BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
When I first heard about the Melbourne International Saxophone Festival, I started nerding out.
Having trained for classical saxophone, I marvelled through the program and talent on offer. And when MISF saxophonist Erin Royer started reeling off her favourite performers and works, as you’ll read in this interview, a little bit of drool landed on my keyboard.
While there are plenty of workshops and professional development opportunities at MISF, you don’t need to be familiar with classical saxophone to have a good time. In fact, if you’re not familiar, it’s presents a unique Australian opportunity to learn more about this (often-stigmatised, non-orchestral, absolutely gorgeous) musical instrument.
Here’s where we get started. Erin is this year’s headliner at MISF (an initiative facilitated by saxophonist Joseph Lallo and arts manager Jade Norfolk).
Having graduated in 2011 from her Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts degrees (laden with awards and scholarships), Erin travelled to England to learn more about her instrument and study at the Royal Northern College of Music; recorded her first album; and was selected as the youngest Australian recitalist at the World Saxophone Congress in St Andrews.
Now you can learn with her at the University of Western Australia and WAAPA, or in Melbourne when she hits up MISF from 28-29 July.
Erin, greetings! Looking forward to the MISF?
Hey Steph! I’m very excited to be attending the MISF as a performer and an educator of the saxophone. It’s great to be coming from Perth to share my experiences with the younger generation of saxophonists in Melbourne, and to be able to share my music and newly commissioned works with fellow saxophonists and the broader Melbourne community. I’m also excited to be representing Yamaha in their feature concert on Sunday afternoon.
Large-scale classical saxophone events like this festival appear rare. Why do you think this is? Is the world ready for classical saxophone?
Over the past decade, I’ve been heavily involved with international saxophone festivals and have actually found them to be more common than you might think. What is rare is having a big festival for saxophone in Australia, as these events are so hard to organise, and I commend MISF for making this possible!
What I do see a lot, though, are various holiday events and saxophone days across the year, in all parts of the world. And I do think that we are ready for classical saxophone as it is always well received at these events. It is more a matter of our instrument being so new that our audiences may only be discovering this style of saxophone performance for the first time, but as we promote and have events such as the MISF, our community expands.
Your career journey has been so full with some excellent tutoring, performance, and academic achievements. But in playing an instrument that doesn’t traditionally belong to the orchestra, how have you found the pressure and competition of your musical life? Have you felt you needed to work harder to represent a somewhat marginalised instrument?
Of course, I have always striven for excellence in everything I do. So in terms of pressure, I feel that has been somewhat self-driven to achieve the best that I can. I have found being a classical saxophonist isn’t the same as other classical instruments, as we don’t have that set orchestral pathway to strive for, so the pressures aren’t the same. What this does mean, however, is that we need to be versatile and creative to maintain a performance life. This is what I find most exciting about being a saxophonist, as one day I’ll be performing in a jazz club, the next I’ll be performing in an orchestra, another day I’ll be working in a musical, and the next in a cabaret show. So my opportunities have broadened beyond the orchestra to a point where the pressure is more a fuel of excitement to present new and creative ideas to our community, and to push myself musically to be able to achieve more things.
Talk us through what you’ll get up to at MISF.
During the MISF, I am performing a solo recital in the Yamaha feature concert of my own original works and commissions, and will be working with the juniorsax group, holding workshops, tutorials and rehearsals culminating in a small concert for parents and friends.
It is always a pleasure working with our younger generation of saxophonists; they are full of enthusiasm and are bursting with energy, which gives me more passion in helping them develop as young musicians.
MISF does offer some excellent opportunities for professional development for musicians. But how can concertgoers develop by listening to classical saxophone?
What is exciting about the saxophone is that it is so versatile, so our concert goers can expect to hear exciting new music that may have its roots in classical technique, but which also may utilise the stylistic techniques of jazz, contemporary, and even pop music.
Especially for my audiences, I like to show people what the saxophone is capable of, so you will hear many contrasting tones of the instrument. From the raunchy stylings of the blues era to the clean and pristine tones of the classic style, to even unusual effects that you may not expect is possible, I like my audiences to be surprised by what is possible of our instrument.
For anyone who has not worked closely with a classical saxophonist or listened to the repertoire, what advice would you give? Any key works you’d recommend listening to, for a beginner?
My advice would be to expect that anything is possible. Being a classical saxophonist doesn’t just mean you play classical music, it’s merely just a term used. The instrument is so versatile that I think listening to all styles of music is the best advice I can give, as we can draw influences from everywhere, making our music more exciting and individual.
Some of my favourite players to listen to from all genres are Rob Buckland (classical), Tim Garland (current jazz), Sonny Stitt (bebop), Johnny Hodges (early big band jazz), Joshua Redman (contemporary jazz), Arno Bornkamp (classical), Timothy McAllister (classical), and the Tiptons Saxophone Quartet (cross-over), to name a few.
For those who want to start learning classical saxophone, I’d highly recommend working on purity of tone as this for me is the most defining feature of this style of performance. Bozza’s Aria is always a favourite, but even a more recent composition written in a similar style by Andy Scott is And Everything is Still, which is again a favourite amongst my students.
The Melbourne International Saxophone Festival will take place from 28-29 July. Want to see the full program and book your tix? Visit the Melbourne Saxophone website.
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