Sounding the Horn: Examining the Live Performance Practices of Australian Classical

Saxophonists

by

Emma Lucy Di Marco

B.Mus (Honours) in Advanced Performance

Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, 2011

Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Queensland Conservatorium

Arts, Education, & Law

Griffith University

December 2015

ii

Abstract

Classical saxophone music (or CSM) is understood as Western art music, composed for

the saxophone, which includes a variety of global influences and has developed since the

invention of the instrument in the 1840’s. In Australia, a number of entrepreneurial

musicians are specialising in this unique genre and showcasing new Australian music in a

variety of live performance situations. Further to this, understanding exactly what

knowledge and skills currently required by young classical musicians to build successful

and sustainable careers is a strong industry focus. With the increasing need for

entrepreneurial mindsets to be adopted and the acceptance of the portfolio career model

as common practice for classical musicians, early career performing musicians need to

develop a multi-dimensional approach to their future careers. Responding to these current

realities, this thesis explores the live performance activities of Australia’s leading

classical saxophonists and through four key areas: Logistical Considerations, Artistic

Relationships, Digital Engagement, and Performer Satisfaction. In order to address these

four areas, the thesis presents nine case studies of leading Australian classical

saxophonists and saxophone ensembles; showing insights into how they navigate modern

challenges in the industry. Drawing on research in a variety of fields including portfolio

career models, the integration of technology into live performances, and the everyday

management of live performance activities, the thesis presents the conclusions which are

most pertinent to musicians actively striving to build a performance based career in the

current industry.

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Certification

This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any

university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material

previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in

the thesis itself.

Signed E. Di Marco

Date 23/12/2015

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Table of Contents

List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix

List of Figures ......................................................................................................................x

Acknowledgments............................................................................................................. xii

Chapter 1 - Introduction .......................................................................................................1

Research Question .........................................................................................................4

Research Rationale.........................................................................................................6

Terminology and Important Definitions ........................................................................7

Classical Music and Classical Saxophone Music ................................................... 7

Australian Classical Saxophonist ............................................................................ 9

Performance Context .............................................................................................. 9

Individual Performance Contexts ......................................................................... 11

Collaborative Performance Contexts .................................................................... 11

Educational Performance Contexts ....................................................................... 12

Scope… ........................................................................................................................13

Organisation of the Research .......................................................................................13

Chapter 2 – Literature Review ...........................................................................................16

An Introduction to the Saxophone – Positioning the Research ...................................19

The Continual Development of Classical Saxophone Music: Repertoire,

Reception, and Key Figures .............................................................................24

Classical Saxophone Music in Australia ......................................................................30

Classical Music Performance .......................................................................................37

v

Classical Music Careers and Early Development ........................................................41

21st-Century Music Consumers and the Performer-Audience Relationship ...............47

Visual Aesthetics: Choice and Artistic Vision .............................................................49

Place and Performance .................................................................................................56

Recorded Music, the Internet, and Digital Engagement ..............................................59

Musician Satisfaction through Performance ................................................................68

Conceptual Framework ................................................................................................73

Chapter 3 - Methods...........................................................................................................77

Instruments ...................................................................................................................78

Participants ...................................................................................................................84

Procedures and Timeframe ..........................................................................................90

Analysis........................................................................................................................92

Ethics and Limitations .................................................................................................95

Chapter 4 – Australian Classical Saxophonists .................................................................97

Katia Beaugeais (Sydney) ............................................................................................98

Barry Cockcroft (Melbourne) ....................................................................................100

Dr Michael Duke (Sydney) ........................................................................................102

Jabra Latham (Hobart) ...............................................................................................104

Ben Price (Hobart) .....................................................................................................106

Erin Royer (Perth) ......................................................................................................108

Dr Matthew Styles (Perth) .........................................................................................110

Continuum Sax (Sydney) ...........................................................................................112

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Nexas Quartet (Sydney) .............................................................................................114

Emma Di Marco (Brisbane) .......................................................................................116

Barega Saxophone Quartet (Brisbane) .......................................................................118

Chapter 5 – Performance Management and Logistical Considerations ...........................120

Instigation and Rationale ...........................................................................................121

Finances .....................................................................................................................125

Visual Aesthetics .......................................................................................................133

Venue Choice .............................................................................................................141

Repertoire ...................................................................................................................146

Marketing ...................................................................................................................156

Educational Outcomes ...............................................................................................168

