Laurie Searle, Clarinet

Laurie hails from Chicago and settled in the metro Atlanta area in 1979 after serving nine years in the U.S. Army as a military musician.

She studied clarinet and recorder with Ben Stoller in Chicago and continued her musical education at Jacksonville State University while serving in the elite Women's Army Corp Band in Anniston AL. Her musical career includes serving with the 14th Army Band, AL; 8th Infantry Division Band, Bad Kreuznach, Germany;  298th Army Band, Berlin, Germany; and 214 Army Band (FORSCOM Band), GA.

After her military service, Laurie achieved a BA in Journalism from Georgia State University, and an MS in Technical & Professional Communications from Southern College of Technology; followed by a 30-year career as a technical writer. During this time, she gave her clarinet a rest while she explored other musical genres. She played in a Baroque recorder consort; she played mandolin with her husband's Bluegrass band; and then she became obsessed with the Autoharp, forming a statewide group called the Georgia Autohapers and writing instrumental instruction booklets. 

Her journey with the Peachtree Chamber Players began in 2014. Laurie picked up the clarinet again and joined a community band as a diversion while her husband was on 5-month thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. She also asked her husband's piano teacher, LuAnn Latzanich, if she could use her husband's lesson time to play clarinet & piano music. LuAnn agreed and soon invited her oboist friend Sir Anthony Buzzard to join them. Anthony had a desire to play the wind quintets by Mozart and Beethoven, so he invited his friends Mike Maxwell, bassoon; and Terri Ingram, French horn; and the Peachtree Chamber Players was formed.

Laurie is also a member of the LaGrange Community Band, and has previously played with the Peachtree Wind Ensemble, Callanwolde Concert Band, and Tara Winds in the metro Atlanta area. In 2018, she was inspired by her husband to learn the piano and now plays with Piano Buddies, a social group of pianists that meets monthly to play for one another.