very humbling. I’m very grateful. As Principal Timpanist, I’m often a second conductor. It’s similar to a drummer in a band, with an added layer of pitch and musical lines. Timpani can be so striking and forceful, and so gentle at the same time. They have a rich, beautiful tone and add so much color, rhythm and sustain. What I love most about my job is resurrecting the works of the great composers: Beethoven, Sibelius, Mahler, Brahms and bringing them back to life for audiences. And I enjoy discovering new voices in today’s contemporary composers. It’s enriching, both for player and audience.
The other part of my life is running my business, Malletshop.com, which specializes in hard to find yet highly sought after vintage mallet keyboard percussion instruments and timpani. Starting the company back in the late 90’s wasn’t intentional, but grew out of a need to own my own instruments to practice on for auditioning. Today, we’re known for being a boutique one-stop-shop for vintage mallet percussion instruments and we have customers all over the world. Like my job as a Timpanist, we resurrect and bring back to life instruments from the early 1900’s. These instruments are some of the finest ever made, with aged Honduran rosewood, and nickel plated hardware. It’s like seeing a vintage car with chrome bumpers – you don’t see that anymore on today’s automobile. We design and fabricate two of our own instruments: Gigster, a vibraphone in a suitcase, and Parsifals, a concert glockenspiel with resonators on a rack, both reminiscent of pastime instruments. I love being part of the percussion community not only as a musician, but designer and provider. It’s a provoking thought knowing that long after I’m gone, these instruments will still be here.
Not everyone is aware of this, but I also compose and have been commissioned by several organizations. In 2007 I won first prize in Florida’s Percussive Arts Society Composition Contest. In 2011 and 2012 the Grand Rapids Symphony commissioned me for an orchestral work. The 2012 commission, Concerto for Section Percussion, won 1st place in the classical music genre at ArtPrize. A commission by the Erie Chamber Orchestra, Concerto for Solo Percussion and Chamber Orchestra, was premiered in September 2013. A chamber work, Oort Cloud, for Solo Percussion and Others (8 players) featuring myself as soloist, was performed at Powell Hall in 2015, conducted by David Robertson, former Music Director of SLSO. And in 2015 I was commissioned by the St. Louis Symphony Community Partnership Program to write a quartet for English horn, cello, piano, and timpani titled Abballanu Cifalutani which premiered at 560 Music Center – WashU.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
My Dad had a number of sayings that were mind provoking and encouraging. One of his sayings was how Babe Ruth struck out the most, but how he also hit the most home runs. And he said, do what you love and success will come. It’s hard to keep eyes on the prize, stay focused and never quit. But this notion of doing what you love, following your dreams, and never quitting is a worthy ideal. It can be worth the struggle. That was one of his Earl Nightingale quotes – success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. This has stuck with me throughout my life, whether auditioning or in my role as a husband and father, or business owner, instrument designer. Stay focused, take baby steps, keep dreaming, and never quit.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://malletshop.com
- Instagram: mallet_shop AND gigster_by_malletshop
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/malletshop/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-wood-704b1626
- Twitter: https://x.com/malletshop/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/malletshop
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/shannonwood
- Other: https://slso.org/person/shannon-wood/