Chapter 6 – Artistic Relationships ...................................................................................175

Venue – Repertoire – Audience Triangle ..................................................................176

Audience and Repertoire..................................................................................... 177

Repertoire and Venue ......................................................................................... 185

Venue and Audience ........................................................................................... 192

National Identity ........................................................................................................196

Chapter 7 – Digital Music-Making and Technological Engagement ..............................205

Digital Media .............................................................................................................206

CDs: The Impact of Production and Dissemination ........................................... 206

Recordings .......................................................................................................... 213

Professional Websites ......................................................................................... 218

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Videos and YouTube .......................................................................................... 220

Digital to Live Connection.........................................................................................222

Chapter 8 – Performer Satisfaction ..................................................................................240

Understanding Performance Success .........................................................................241

Success Definition 1: Artistic ............................................................................. 242

Success Definition 2: Response .......................................................................... 248

Success Definition 3: Professional ...................................................................... 250

Success Definition 4: Financial .......................................................................... 251

Success Definition 5: Understanding (or Alternative Perspectives on

Success)................................................................................................... 253

Understanding Performer Satisfaction .......................................................................255

Satisfaction Area 1: Audience Response ............................................................ 257

Satisfaction Area 2: Development and Growth .................................................. 262

Satisfaction Area 3: Personal and Emotional ...................................................... 265

Satisfaction Area 4: Collaboration and Career Development ............................. 266

Satisfaction from Specific Performance Contexts .............................................. 269

Chapter 9 - Conclusion ....................................................................................................273

Understanding Australian CSM .................................................................................273

Performance Management and Logistical Considerations ........................................276

Artistic Relationships .................................................................................................281

Digital Music-Making and Technological Engagement ............................................284

Performer Satisfaction ...............................................................................................287

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Future Directions in Research ....................................................................................289

Appendix: Full Participant Responses in Defining Australian CSM...............................292

References ........................................................................................................................296

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List of Tables

Table 1. Cross-Examination of Conceptual Framework and Application of Australian

CSM-Specific Data ................................................................................................... 76

Table 2. Methodological Tools employed in the Research Design .................................. 79

Table 3. Participants: Australian Classical Saxophonists and Saxophone Ensembles ..... 88

Table 4. Participants: Organisers of Major Industry Events ............................................. 89

Table 5. Summary of Data Collection (Dates & Locations) ............................................. 92

Table 6. Types of Instigation Identified by the Participants ........................................... 122

Table 7. Breakdown of Participant Marketing Methods ................................................. 159

Table 8. Participant Responses Regarding Satisfaction .................................................. 256

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List of Figures

Figure 1. Diagram of Data Collection Tools and Organisation of Work 80

Figure 2. Photo taken from http://www.newmusicblock.com/gallery/premiere-of-terra-

obscura-concerto-for-saxophone/ 98

Figure 3. Photo taken from

http://www.reedmusic.com/composers/cockcroft-barry/ 100

Figure 4. Image taken from http://www.michael-duke.com/live/ 102

Figure 5. Image taken from http://www.opushouse.com.au 104

Figure 6. Image taken from http://benpricemusic.wix.com/music#!about/c10fk 106

Figure 7. Image taken from

http://www.erinroyer.com/gallery/files/page6-1000-full.html 108

Figure 8. Image taken from http://mattstyles.com.au/cpt_photoalbums/photo-album-

2/playing-at-waapa-lt-web/ 110

Figure 9. Image taken from http://continuumsax.com 112

Figure 10. Image taken from http://www.nexasquartet.com 114

Figure 11. Image taken from http://www.emmadimarco.com 116

Figure 12. Image taken from https://www.facebook.com/baregasq/photos_stream 118

Figure 13. Graph of Funding Sources for Live Performance Activities 127

Figure 14. Participant Responses Regarding Repertoire Choice for their Live

Performance Activities 147

Figure 15. Screenshot of www.emmadimarco.com (bottom half of the webpage) featuring

embedded Soundcloud files 220

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Figure 16. Screenshot of Barega Saxophone Quartet featured on the AdolpheSax.com

YouTube channel 228

Figure 17. Screenshot of Vimeo from https://vimeo.com/76608277 223

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Acknowledgments

I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the participants in this study

for their help and support throughout the study. Without their important work

championing Australian music, none of this research would have been possible. Also, a

big thank you to my supervisors, Dr Brydie-Leigh Bartleet and Mr Peter Luff, for their

ongoing support, guidance, and mentorship and to my family and friends for your

continual enthusiasm and encouragement.

