James Wyman joined the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as Principle Timpanist in September 2013.
James Wyman knows how fortunate he is because he knew the challenge he’d face to land his dream job. He knew it from the time when he was barely even a teenager playing with the Ashtabula Area Orchestra. He knew it the whole time he studied music as an undergrad at Baldwin Wallace University and he certainly knew it when he found himself working in an Italian restaurant upon completing his masters at Carnegie Melon University in Pittsburgh.
James Wyman began playing drums in fifth grade as part of the school band at Thurgood Marshal Elementary School in Ashtabula.
Wyman did not stop, but continued to pursue his passion for music while he attended Ashtabula High School, even if there were not a lot of people there to help him.
“I think midway through high school we had a percussion teacher quit,” Wyman recalled. He was forced out by some terrible staff and management. We were short on teachers so I kind of took over as the percussion teacher. I was big into the jazz program, did marching band, concert band, I went to the competitions, anything I could.”
During his last two years of high school, James Wyman began playing with the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony. It was while performing with this symphony that he began to narrow in on what he wanted to pursue regarding the music industry.
"I managed to get into that group two years in a row and that's when I started to really study orchestra percussion pretty heavy," James says.
Wyman graduated from B-W in 2006. He then spent a year studying under Paul Yancish of the Cleveland Orchestra before accepting a full-ride scholarship to attend Carnegie Melon for graduate school.
Wyman completed his masters in the Spring of 2009. He continued to reside in Pittsburgh looking and hoping his dream job would come along. He played in a few different local groups while working with the percussion team at nearby Shaler Area high School. He also was cooking for an Italian restaurant.
In 2011, Wyman secured his first full-time timpanist job winning an audition with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic in Fort Wayne, Indiana. But his contract was only for a year.
During his time with the Fort Wayne Symphony, Wyman continued to audition for jobs in major markets. He tried for a position in Chicago, St Louis, Detroit, Virginia, even north of the border in Ottawa, amongst other places. The verdict never being what he hoped for. Knowing odds were stacked against him, it seemed time to consider a different career.
“I was pushing 30, I was starting to think I may want to do something else,” Wyman said. “I was in the process of researching police academies. I thought maybe I’d like to be a state trooper or maybe be a fitness instructor, I had a lot of plan B’s going on.”
The timpanist for the Baltimore Symphony had been Dennis Kain. He had been with symphony for 46 years. According to James Wyman, he was considered the most beloved member of the symphony. Sadly he lost his battle with cancer in 2012. His passing left an opening for a principle timpanist.
In January 2013, having all but decided his dream of being a full time timpanist was dead, Baltimore was the 21st audition that James Wyman would attend.
