So You Want to Be a Professional SaxophonistbbbWhat It Takes

So You Want To Be A Professional Saxophonist…What Saxophonist…What It Takes Written for Saxophone Journal by Dr. Dave Camwell 2009 One of the most competitive fields in the world is that of being a professional musician. Better still, make that a musician who is gainfully employed and able to raise a family in addition to a fulfilling musical career. Music is a seductive field —a jumble of aesthetic pleasures, meaningful expression, eccentric colleagues, narcissism, and emotional peaks that compensate for disappointment and rejection. As a professional musician, I am proud of the improved level of saxophone performance in the last twenty-five years. The instrument is now a global force, aggressively carving out its niche as a respected classical instrument. At any major saxophone conference (North American Saxophone Alliance, World Saxophone Congress, etc.), performers are precociously talented, excited by the music they are playing, and profoundly believe that their chosen instrument can rival any other in terms of versatility and sheer beauty of sound. As the level of saxophone performance rises, it leads to an uncomfortable problem: too many great saxophonists and not enough jobs. This article is directed towards anyone considering a musical career — a promising high school senior, a talented undergrad or a thirty-something looking to escape a mundane career in favor of earlier musical promise. Whether you are interested in performance, education, or both as your career, you owe it to yourself to consider the realities of surviving in the music business. Aesthetic ideals are valid and noble, but they can often lead to hardship and cynicism. cynicism. What you want to do may change: an aspiring jazz soloist or orchestra performer may decide to teach in the school system or may choose to combine playing with university level teaching. Accept that whatever you choose can be valuable, both to you and those you influence. influence. The following suggestions may help to guide and shape your conduct, attitude, and preparation for a competitive, emotionally stressful yet ultimately rewarding career. 1. Be fully committed: committed: Parents are unlikely to welcome the idea of you becoming a professional saxophonist. They will see the potential drawbacks – expense, future income limitations, lack of independence independen ce from them… Be honest with yourself: to be successful you will need abundant natural ability, a good deal of luck, determination, flare, and understanding of the business elements of music. Are you able to maintain diligent and disciplined practice, self-promotion, humility, education, education, creativity? Are you willing to endure anti-social hours, risky cash flow, and personal inconvenience for the sake of your art? Professional saxophonists do not usually have neatly planned careers. If you are exhilarated by the effort required in a very competitive environment, go ahead. If you are intimidated, find another career, and enjoy playing as an amateur. 1

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2. Always be on time: Bandleaders’ primary stress is mostly about players not showing up on time to a performance. Anyone reading this article can likely name several brilliant musicians who are not completely reliable, and therefore do not get hired as often as they might. Be early to rehearsals and gigs and earn a reputation for reliability. Competent and reliable will trump brilliant and flaky. Use this to your advantage while you develop your skills to become both musically brilliant and stress-free for those that would hire you. 3. Find a niche: Saxophonist Dr. Jeremy Brown made a lasting impression on me during my early days in Calgary, Canada. He often spoke of the importance of becoming an expert on some aspect of music, even if it was a small one. Dr. Brown is a man of many talents, but knows more about composer Henry Cowell than anyone. Becoming a specialist in some area that is slightly outside the norm can help to define you as a professional. Another example is Ms. Michèle Gingras, Professor of Clarinet at Miami University of Ohio. In addition to her renowned talents as a classical clarinetist, Professor Gingras later became one of the foremost specialists of Klezmer clarinet in the world. This added distinction has led to a wider recognition in the clarinet community, allowing her to perform and clinic around the world. For saxophonists, there are many possibilities – collaborations with dancers, multi-media presentations, avant-garde performance practices, extended techniques, baroque interpretation, chamber music with other instruments, saxophone history – add your own niche here. Most saxophonists have a working knowledge in many of these areas, but do not specialize in one explicitly. Saxophonists who become absolute masters in a particular area are often recognized as exalted sources of knowledge in their area of specialty. 4. The Five P’s - Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance: This phrase is applicable to any professional pursuit, and was originally coined by renowned chef and writer Anthony Bourdain. I cannot overstate how important prior preparation is. You need to sound fabulous at all times to be taken seriously as a top-level saxophonist. Have you practiced hard enough to perform your part at a professional level, ie. could you perform at Julliard tonight in front of a row of critics from the largest newspapers in New York? No one cares how long it takes you to perfect your solo line, but everyone cares about how you sound in a professional performance. Always assume your big break will be waiting at your next concert, and that the tenacity and dedication of your preparation will unquestionably pay off.

