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| With the Mosaic Quartet after their impromptu performance of my Flight of Icarus |
This should make composers salivate. Not only is there a smaller
body of repertoire for saxophonists to peruse, they also typically welcome new
works. This was clearly evident to me when I attended the 2014 North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) Conference at the University of Illinois at Urbana in
late March. University of Illinois saxophone faculty members Debra Richtmeyer and J. Michael Holmes put together a three-and-a-half day extravaganza that presented
more than 350 saxophonists (!) as well as a wide range of musicians (pianists,
clarinetists, percussionists, singers, harpists, etc.) and composers, with
performances featuring a little of everything imaginable: solo saxophone works, duos for saxophone plus another instrument, saxophone and
electronics, saxophone quartets and octets, and large saxophone ensembles. Everyone
had opportunities to shine, from college-age students and mid-career professionals to the
most established musicians in the field. I flipped through the convention
program book and counted an astounding 80 world premieres of new
works over the course of the convention. A few were arrangements of
pre-existing pieces, but the majority were completely new compositions. Dominating
the rest of the programmed repertoire was music by living or recent composers
as well. New music is alive and kicking among saxophonists, and composers
everywhere should take note!
I was there to peddle my new saxophone quartet Flight of Icarus, commissioned by the
Capitol Quartet. I suspect a lot of composers were there to promote their works
too. And why not? How often can you find hundreds of saxophones in a single
geographic location, hear them play their hearts out, and meet them
face-to-face? Genre-specific conventions like NASA are a composer’s heaven, and
I strongly advocate for attending any conventions that a composer can, whether
they have a piece scheduled for performance or not. I also find it advantageous
to wander freely throughout the conference instead of renting a table in the
exhibition area. If you’re manning a table, you are dependent on performers
finding you (and you’ll need to pay to be an exhibitor), whereas if you roam,
you can hear performances, introduce yourself to performers, and hand out
business cards, scores, and CDs. As it turned out, my roaming method paid off: Mosaic
Quartet, a student group from Arizona State University at Tempe, had been
working on my Flight of Icarus. One
of the quartet members spotted me at the conference and asked if I’d listen to
the group play my piece. A few hours later, Mosaic Quartet gave an impromptu
performance of my piece in one of the rehearsal spaces, which we followed up
with a coaching session. This was a wonderful bonus for both the quartet
members as well as myself, and perfectly played into a day of networking and
music-making.
Besides NASA, many other musical organizations hold conventions as
well. A quick web search turned up conventions offered by the National Flute
Association, International Society of Bassists, Midwest Band Clinic, American
Choral Directors Association, National Association of Teachers of Singing,
Chorus America, International Double Reed Society, and the League of American
Orchestras (I bet there's more). Additionally, Chamber Music America is
an excellent service organization for chamber ensembles of all shapes and sizes;
they have an annual conference every January in New York City that highlights
both ensembles and living composers. Composers, check out what conferences are
coming to your town or close by, see what repertoire you have that is suitable
for the conference, register, and get ready to unabashedly promote yourself!