Chapter 1 - Introduction

This thesis discusses the field of classical saxophone music with a particular focus

on current trends in the performance of this music in Australia. Classical saxophone

music (hereafter referred to as CSM) is experiencing an increase in interest from leading

Australian saxophonists currently championing this field. CSM can be understood as

music within the Western art music tradition having been composed in the years from the

instrument’s invention in 1846 to present day (Di Marco, 2014a; Frigo, 2005).

Amalgamating a variety of musical influences and styles, performers engaging in CSM

repertoire are adept at contemporary techniques, and historically informed performances.

Within the Australian context, prominent performers and educators in the CSM arena are

developing a community around performance, composition, and education that is

fostering this music within Australia’s classical and contemporary music industry.

Internationally, Australian saxophonists are gaining increasing recognition for their high

level of performance ability. Some examples of recent Australian classical saxophonists

garnering international attention include Amy Dickson from Sydney, Australia who is

regularly engaged in performances of new works and, in 2014 received a nomination for

Best Instrumental Arrangement at The Grammy’s. Australian born, French based

saxophonist Joshua Hyde won the 5th International Saxophone Competition in Nantes

(France) as well as winning 1st prize and the audience prize at the prestigious 3rd

International Jean-Marie Londeix International Saxophone competition in Bangkok in

2011 (Hyde, N.D.). While these artists are championing Australian CSM from foreign

shores, closer to home, Australian classical saxophonists and saxophone ensembles have

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been creating a vibrant and active performance scene built upon the creation and

dissemination of new Australian repertoire over the past 30 years. A strong sense of

community has been developing nationally through recent national saxophone-based

conferences such as the World Saxophone Congress or NASA Biennial Conference

attracting international attention. These events have also seen prominent international

saxophonists in attendance including Phillippe Geiss (France) and Claude Delangle

(France) who have travelled to Australia to headline the Australian Clarinet and

Saxophone Festival (2011) and Australasian Saxophone and Clarinet Conference (2013)

respectively. These few examples highlight the constantly expanding field of classical

saxophone music in Australia through a combination of live performances, educational

activities, and growing community spirit. This ongoing activity across the country has

facilitated the development of an emerging sense of national identity and shared goals

furthering and promoting Australian CSM. There are still major gaps in our

understanding regarding how the Australian CSM community approaches the

management of live performance activities.

To put this thesis topic within a broader context, it is worth stating at the outset

that when executed well, the live performance of music can provide the audience with an

encapsulating, engaging experience that sculpts a shared experience between audience

members and performers. Further to this, modes for the everyday consumption of music

have undergone significant changes and listeners now have a variety of options available

to them. Technological developments, the Internet, and ever-changing social values

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around the arts have altered how we interact with music on a day-to-day basis. With the

music library of the world now virtually stored in our digital devices and on-demand

services available at little to no-cost, providers of live musical performances across many

genres now appear to be re-evaluating their position and modes of operation. This mutual

experience of attending a live performance cannot be replicated in any other

circumstances and it is in this sense that live performance of music still has an important

role to play in the current music industry. By examining how live performance operates

in today’s industry, further insight into the management of live performance activities

and classical music careers has the potential to create greater sustainability in the industry

for the future and will ensure the creation of workable knowledge to help young

musicians develop the skills and know-how to thrive in the classical music community.

This topic is also of professional and personal significance. CSM has been an

inspiring genre at the core of my musical identity and musical expression throughout my

secondary and tertiary education. As an undergraduate saxophone student, specialising in

the performance of CSM music allowed me to explore my own voice as a musician and

saxophonist whilst simultaneously being welcomed into a thriving musical community.

This has led me to finding my own place within the Australian CSM community and

developing a style of performing which is “authentic” to myself and sensitive to the

history of the genre. I was fortunate to have studied under an inspiring teacher, Mr Barry

Bobart, who encouraged me to explore the history of CSM by learning, performing, and

regularly engaging with historic repertoire in the CSM body of repertoire alongside

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newer works. His encouragement to work with composers and develop new repertoire of

my own was also a motivating factor to engage with a canon of repertoire that is

welcoming of new works. His advice also saw me initiate an ensemble – Barega

Saxophone Quartet - which helped to develop my skills as a performer and better

familiarise myself with the CSM history. These personal and professional experiences

have been a strong motivation for this thesis, and provided important insights, networks

of colleagues, and a unique perspective to inform this study.

