Ronnal Ford
is the English horn/oboist in the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra. He is currently studying to obtain his
Doctorate of Musical Arts in Oboe performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In
2008, Ronnal graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts, obtaining his Master of Music in English
horn and Oboe performance and his Bachelor of Music Performance in 2006. From 2006-2011, Winston-Salem State
University hired Ronnal as an Adjunct Professor to teach applied violin, oboe and bassoon, along with
Introduction to Music courses.
A studious young musician, Ronnal had learned all the strings instruments by the seventh grade, and was an accomplished violinist, playing in All-County and Regional All-State Honors Orchestras in Middle School. Still continuing to play violin and viola in high school, he decided to take upon another instrument, the oboe. After learning the oboe, he learned how to play all the other woodwinds as well. During high school, Ronnal played in several local groups, such as the Greensboro Symphony Youth Orchestra as Principal Oboe and English horn, Greensboro Philharmonia as Assistant Principal and Second Oboe, and Greensboro Concert Band on flute and piccolo and All-County and Regional All-State Bands and Orchestras.
During his time in Greensboro Symphony Youth Orchestra, Ronnal realized that he had a natural affinity towards the English horn, and wanted to make sure that he included that in his arsenal of performance. At this point he started taking lessons on English horn as well as oboe with John Ellis, the oboe teacher at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the former principal oboist for the Hollywood Bowl Symphony. Now he has participated in such ensembles as the Fayetteville Symphony, Winston Salem Symphony, Piedmont Wind Symphony and the Orchestra and Wind Ensemble of NCSA as an English hornist.
In addition to being an oboist and English hornist, Ronnal has broadened his performance career to become a woodwind specialist. This meant adding music for all of the flutes, clarinets, saxophones and the bassoon to his playing literature. He says that learning these instruments was not only something fun to do, but it helps understand other players’ parts better, what is difficult on certain instruments, how to aid other players when he is playing with them, intonation problems between different instruments and has learned many different ways of phrasing and grouping. Playing other instruments enabled him to play with those instruments in ways a lot of other musicians would overlook. This was an important decision also from a pedagogical standpoint, as most oboists and bassoonists don’t start out on those instruments, they learned others first.
Currently, Ronnal studies with Dr. Ashley Barret on oboe and Dr. Kelly Burke on clarinet, and will further his studies on flute, bassoon and saxophone while a student at UNCG.
A studious young musician, Ronnal had learned all the strings instruments by the seventh grade, and was an accomplished violinist, playing in All-County and Regional All-State Honors Orchestras in Middle School. Still continuing to play violin and viola in high school, he decided to take upon another instrument, the oboe. After learning the oboe, he learned how to play all the other woodwinds as well. During high school, Ronnal played in several local groups, such as the Greensboro Symphony Youth Orchestra as Principal Oboe and English horn, Greensboro Philharmonia as Assistant Principal and Second Oboe, and Greensboro Concert Band on flute and piccolo and All-County and Regional All-State Bands and Orchestras.
During his time in Greensboro Symphony Youth Orchestra, Ronnal realized that he had a natural affinity towards the English horn, and wanted to make sure that he included that in his arsenal of performance. At this point he started taking lessons on English horn as well as oboe with John Ellis, the oboe teacher at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the former principal oboist for the Hollywood Bowl Symphony. Now he has participated in such ensembles as the Fayetteville Symphony, Winston Salem Symphony, Piedmont Wind Symphony and the Orchestra and Wind Ensemble of NCSA as an English hornist.
In addition to being an oboist and English hornist, Ronnal has broadened his performance career to become a woodwind specialist. This meant adding music for all of the flutes, clarinets, saxophones and the bassoon to his playing literature. He says that learning these instruments was not only something fun to do, but it helps understand other players’ parts better, what is difficult on certain instruments, how to aid other players when he is playing with them, intonation problems between different instruments and has learned many different ways of phrasing and grouping. Playing other instruments enabled him to play with those instruments in ways a lot of other musicians would overlook. This was an important decision also from a pedagogical standpoint, as most oboists and bassoonists don’t start out on those instruments, they learned others first.
Currently, Ronnal studies with Dr. Ashley Barret on oboe and Dr. Kelly Burke on clarinet, and will further his studies on flute, bassoon and saxophone while a student at UNCG.
