BACK OF THE BOOK
PASHions
PASHions will highlight what ASH Clinical News
readers do creatively outside of practice. If you have
a creative skill in the arts you’d like to share with
ACN, we invite you to submit your work. Whether
it’s photography, essays, poetry, or paintings, we
want to provide an outlet for creative pursuits.
Please send your submission to ashclinicalnews@
hematology.org.
In this issue, John F. Tisdale, MD, shares his love
of music – from writing and playing to restoring
centuries-old pianos. Dr. Tisdale is senior investigator in the Molecular and Clinical Hematology Branch
at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda,
Maryland.
A Life in Music:
John F. Tisdale, MD
1814 Broadwood Grand Piano: “Everything on that piano is original, from the
soundboard to the black inlay, even the finish. All I did was rub the French
polish shellac out, and it looks like new. In the background is a Longman and
Broderip from 1786.”
Where did your interest in music start?
There are two parts to my musical history: One
is that I have spent a lot of time playing music
throughout my life, and then, over the last two
decades, I have been restoring pianos from the late
1700s and early 1800s.
Pianos were actually the first instrument I
started playing – lessons were imposed upon me
by my parents, which is probably everyone’s story. I
didn’t like the piano then, so I managed to convince
my parents that guitar lessons would be better. In
high school, I started playing guitar with friends in
bands, but it seemed like everyone needed a bass
player, so I decided to teach myself bass.
As an undergraduate at the College of
Charleston, I took on paying gigs whenever I could
to pay for my tuition and living expenses. I played
in country bands, rock bands, jazz bands, and even
accompaniment for a