Research Question

A wide variety of academic studies in the CSM field are based on historical

perspectives of the instrument (Hemke, 1975; Horwood, 1980; Liley, 1998a); the

development of CSM repertoire (Ashton, 1998; Frigo, 2005; Hubbs, 2003; Koval, 1999;

Liley, 1998b); or personal accounts of key influential soloists (Dryer-Beers, 1998; Hubbs,

2003; Royer, 2011). The core bulk of the academic literature leaves vast areas of CSM

unexplored, with many gaps including saxophone performance practice, pedagogy,

engagement with digital music-making to name a few. This thesis aims to fill just one of

these gaps through a qualitative investigation into classical saxophone performance in

contemporary Australia. Specifically, it examines the contexts of performance and the

resulting challenges faced by leading Australian practitioners in this field. The primary

research question underpinning the investigation is: How do classical saxophonists

navigate the diverse dynamics that make up live performance in 21st-Century Australia?

This question explores exactly how live performances are taking place by examining the

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current practices and possibilities for further growth to the satisfaction of both performers

and audiences. This research question has also prompted the following secondary

research questions that this thesis sets out to answer:

What are the live performance contexts of classical saxophone music in

Australia?

What are the different planning and logistical requirements of each different

performance context?

What artistic relationships are evident within the performance of classical

saxophone music?

Is there currently any engagement between live performance and technology

within Australian classical saxophone music performance?

What personal satisfaction is derived from live performance by Australian

classical saxophonists?

How can Australian classical saxophone performance be positively expanded into

the future?

Through the investigation of the primary and secondary research questions, there are two

key aims that the project has sought to achieve. Firstly, that this research will develop a

better understanding of the current practices underpinning the different performance

contexts of CSM in Australia and secondly, that it will unpack the successful strategies

behind current Australian classical saxophonists’ performances that may lead to the

building of a stronger, knowledgeable, and empowered CSM community in Australia.

The overarching aim of the project is to provide informative feedback to the field that

will promote the classical saxophone genre and encourage performers and audiences to

engage in classical saxophone performances.

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Research Rationale

Personal observations from both myself and a number of colleagues in the field

suggest that there are currently a number of active professionals across the country

engaging in CSM performance and education activities. Academic research within this

field is developing at a much slower rate and does not seem to accurately reflect the

broad variety of ideas, constructs, and practices currently shaping the field. The literature

review conducted and presented in this thesis, highlights that up until now academic

research into classical saxophone performance has been severely lacking in substance and

quantity and therefore there are numerous gaps that this research can fill. The live

performance of CSM is a key channel for engaging with the greater community. It is

hoped that this research will provide informative feedback to the field that will help

sustain and empower professional classical saxophonists as they continue to develop this

unique musical genre and its widespread appeal. This thesis is therefore an innovative

study into the Australian CSM field and argues a strong case for the analysis of the

current practices of leading professionals in the pursuit of knowledge for the Australian

CSM genre. To my knowledge, this documentation of Australian CSM is the first of its

kind and represents a continuing development in the understanding of Australian CSM.

The literature review has shown the diverse nature of music careers and calls into

question how exactly performance activities account for the total output of an Australian

classical saxophonist’s career and how this pertains to the nature of their performance

engagement. With each different performance context requiring a unique set of planning

requirements, a different set of outcomes and artistic possibilities, the examination of live

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performance provides a broad and varied set of data to be analysed, compared, and

contrasted for this investigation. This will hopefully provide a greater insight into the

careers of Australian classical saxophonists.

Terminology and Important Definitions

Classical Music and Classical Saxophone Music

As Barlow and Shibli (2007) remind us, "What the public generally calls

‘classical’ music is actually many different styles of music that come from many

historical periods, however it is generally accepted that classical music encompasses the

broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day". This definition rather compactly

describes the term classical music for both specialist and non-specialist readers.

Following on from this, classical saxophone music is Western art music written for the

saxophone from the 1840’s to the present day and covers a multitude of stylistic

influences and musical forms. Some practitioners in the field will also refer to the term

contemporary saxophone music as an extension of the classical saxophone genre as they

feel the word ‘classical’ gives the wrong implications for the music that they perform.