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5. Don’t get dark : Stay positive in the face of bleak odds. Every professional saxophonist’s career has moments of frustration and exasperation. Remain focused on your goals, believe in yourself, and work towards improving one or two aspects of your future each day. A recent poor performance or lesson may actually provide a useful and constructive progression on an element of your present musicality. Time away from a performance often provides a fresh perspective. 6. Want to teach at the college level? You need a Doctorate: The saxophone is a victim of its own success. The number of excellent players with graduate degrees looking for work ensures that you need an advanced degree even to be considered for most college-level teaching jobs. In decades past, an educational pedigree was not as important; for example, in the 1960s, most professors of saxophone were actually clarinetists that doubled on saxophone. This is now very rare, as many universities currently graduate an ever-increasing body of saxophonists that have Masters and Doctorate degrees in saxophone. Over 100 applicants typically apply for most university-level saxophone jobs, with the first round of cuts eliminating those without Doctorates. Not fair to some very capable applicants, but due to the sheer number, this is often the reality. When you are coping with the strain of doctorate studies, remember that a PhD or DMA is your fighting chance to advance into further rounds of the selection process. It will also confirm your desire and passion, whether you truly want a career in the Arts. Over 50% of people starting doctorate degrees do not finish…the 50% who do finish have overwhelming perseverance as well as talent. 7. Self-Promote: We live in a multi-media age that increasingly expects an online presence of some kind for serious performers. A personal website is a great way to advertise your skills 24/7, as are free sites like MySpace and YouTube. Just remember that everyone can see these sites, not just friends, so make sure anything that represents you in the online world is as professional as possible. Invest in yourself by looking professional. A proficient hired photographer can compose professional images far surpassing a candid shot taken on a home camera. While recent camera advances can make self-promotion easier, a professional, perfectly lit, cropped, staged, and stylized photo will make a worthwhile impact.

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8. Think outside the box: View challenges with a different perspective. For example, when my undergraduate university announced cuts to its jazz program half way through my course of study, I had the option to be a part of a program in decline, or to spin the problem to my advantage. I ended up transferring to a far away university in Alabama for the final two semesters of my degree. I had to quickly establish myself as a new player, and in the process gained a mentor, Dr. Chris Culver, who guided me into the next stage of my career. Taking a risk may turn a negative into a positive and can be an exciting, rewarding, and sometimes life-changing experience. 9. Be Pro-active: The world owes you nothing. Most professional saxophonists will state that their success came largely from aggressively exploiting opportunities available to them. To develop your career as a soloist, offer to play concerto solos in friends’ recitals or for high school band and orchestra concerts, form new ensembles, find new venues to perform, create your own record label, and explore multi-disciplinary opportunities - these are just some of the many possibilities that exist if you start looking. Legendary violin soloist Isaac Stern began his career by accepting almost any soloist performance that allowed him to show off his immense talents, regardless of the amount of compensation. While it took a few years for fame and fortune to arrive, Stern’s determined attitude towards playing venues that could highlight his abilities gained him a growing reputation that eventually enabled him to become one of the most celebrated virtuosos of the 20th century. While a single venture may not instantly catapult you to international fame, your energy and creativity in finding new outlets for yourself as a performer will likely lead to new contacts and opportunities that would otherwise have been closed to you. 10. Never make excuses or blame others: Always remember that you are ultimately responsible for your performance, no matter what other diversions come into your life. During my time at the University of Oregon, saxophonist and Professor of Jazz Studies Steve Owen would always stop a student’s litany of excuses for not practicing. He had practiced in the bathrooms of the Universities of North Texas and Northern Colorado when practice rooms were full. Remember, you can always find time and space to practice, while excuses for not practicing are boundless and a slippery slope. The best players find a way to make it happen, regardless of obstacles or distractions.

