#9 - NEC Alumni Interview

October 6, 2004 - Revised November 11, 2006

Interview One

1. What did you do when you first got out of school?
   
   I continued freelancing and teaching in the Greater Boston area (from Rhode Island, Cape Cod, and New Bedford through Boston all the way up to New Hampshire), which I began during my Master's degree at NEC.
   
   
2. How did you survive financially and artistically?
   
   The Boston area is a very expensive place to live, so I had 35-45 students (mostly 1/2 hour lessons) in Westwood, Wellesley, Weymouth, and Blackstone, and I also had a morning part-time public school job in Winchester (beginner brass and 8th grade orchestra...I have a music ed degree). Teaching gave me the security of regular pay but scheduling was difficult because I wanted to be a performer, so I accepted all the freelancing I could while rescheduling students as needed. I earned over $30K/year this way.
   
   Artistically speaking, in addition to freelancing I played chamber concerts with a trombone quartet. I also took nearly every orchestra audition available, but I suffered in still wanting/needing to develop my skills through lessons while trying to survive financially. I was fortunate to have a teacher who "met" with me (gave me lessons) for free after graduating, but I also paid for lessons with others when I could scrape together the money.
   
   
3. Now, looking back on the first few years after you finished school, is there anything that you would have done differently?
   
   Perhaps I would have done more recitals.
   
   
4. What advice do you have for someone to prepare them for life after NEC?
   
   Play well wherever you go, stay in shape for taking auditions, and attend them whenever possible. The best way to learn how to take auditions is to attend them.
   
   If you have a slow trajectory toward earning financial independence through music, then keep studying, practice things that nurture your love of music, keep your chin up, persist, and always present yourself professionally, to help keep the work coming in. It can be tough when you have to make a living while preparing for auditions, and it can take a long time to earn stability in this field.
   
   It is easy, a few years out of school, to become bitter over not having the income that people in other fields such as computers and engineering have more quickly, after say, only one degree. You may be able to stay positive by remembering through the lean times that you are willing to defer gratification, that you want this, that you chose it, and by focusing on what drew you to music in the first place. It takes tremendous energy and dedication to keep practicing and studying after graduation, but some of us simply need longer than school years to develop.
   
   If your career does take off right after school, my advice is practice to stay ahead of the curve when you are faced with a rigorous performance schedule. Young players in major orchestras have found that winning a job is different than playing one and you have to practice differently for playing new concerts every week than you did when you were preparing excerpts.
   
   
5. What is your work like now?
   
   I rehearse and perform in Dayton's Schuster Center, one of the greatest concert halls in my experience, with fantastic colleagues in the Dayton Philharmonic. I also freelance and sub in the Cincinnati Symphony whenever I am fortunate enough to get that call. I teach at Central State University, at Earlham College, at other schools in suburban Dayton, and at my house. And each June I run a camp, Summer ‘Bones, with two colleagues.
   
   Also, when each printing of my book sells out, I reorganize it, add material, and reprint it for sale in music stores and on the web. It is called A Modern Guide for Trombonists and Other Musicians, and will probably always be in this state of continuing refinement.
   
   
6. How do you balance any of these: performing/teaching/other work/social life?
   
   Before I was making my lving primarily from one orchestra I was freelancing and teaching, driving up to 35,000 miles a year, and trying to resolve scheduling conflicts between various ensembles and students. Life was very unbalanced with a lot of late nights and early mornings. This became resolved as I got into better orchestras with better pay. The bigger the job you can get, the less freelancing you need (or can fit) so scheduling becomes fairly simple: you simply play in your group and accept freelancing that fits the schedule. So that’s what I do now, and I have been able to schedule my teaching around Ultimate Frisbee, which I play twice a week (even through the winter!). I am a much happier person for having this fun, competitive exercise in my schedule. Socially, since the DPO does not use trombones on every concert, my wife and I easily find the time to go out with friends in the evenings, although I hear that may change with our new arrival in March of 2007.
   
