Monte Coulter, precussion instructor at UTC and a member of the Chattanooga Symphony, practices with the praise band at Christ United Methodist Church on East Brainerd Road Sunday afternoon. After a rollerblading accident that shattered his right elbow in June, Mr. Coulter continues to make music with the aid of a titanium elbow.Monte Coulter has heard the expression “Those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach.” He takes exception to it.
In his experience, talented people do both.
“Maybe with regard to some other art or discipline that might be true, but I don’t think that is true for music,” he said.
Coulter, 55, has never done anything but teach and perform since deciding music would be his life. Since 1980, he has taught music at UTC and has performed with the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera.
He has also been a member of such local pop and rock bands as the Lumbar Five, No Big Deal and Sky Dog. He plays with The Pool and is part of the praise band at Christ United Methodist Church in East Brainerd.
Q: You are Monte Coulter III right?
A: Can I tell you about that? My name is Monte Cristo Coulter III. My grandfather was Monte Cristo Coulter I. His mother was carrying him in the womb in the late 1890s and she read the [Alexandre] Dumas novel and thought, ‘Oh, that is a cool name.’ My grandfather had one son, and my father had one son, and I have one son.
Q: You’ve been at UTC since 1980, correct?
A: That’s right. I’ve been lucky. It’s one of those things where you take a job and you think, ‘OK, this is my first job, and I’ll do this for awhile,’ and then it grows and it grows, and pretty soon you are there for your whole career. I was brought here to play in the Chattanooga Symphony and teach part time, and it has grown.
ABOUT HIMName: Monte Coulter III.Age: 55.Hometown: Chattanooga.School: Chattanooga Central 1973, University of Tennessee at Knoxville degree in music education 1978, masters in music percussion performance 1980, doctoral from the University of Memphis in performance.Family: Wife Monica Coulter, son Monte IV.Vocation: Director of percussion studies at UTC, performer with the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera.FavoritesBook: “Sex, Time and Power” by Leonard Slane.Play: “The Crucible.”Song: “Running On Ice” by Billy Joel.Performer: Billy Joel.Quote: “Nothing you ever do effects the size of your funeral as much as the weather.” — Mark Twain
Q: How do the two interact?
A: … I know if I didn’t get to play, I would be unhappy. On the other hand, I know if I didn’t get to teach, I would not play as well.
Q: Do you think that is more so with classical and jazz types or music in general
A: Well, OK, I do think it is more the case with classical or jazz musicians who take a more academic approach. I doubt that Eric Clapton teaches guitar lessons whenever he can because he is so successful at what he does. You listen to his albums and that is your lesson.
Q: Are constantly learning from doing both?
A: Absolutely, they feed off of each other. For example, a student will hear a piece and bring it to me to help them learn it. I will learn it to help them learn it. Sooner or later that finds its way into the concert hall with me.
That is one way it happens. On the other hand, the symphony is a performing a piece tonight [Jan. 14] and there is a new work I have never played that has a very large setup for percussion to be played by one person. I’ve learned a lot just from preparing for that one piece.
Q: I haven’t thought about the physicality. You have to figure out where to put everything too, don’t you?
A: Oh, yes. Percussion is almost the only instrumental group in the world where you never touch the instrument. You touch sticks or mallets and they touch it. So, suddenly, it matters where your eyes go. One level of training for percussion is to plan where your eyes will go. A drum set is not that way, but it is with a percussionist.
Q: Your whole setup can change from show to show then?
A: It can. I probably own 40-50 pairs of drum sticks and probably 75 or 80 sets of mallets of various thicknesses and hardnesses. Those all have to feel just right.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6354.