excerpts from saxophone journal interview (July/August 2000)
By DANIEL BUCKLEY
"Saxophonist Michael Hester has become one of the Southwest's most valued musical resources. Primarily a classical player, he is as comfortable in improvisational settings with such groups as the Sonoran Consort and James DeMars' TOS ensemble as playing in and as a soloist with symphony orchestras.
A highly respected Yamaha clinician, he travels the U.S. to do
workshops with students at many levels. Currently he resides
in Tucson, Arizona with his wife, Julia, a flutist and elementary/jr.
high school band teacher. The former University of Arizona interim
saxophone professor now works primarily as a freelance musician
and clinician.
Now 38, the Galesburg, Michigan native studied with such notables as Trent Kynaston (Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo), Larry Teal (Emeritus, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), Eugene Rousseau (Indiana University, Bloomington), Joseph Wytko (Arizona State University, Tempe), Donald Sinta (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), Jean-Marie Londeix (Conservatoire de Musique, Bordeaux, France), and Elizabeth Zinn-Ervin (University of Arizona, Tucson). He holds a doctorate from the University of Arizona (1995), a Master of Musical Arts in Saxophone Performance from Arizona State University (1986), and a Bachelor of Musical Arts degree in Saxophone Performance from Indiana University (1984).
Hester
is the author of Saxophone Master Classes (1998) and appears
on numerous recordings including The Sonoran Consort, An American
Patchwork, Masterpieces for Saxophone, America's Millennium Tribute
to Adolphe Sax, Spirit Horses and Native Tapestry.
When not teaching, performing or writing, Hester
paints, hikes in the Sonoran desert, travels to points of interest
around the world..."
"...DB:
What's fundamentally important to you when you take on a new
student?
MH:
Tone. Students need to produce a sound that's pleasing for them
to listen to. The most important thing that a student can do
is practice, and no student wants to practice if they don't sound
good.
The other things will come. Without a tone, none of it will come.
A lot of times when a new student first comes in we deal with
making sure the equipment is in good shape. The brand of the
saxophone doesn't matter so much as long as it works well. Students
need a good mouthpiece, a good reed, a good basic ligature and
to be able to produce a sound that makes them happy. From there
anything is possible.
I also feel it is essential that students learn to
teach themselves. This was the guiding philosophy behind my book...."
"...DB: Your book, Saxophone Master Classes, goes into
such detail about these basics. In your own playing, it's so
apparently effortless. But when you read what's behind it, it's
impressive. It's a lot of stuff to have going on in your head.
You've really thought this through scientifically.
MH:
I feel like I've made every pedagogical mistake that can be made
at least once. But I continue to find my way through. I feel
strongly that a teacher can provide guidance along the way and
still allow a student to find his or her own path.
Regarding the embouchure, for example. Saxophone
students must know why and how an embouchure works. If they aren't
allowed to make a connection between what they are doing and
what they need to do, then I think the learning process has been
compromised.
Students need to know how they were able to improve
so that if there are problems in the future they will know how
to get past it on their own. I've heard of principles in major
symphony orchestras having to take lessons again well into their
careers. To simply give an answer is really cheating the student.
To help them find their own way to the answer is going to help
them immeasurably down the road.
If I'm lucky in one way it's that I've had to struggle
a bit as a player. I've built it from the ground up and I know
how it's put together and I know how to fix it when it's broken.
It hasn't hurt to have the wisdom of many great saxophonists
rattling around in my head, but in the end, all of us must find
a way to personalize the techniques before we can truly own our
ability...."
"...DB: How important is arts education in our society?
MH:
That's a pretty personal issue. My wife is a public school band
director. Much of the time she feels invisible to other teachers
and administrators even though she sees more students every day
than anyone else.
Most of the time the arts are deemed as being expendable.
When administrators go down the list of things to be cut, arts
are always at the top. Sports are below that. As wonderful as
sports are to a lot of young people and as important as they
are to getting a few kids into college, I think the arts are
more important to the development of a complete person. Everyone
should be involved in the creation of some kind of art at some
point in his or her education....Being involved in the arts -
writing, playing music, drawing, improvising - all of these things
involve not just the technical aspects of a student's mind but
also the creative aspects. There have been tons of studies on
the benefits of an arts education to test scores. Students in
instrumental music, dance, drama, choir or one of the other fine
arts programs usually do better at solving problems and using
their mind in a creative way.
It can't be that important to a teacher like myself
that a student ends up in a particular profession. The most important
thing is that they're developing as people through their music.
What students gain from playing and studying music will be that
thread which flows through every aspect of their entire life
and career, regardless of what that career is..."