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11. Study your instrument’s history: Saxophone history includes all kinds of music from classical and jazz to pop and rock. A detailed knowledge of the various saxophone styles helps to provide a deeper level of musical insight into your performance. For jazz players, this includes studying pioneers such as Sidney Bichet, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and ma ny others through the modern day. For classical performers, this includes the early recordings of the Brown Brothers, Rudy Weidoff, Marcel Mule, Sigurd Rascher, Cecil Leeson and others through to the present. Rock and pop saxophonists should be aware of styles from the early rhythm and blues players to modern bands such as Earth Wind and Fire and Dave Matthews Band. If you don’t know where your instrument’s style came from, how can you know where you are going? 12. Practice like your life depends on it : …because it just might! The fear of living in your parents’ basement should motivate you to be the absolute best player you can be. Professional live performances and recordings on the saxophone are at an astonishingly high performance level. You will be expected to compete in this crowded market place. Simply being a good player is no longer good enough; a colleague of mine recently told me that his mission during his formative years was to sound GREAT at all times. There are many talented emerging saxophonists (in addition to the many fabulous “known” saxophonists) in the jazz and classical arenas; you need to be one of the young lions yourself, preferably as soon as possible. 13. Surround yourself with excellence: Avoid being the big fish in the small pool. The most rapid artistic growth occurs when you are in an environment that challenges you to keep up. My playing improved when I played regularly with a very talented jazz trio, consisting of pianist Kristian Alexandrov, bassist Jeremy Coates, and drummer Andy Ericson. I had to practice relentlessly to be able to hang with them on the bandstand, but performances with the trio in packed clubs remain musical highlights in my career. This pressure in my formative years (age 17-20) accelerated my playing abilities. Surround yourself with other players that inspire, demand, and push you to new and greater heights of musicality. Join college combos, go to band camps, sit in at jam sessions – anything that will stretch you. Do not become complacent with praise from family and school friends. 14. Listen to yourself : Many saxophonists shy away from this learning tool, even though it is a fantastic way to receive true feedback about one’s playing. Check your ego at the door, and listen for elements of your performance that need improvement. This can be depressing. However, this feedback is the most accurate indicator of what you must continue to work on—you are your own worst (and best) critic. Great personal recorders now on the market include minidisc players and the Zoom-H2. All are affordable and are absolutely worth the investment of time and money. 5


15. Listen to others: Many saxophone CD recordings of the finest quality provide a great resource to serious students of the saxophone. Whether the desired performance element is old or new music, interpretation, style, sheer power and volume, subtlety and refinement, all of these aspects can be found within the vast amount of excellent saxophone recordings available. Listening to others should inspire and inform the listener; perhaps your future recordings will do so for another generation of saxophonists. 16. Improve your weaknesses instead of perfecting your strengths: Warren Rowley, a professor during my undergraduate studies, would walk past the practice rooms every day, stop to listen to each musician for a few seconds, then move on down the hall. After a few weeks, I asked him why he did this, and he remarked that he wanted to discover which musicians were serious about improving their craft. His view was that too many musicians simply practiced what they already knew, and essentially used their practice time to massage their egos. The most committed musicians often sounded the worst in their practice rooms but were dedicated to improving the areas of their performance that needed it the most. 17. Study with the best teachers you can find : Actively seek out both academic and non-academic saxophonists that can assist you in various concepts of sound, technique and literature. A car trip of several hours may well be worth it if the feedback is meaningful. The key is to find teachers within a realistic geographic area that can inspire you to continue your progress as rapidly as possible. However, don’t rule out long-distance instruction: if you have formed a professional relationship with a respected pedagogue, they would most likely be happy to offer honest feedback on your recordings. 18. Make your curriculum vitae beautiful: Due to the intense competition for the relatively few saxophone positions in colleges and universities, your curriculum vitae needs to look as good as the information contained within it. A sloppily-put together C.V. shows a lack of concern about fine details, leading to the assumption that you would approach all other aspects of your musicianship and pedagogy in a similarly cavalier way. Finding ways to make your C.V. stand out visually is also a good idea; remember that the committee is often looking at over 100 resumes. Something as simple as glossy or otherwise unique paper can make a difference in whether your particular file is remembered. Is this fair? Of course not, but a simple tool like this can often be an effective way to stand out from the crowd, and will give you the best chance to progress to the next round of the evaluation process. However, do keep it professional. Avoid the scented and sequined paper, or “magazine” font that looks like a ransom note.

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19. Don’t denigrate other musicians: Musicians are often very critical of other performers whom they feel do not reach their own personal standards. Putting down other musicians sours your reputation. Music is a difficult profession, made easier by mutual support and compassion amongst colleagues. Realize that we are all on the same path and that focusing on the negatives of others does nothing but make you seem small and petty. Be kind and positive to all, as the world already has enough professional critics. 20. Have a sense of humor: A professional career in music is often a wild ride for even the most talented performers. A professional life in music takes courage, humility, dedication, passion, and most importantly, a sense of humor to live relatively unscathed. Try to see the best in all situations, the unbridled joy of a successful performance, and the patience to know that challenging situations will improve. A positive attitude will make the challenging aspects of a career in music worthwhile, helping to limit the debilitating spiral of negativity that can occur when things get tough. Be able to laugh at yourself, and always believe that the next performance will be your best yet.

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So You Want to Be a Professional SaxophonistbbbWhat It Takes

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