SPRINGFIELD – If you’ve attended various musical performances in the region over the past 30 years, then the chances are good you’ve seen percussionist Billy Arnold.

Arnold has been a fixture in the greater Springfield area and recently performed at the Art for the Soul Gallery at Tower Square as part of a book-signing event for his memoir, “So You Want to be a Musician?”

Set up near the entrance of the gallery, Arnold performed that night with Jeremy Turgeon on trumpet and Jason Schwartz on base. The jazz they performed carried through Tower Square.

The book is Arnold’s personal way to answer to the question, “How to survive as a musician?”

In it, he details his experiences in both the working world and the music world.

Arnold has taught at the Dunbar Community Center and is a founding faculty member at the Community Music School of Springfield, as well as having taught at colleges in the region.

Eric Bauchrach, the founder and executive director emeritus of the Community Music School of Springfield, wrote, “Billy is the ultimate soul doctor: the high priest and philosopher-king of the throne. His book is a survival manual that distills a set of life principles that have governed his life as a musician, and is also, in part, notes to the next generation of musicians.”

Arnold explained to Reminder Publishing he essentially dictated the book and his voice could be heard throughout it. The book took over 10 years to assemble with Arnold speaking into a recorder and then transcribing what he said. The transcripts then formed the core of the book.

He said with a smile, “I wasn’t event trying to write a book.”  

Arnold explained the book is designed to offer advice about a musical career by relating the story of his life.

He noted on his publisher’s website, “This book is not just about me and my life, which is a great part of the book, but the principles that I learned and how powerful they were in my life as a musician and a person. All of these principles work for everybody, no matter what you want to do in life. After you read this book you may want to rename the book ‘So, You Want to Be a Human Being.’ Enjoy!”

He said, “I learned from living.” Arnold added, “You have to keep going to find the right thing.”

Born in South Bend, IN, Arnold came from a family in which his mother and father were both musicians, as well as a number of other relatives.  He discovered his own musical ability in high school and was able to gain experience playing in small clubs before landing a spot in the essential 1960s band, Junior Walker and the All Stars.

A stint in the Army gave Arnold musical experiences he didn’t expect. He was assigned to a military band, and he wrote, “Another great experience I had was that I got educated by being around so many great guys when I was going through the Army, I was there with people like Donald Myrick. He’s passed now, but he was the lead horn player with Earth, Wind and Fire from 1975 to 1982. I played with John Von Ohlen of Indianapolis, who used to be a drummer with Woody Herman, Stan Kenton and many other big bands. I was fortunate enough to be in the presence of Claude Sifferlen from Indianapolis who played with many great people. They liked me and I got to hang out and play with those cats and it was a great experience to be around them.”

Arnold, after coming to Springfield, worked at several different day jobs and played at night. He worked at Mass Mutual, he related, for 25 years and wrote he learned how to how to deal with people through that experience.

Arnold’s advice related to basic issues such as getting to a performance on time to how to get a musical gig.

“Music is a never-ending journey,” he said,

The book is available online at https://levellerspress.com/product/so-you-want-to-be-a-musician.