MANCHESTER – When composer Pascal Le Boeuf won the award for “Best Instrumental Composition” at Sunday night’s Grammys, a familiar face was right there with him on stage celebrating. That’s because the winning song, “Strands,” appears on the latest album of Memorial grad Tim Gocklin’s group, the Akropolis Reed Quintet.
Gocklin’s name might also be familiar to many in the Memorial community, as his father David is a longtime teacher and coach at the school and his twin brother Patrick is a decorated state golf champion and proud business owner of Golf360 in Manchester. Tim graduated from Memorial in 2008, where he honed his skills on the oboe. Just a few hours after standing on the Grammy stage, Gocklin reflected on the entire experience – even just being nominated.
“It was like, ‘LOOK at us,’” Gocklin said. “We’re in a category with Chick Correa and Béla Fleck – legends and monuments in their field, not to mention Andre 3000 – it was just mind blowing. … It was an honor just to be nominated in that company of artists. Even though we’re up against Chick Correa and Andre 3000 and don’t have millions upon millions of followers, at least we’ll be in the room.”
While he went into the event knowing they had at least a chance of winning, nothing could have prepared him for the moment when presenter Wayne Brady announced “Strands” had won the Grammy.
“You always hear those words ‘And the Grammy goes to….' and watch the audience on TV wait in bated breath, thinking how cool it would be for that to be you one day, but not ever thinking that it would ever happen," he said. "I’ll never forget the feeling of that moment – just the sheer and utter surprise and shock and overflow of emotions. I’ve seen videos of when we were all up on that stage and I thought, I wish I smiled more [he laughed], but it was just so overwhelming. Wayne Brady is there saying ‘Go, it’s your moment!’ It was unreal.”
It might go without saying, but Gocklin said the moment was the high point of a lengthy musical career.
“This is the crowning achievement and culmination of a lot of love, hard work, and support,” he said. “It’s a testament that getting to a place like this just takes so many hours and friendships and relationships. We (Akropolis) have all been playing together for 17 years and it’s been a long journey.”
That musical journey – which has taken him all over the world from Alaska to China to Abu Dhabi – started right here back in Manchester and educators encouraging him to push forward.
“I think about my band director at the time at Memorial, David Bresnehan,” he said. “He really pushed me to seize and go for any opportunity. … Just the immense amount of support from him was incredible.”
Gocklin, who has become a teacher himself in addition to his work with the band, would pass along that advice Bresnehan gave him all those years ago.
“I would say if you love it, follow it,” he said. “Be open and accepting to what the universe is giving you. It’s a lot of hard work and it’s a lot of perseverance and working through one’s own self doubts and surrounding yourself with people who will lift you up when times get tough. It doesn’t matter where you come from. Follow your dream, be open and accepting to new experiences along the way, and surround yourself with the people who will help you get there. Put that energy out into the universe and keep going. It might take 15 or 20 years but you’ll get it back at some point. Follow your passion and keep that flame lit.”
You can read more about the Akropolis Reed Quintet and find a video of the Grammy-winning “Strands” at https://akropolisquintet.org/.