   
7. Do you have any suggestions for taking auditions?
   
   Be persistent. Continually refine your audition skills just like any other technique, by attending, doing your best, taking notes, and making changes in time for the next one. Don’t think in terms of winning and losing, since only one person wins any audition. Think instead of a successful audition as one where you stayed focused and played the way you wanted. If that happens several times and you don't advance, then change something in your approach.
   
   My other audition advice appears in articles number seven, number one, and in my book, which I am told has been used by non-trombonists because of the audition section.
   
   
8. Do you think that there is any particular way to help get your name out into the music world?
   
   The most important thing is to develop a great reputation through high personal standards of punctuality and performance, because word-of-mouth is so important in this field. People hear about you and call you for work when you sow the seeds of a great reputation.
   
   Besides that passive publicity, don't be afraid to mail, email, or call contractors and personnel managers near where you live to let them know that you are available to work. Offer to send them a resume or recording. If possible, find out in advance which way each contractor wants or does not want to be contacted.
   
   Print business cards with your web address (also a useful tool) if you have one, and give them out to colleagues.
   
   For teaching, print a tri-fold brochure on Microsoft Publisher or a similar program to tell parents and students about you and your teaching policies. Ask local band directors if you can give these to students, or even teach a group lesson at their school for free. Then when all the students are fired up after the free class, take their phone numbers instead of just sending them home with your pamphlet. Call the parents of interested students, because your pamphlet may not make it home.
   
   
9. What is the best piece of advice that anyone has ever given you?
   
   I can't be sure that I'm recalling the "best" advice, but here is one item:
   
   The same teacher who continued my lessons for free after I graduated (see question number two) taught me, through his words and actions, not to close the door or give up on the possibilities for any student, because he/she might be a late bloomer. He pointed out that you never know what the future holds for the development of another person. One's dedication and motivation can override technical weaknesses if given enough time.
   
   

   Interview Two

10. Do you teach out of love of teaching or is it something for you to fall-back on?
    
    I have always enjoyed children and teaching. In high school I was a camp counselor, a babysitter, I started teaching private lessons, and I even did an internship where I conducted the middle school band in my district. Knowing that teaching would always be a part of my life I made my bachelor's degree a double major in music education and performance. In college I adopted the goal of achieving financial independence through performing, but if I now had a more lucrative orchestra job or won the lottery I would definitely continue to teach private lessons. Although I need the income it brings, if I didn’t like teaching I would do something else as a "day Job."
    
    
11. How did your goals change as your matured?
    
    My goals really haven’t changed: I still teach, practice to better my playing, and take the occasional audition if winning would improve my circumstances. However, my priorities have changed with the recent purchase of a new home and with the news that I will soon become a dad.
    
    
12. So you still take auditions?
    
    Yes, but not as often as I did before I had the job that I have now. I am more discriminating about which auditions I take, comparing my current situation to my projected life situation if I were to win, and considering if it would be worth the effort of relocating. My decisions about where to audition now depend on the traffic, real-estate market, cost of living, and how much I like the city where the opening is. And perhaps this goes back to your last question, but I would like to note how well one can live while playing in one of this country’s middle-income orchestras, where you don’t earn quite as much as in the big cities, but you have more leisure time, less time in traffic, and your dollar goes a lot further.
    
    
13. Are you happy with your life? How is your life compared to what you thought it would be when you were in college?
    
    Yes, I am very happy and I have a lot to be thankful for. My family life is what I always knew it could be since I have known my wife since the age of fifteen. We have a child on the way, having waited until our thirties to take that step, like many musicians. I do sometimes wish that this career had a greater financial reward (especially since I’m looking ahead and thinking of paying for college!). However, when I imagine watching the clock for eight hours from an office job it’s easy to appreciate that I am almost never clock-watching while in a 2 ½ - hour rehearsal or teaching a 1 - hour lesson!
    
    I definitely thought about the future when I was in college since I knew that auditions were very competitive, and that led me to buy recordings, go into debt for school, get lessons with a variety of teachers, pay close attention in lessons, take notes, and practice for many, many hours. But I didn’t think too much about the details of life after school because I never knew if, where, or when I was going to win an audition, so I focused intensely on practicing while hoping that my hard work would eventually pay off.
    
