Professor Franklin Kimlicko conducts the Tyler Junior College guitar ensemble during the 2017 Arts Festival Coffee House at Tyler Museum of Art. Courtesy

Long before Franklin Kimlicko became a professor of classical guitar at Tyler Junior College, he was a performing musician with bands and orchestras whose career was highlighted by a performance at the White House and playing for big-name celebrities.

“I could have never planned my life to come out as beautifully as it has,” Kimlicko, 78, said. “It’s terrific.”

Originally from New York, Kimlicko became interested in music when he was about 14 because his brother played the saxophone. Kimlicko began playing the guitar.

“I liked it. Playing the guitar was more fun than other kinds of jobs I had in my early teens,” said Kimlicko, who worked for a butcher, a TV repairman and did other things in high school.

Later Kimlicko started making a living in New York by playing the guitar and kept on with it. He was what he called “a utility guitar player,” meaning he could do a little bit of everything, including recordings and live shows. He not only played the guitar in New York, but he could also play the banjo and the mandolin as needed. He played at shows, weddings and funerals and taught private lessons.

Then Kimlicko became the guitarist for the Ernie Rudy Band, composed at that time mostly of former musicians with the Sammy Kaye Orchestra.

“We (the dance band) traveled around the country,” Kimlicko said. “My first time I came to Texas, I played the Roy Laird Country Club in Kilgore. I remember a very long time ago playing a convention of NBC affiliates at Rockefeller Center in New York. (Comedian) Milton Berle was the emcee.”

Kimlicko recalled that the band once played for a special show in Texas recognizing returning prisioners of war from Vietnam.

“Our beloved John McCain was the guest of honor,” Kimlicko said. “I remember him in dress whites on crutches. The emcee of the show was (comedian) Bob Hope.”

Many years ago, Kimlicko was in the pit orchestra for a show comedian Carol Burnett did with entertainer Jim Nabors. Kimlicko always played guitar with a band or orchestra.

Creating music with other musicians is an accomplishment, Kimlicko said.

“It doesn’t matter if there is an audience or not, you have pride together in that teamwork,” he said.

Unlike an artist creating a painting, Kimlicko said a musician’s “art is in the moment. That’s the real satisfaction.”

Kimlicko ended up in Texas because he “married a Texas girl.” He was a performing musician in Dallas and Fort Worth, doing Dallas summer musicals and serving as an adjunct musician with the Dallas Symphony, the Dallas Civic Opera and the Fort Worth Symphony. In addition to playing the guitar, Kimlicko taught private banjo lessons and was an adjunct teacher at North Texas State University, now called the University of North Texas, and at Southern Methodist University.

By then, Kimlicko had become especially interested in classical guitar.

“I think the breath of emotion (with the guitar) is much greater … everything from sad to joy,” he said. “It’s all in the music. The guitarist can make all the music by him or herself. We don’t have to have anybody else to play with. We create the whole thing.”

Kimlicko added, “The guitar is a very expressive instrument. It touches the soul of people and when we play, we expose people to something very beautiful and it relieves them of their daily stress. I like the guitar because it’s portable. It makes all the music. I can play it anywhere. I don’t have to plug it in. It’s not loud so I can play it late at night. There are all sorts of advantages.”

While a musician in Dallas, Kimlicko had some spare time.

“I didn’t like being idle,” he said. “I took an extension course from North Texas State University in Dallas. The professor suggested I go to school full time.”

Kimlicko earned a Bachelor of Music with a major in composition from North Texas State University and a master’s degree in guitar from SMU. He also studied at the Manhattan School of Music in New York and with the world renowned guitarist Pepe Romero in California.

While attending North Texas State University, Kimlicko played with the One O’Clock Lab Band, the university’s premier jazz band. Kimlicko said, “We played at the White House for President Lyndon B. Johnson. Present at the concert was Alan J. Lerner, who wrote “My Fair Lady.” Another guest was (jazz legend) Duke Ellington. He came down and played with us.” Kimlicko also went with the band on a tour of Mexico for the U.S. State Department.

Although Kimlicko and his wife lived in Dallas for several years, they moved to Tyler in 1971 because, he said, they felt Tyler would be nicer for their children and there would be less traffic. Kimlicko contined to commute to Dallas for concerts, to teach lessons and to work in a Dallas music store. They were living on the west side of Tyler. Surprisingly, he did not hear about Tyler Junior College on the east side until a year later. That’s when Kimlicko successfully looked into the possibility of teaching at TJC because of having run off the road twice during his commutes to Dallas.

Forty-six years later, Kimlicko still teaches full time at TJC. He teaches guitar lessons, the guitar ensemble and music theory.

“I think the reward of teaching (at the junior college level) is opening up students to their own possibilities and making them realize they can do something and getting them to transition from high school into young adulthood,” Kimlicko said. “I’m always there for consultation.”

Kimlicko said he respects the students and they are respectful of him.

“They tend to work very hard for me,” he said. “They manifest themselves to become musicians. I tell them, ‘You are going to make me look good.'” 

One of Kimlicko’s colleagues, Dr. Enric Madriguera, who is the Russell Cleveland Director of Guitar Studies and professor of aesthetic studies in music at the University of Texas at Dallas, said Kimlicko is “an excellent teacher.” Madriguera said he knows because he has taught several of Kimlicko’s “fine students” who either transferred from TJC to UT Dallas to complete a four-year degree or to pursue a graduate degree.

Current TJC student Alyssa Forrestier, 19, said she feels very privileged to be one of Kimlicko’s students.

“He’s very patient,” she said. “He’s very skilled and a very encouraing person. He will push you hard, but he’s always willing to help you if you are struggling and you never feel you are being pushed too hard. I think he’s a great human being.”

In 2003, Kimlicko took some students to perform at a big guitar festival at the University of Southern California. For several years he has taken students to the annual Texas Guitar Festival and Competition at UT Dallas. In 2009, Kimlicko took some students to Spain to perform at the Chamber Art Festival in Madrid and during concerts at the royal palace, museums, cathedrals, a historic theater and other venues.

Madriguera said, “As the director of guitar ensembles for the festival, I was particularly impressed with the performance and behavior of Professor Kimlicko’s group.”

A.J. Allegretto, one of the TJC students who went to Spain, said it was an enriching experience personally, educationally and in developing friendship with other guitarists.

When Allegretto had started attending TJC, he was a self-taught guitarist and Kimlicko’s class was his first experience with formal training and instruction. Kimlicko introduced him to the world of classical music.

“If I were to sum up my experience with him, one word would be nourishing,” Allegretto said. “He took the time to give me skills and tools. He invested his experience and knowledge beyond just passing on information, but really fulfilled the role of a mentor in my life. I learned from his experiences and insight He ensured that I knew what I needed to know to play an instrument, but also to successfully complete college.”

Allegretto went on to finish his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical guitar performance from Texas Tech University and now directs the musical performance department with Youth With A Mission in Lindale.

Madriguera said Kimlicko also is “an outstanding arranger for classical guitar ensemble.”

“We (the UT Dallas guitar program) have used Professor Kimlicko’s arrangements over the years,” he said, noting that Kimlicko was a member of the founding judging panel for the Texas Guitar Festival and Competition at UT Dallas.

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