    Now that I’m in this career I know about the many things that you don’t learn while you’re in school. Some orchestras are generally happy and some are not. I have read that musicians rate very low on job satisfaction surveys, which means that after all your hard work to win a position, you might be in an environment where people drag you down. Some colleagues judge each other rather harshly, perhaps due in part to their own dissatisfaction. Many orchestras are struggling financially, and even if they are not, the management often tries to make the musicians believe that they are in trouble (which brings morale down) so that they can give the smallest possible raise or no raise at all in contract-negotiating years, even though everyone’s cost of living goes up. Considering these factors and the investment and labor involved in eventually winning a position, I would say that this career is only for people who need to find out if they can make it, people like me who would do it even when people around them told them not to.
    
    
14. How much did being at NEC influence/impact you and what did you miss most when you left?
    
    My teacher, Norman Bolter, was my biggest influence while I was at NEC and I often think of our lessons. Since I took thorough notes after each lesson I can review them anytime and when I do, they still have an impact (nowadays I also record any lessons I take). Norman helped my confidence, creativity, musicality, and freedom while playing, and many of his ideas hold a firm place in my own teaching. I also miss Boston, being so close to the ocean, Acadia National Park in Maine, and family in Boston and New York.
    
    

    Interview Three

15. What I am most curious about is what you got from Norman's teaching and how you use it in teaching and playing.
    
    My reply to this statement would be a small volume if I referred to the lesson notebooks from my Master’s degree. I wrote everything I could remember after each lesson. Just off the top of my head, here are some of the things that I learned (or was reminded of) from Norman. I have expanded some of these ideas and put them into my own language for teaching:
    
    
    • Playing music is like telling a story, or you might at least say that music has atmosphere. Your trombone playing is more interesting if you tap into the story or atmosphere. “Tapping into” it means (at least) taking a moment to think about or feel what you are doing. Think about (feel) the atmosphere or the story the composer is telling before (and while) you play. Writing words is one exercise that can illuminate the emotion or atmosphere in a piece and bring it out in one’s playing.
    • There are different layers of music. Sometimes we are practicing to improve the technical, robotic level of a piece, and sometimes we are bringing out the emotion in a piece through phrasing, legato, unwritten dynamics, etc. I frequently use this concept when teaching because it helps young students understand that there is emotion in music and you should bring it out just like you should play correct rhythms. It makes emotion something tangible, audible, and less mysterious.
    • Everything is not on the page. There are generally no markings for vibrato, how much taper or how fast you should taper to round out a phrase, and dynamics are all relative, without exact decibel measurements for each marking.
    • If you want to hear a musician exceedingly well-aligned with the music he is playing, get Dennis Brain’s recording of the Mozart Horn Concerti.
    • There are different kinds, different shades, of everything: articulation, legato, tone, etc.
    • There is no such thing as perfect. If two people play the same piece and don’t make obvious mistakes but they use different rates of vibrato, then which one is right?
    • Dogmatic thinking is restrictive. For instance, bigger isn’t always better when it comes to mouthpieces and you can switch mouthpieces for different music. You don’t always have to have the same rim when you switch. Newer isn’t always better when it comes to instruments, and bigger isn’t always better when it comes to tone. There are different tools for different sounds. Whether it’s regarding equipment or technique, you don’t always have to do anything.
    • When practicing, go slow to go fast. If you walk down the street you will remember more of what you saw than if you run – another useful analogy for the teaching studio.
    • A gradual approach can be used for developing many skills. If you can’t play a passage as fast as needed, then start slow and increase the metronome speed over weeks, months, and years. You can adjust this approach for slowness (gradually slowing down to stretch breath support), range, dynamics, and more.
    • The upper register has its own properties and doesn’t have to be thought of as just a high version of the middle register.
    • Breathe when you need air (as opposed to over-planning the breath).
    • Teaching is part psychology.
    • Norman said he was different with every student so everyone’s experience with him was different.
    • One time, early in my lessons, I began to ask a question: “With your students, do you usually…” and he interrupted me, explaining “I don’t possess my students.” I understood this to mean that students are responsible for themselves and he does’t take credit for their achievements.
    • Over the long term, students can learn things very damaging to their self confidence and this damage can be mitigated by care and time.
    • Students show a different side of themselves to each other than they do to the teacher.
    • Individuals have their own unique properties.
    • People don’t always value what you give them for free.
    
    
16. What has been ingrained in your system?
    
    Certainly the gradual approach and other information described above has become an important part of my practicing and teaching. I also remember how important it was to Norman to help develop my confidence. We had a very honest relationship and he was exceedingly generous with me, which I try to pay forward to my students. I also could never forget his great sound and fluid style of playing, which leads me to appreciate those qualities in musicians like Alain Trudel, Christian Lindberg, Dennis Brain, Mstislav Rostropovich, Ella Fitzgerald, and others.
    
    
17. Do you ever still remember his voice telling you something?
    
    I certainly do hear Norman’s voice, especially on the topics that came to mind for my first answer in this interview (#15). And since the other tenor trombonist in the Dayton Philharmonic studied with Norman before me, we share stories and ideas that we each learned from Norman.
    
    
18. Is there anything that he taught you that years letter you said, "OH! Now I get what he was saying!"?
    
    Norman is a particularly gifted musician and playing second trombone in an orchestra isn’t always enough of a creative outlet for him. When I was in Boston, the Frequency Band was brand new, his composing began taking off, and his first CDs were released, all as an outlet for his creativity. I also play second trombone in an orchestra, and although it’s not at the Boston Symphony’s caliber and it is a greater challenge for me to play well than it is for Norman, now that a few years have gone by I can relate to his need for other creative activities. So I give recitals, teach, maintain a website, run a summer trombone camp, I wrote a book, and I intend to embark on many more unforeseen projects.
    
    
19. Are you happy with your trombone career?
    
    To this, there are reasons to say both yes and no.
    
    I’m very happy here in Dayton because of my colleagues and the acoustics of the concert hall. These are important factors that I appreciate greatly because I have played where both items weren’t nearly as good. And if I ever leave this ensemble for another one I may find that I miss what I had on those counts.
    
    I do wish that I had won one of the auditions that I have taken for better-paying orchestras because it has always been a personal goal of mine to win a seat that pays a living wage (although I would continue to teach, regardless). So I still occasionally take auditions for groups that offer a step up. In the same vain, one of the drawbacks to this orchestra right now is the sad state of contract negotiations. I hope the situation improves because of the positive aspects of my position. Also, the repertoire sometimes leaves the trombones high and dry with too much time off, but when we don’t play I certainly keep busy so there is a silver lining there. So I am mostly happy although there are aspects of the career that I’m unhappy with.
    
    Aside from the business of orchestras and contracts there is personal trombone practice and growth. When I don't feel like I'm playing very well I can get unhappy with playing the trombone, but I use that feeling to begin practicing differently or experimenting with equipment to get back on the horse because really, I'm disappointed with the place of the arts in society, not with playing the trombone or making great music in the orchestra.
    
    One more thing: since the last few questions were about Norman, I want to be clear that I don’t hold any of my former teachers responsible for my career. When I was younger I did wonder if my career would have gone further (or further sooner) if I had gone to other schools, but I don't wonder that anymore. My career, as far as it is going, is more a result of my work investment, talent, performance anxiety, luck, the fairness of auditions, and the state of the arts. I only have whatever talents and strengths I have to carry me as far as I can get, and I don't think that there's a lot else that my teachers could have done for me. Norman did a lot for me, musically, technically, and personally. You mentioned that he seems to be a good fit for you as well and I'm glad to hear that.
    
    
20. What would you change about your situation if you could do it at the snap of your fingers?
    
    I would increase the orchestra’s salary to ensure that my wonderful colleagues would stay and to make it easier for me to do the same. I would pick repertoire that was more active for the trombones. We often play amazing rep for brass, but we sometimes have lighter years, very light concerts, or a hiatus of several weeks in the middle of a season when the orchestra is playing lighter fare. I would also make it sunny and 75 degrees in Dayton year-round.