This is particularly the case when dealing with newly composed music which falls

outside of the Classical period. The use of the term contemporary is not only referring to

a time period but also to a set of stylistic requirements that move away from conventional

notation and sound sets, again, mostly when dealing with newly composed music. This

term has been found to be a commonly used term on the CSM networking site SaxBook

where saxophonists are able to create and present professional profiles and choose a

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specialised genre (http://saxbook.com). Both terms, classical saxophone and

contemporary saxophone, are appropriate terms which describe music within this genre

and are sometimes used interchangeably by practitioners in the field. Participant Martin

Kay, of the Continuum Saxophone Quartet, described the genre and use of the term

“classical saxophone music” most succinctly:

From my own experience, it is an approach to sound and to learning. There is a

focus on creating a default position of a pure, even, uniform, equally tempered

sound with uniform articulation, capable of blending. From this basis expressive

elements are added to project a particular composition’s expression. There is a

core body of repertoire extending from the saxophone’s origins in the 19th century

with myriad branches leading to today. The classical saxophonist learns their craft

by absorbing the musical and technical requirements from this tradition, as well as

the broader repertoire of music since the renaissance, putting their knowledge at

the service of the composer and audience. Classical saxophonists are often

engaged in working with composers to generate new repertoire. It is at the point

of this interaction where the expression of a personal vision can come to the fore

more obviously. (M. Kay, personal communication, 2014)

To embrace the more all-encompassing term, this thesis will employ the most commonly

used term - classical saxophone music - throughout and implement the abbreviation CSM

throughout the text.

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Australian Classical Saxophonist

The term “Australian Classical Saxophonist” is used to address practitioners in

the field of CSM that are currently living, working, and for professional purposes based

in Australia. Whilst there are undoubtedly Australian saxophonists currently working

internationally and based in different countries, due to the scope of this research, the

study will focus exclusively on Australian-based saxophonists. The term ‘classical

saxophonist’ on its own can be applied to any person that is a specialist in the field of

CSM and includes performers, teachers, composers, and researchers under this banner

with many musicians taking on one or more of these roles. This project focuses

exclusively on Australian classical saxophonists and Australian classical saxophone

ensembles who are also active in this field. The participants involved in this research

investigation are outlined in Chapters 3 and 4.

Performance Context

In this thesis, the term “performance context” is used to define the actual

conditions under which a live performance takes place and the resulting paradigm that is

constructed around the performance activity. This thesis focuses on the undertaking of

live performance activities in the Australian CSM community; however, the term 'live

performance' is in itself a largely ambiguous and wide-ranging umbrella term. Classical

musicians engage in a wide variety of activities within the purview of their career which

can be deemed 'live performance' and it is in this vein that understanding the different

contexts of Australian classical saxophone performance becomes crucial to this

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investigation. This study recognises that there are a variety of different performance

contexts which the participants regularly engage in. This required the development of

appropriate terms to define and explain each context to both a specialist and non-

specialist audience. The categorisation of performance context begins at the conception

of a performance. It is the initiation of a performance that demands the immediate

classification of its context in order for appropriate requirements to be met including

venue choice, repertoire choice, and target audience amongst a plethora of other issues.

This thesis proposes that performance is a contract between two parties: the performer

and the audience. The performer promises to provide entertainment and service whilst the

audience promises to observe and respect the performer’s output. In essence, the

performance conforms to predetermined understandings of development and execution.

Understanding what constitutes a performance becomes increasingly complex when

digital technologies are considered. With modern development of the internet, digital

cameras, smart phones, and social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and

YouTube, performance, and particularly live performance, is becomingly increasingly

complex to define; however, this thesis does not shy away from these complexities and

examines the ways in which these technological developments underpin, inform, and

influence CSM performance contexts.

Three types of performance contexts have been identified and are discussed

within the thesis: Individual Performance Contexts, Collaborative Performance Contexts,

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and Educational Performance Contexts. These different terms are outlined in more detail

below.

Individual Performance Contexts

Individual performance contexts are the most common form of performance

engaged in by classical saxophonists and their audiences. Despite the use of the term

‘individual’, this performance context does not necessarily imply that only one performer

will be on the stage; individual performance contexts includes ‘recitals’ and ‘concerts’ by

a single musician or musical group. The term ‘recital’ is central to the investigation of

performance as it forms the basis of the performance activities undertaken by Australian

classical saxophonists. In this sense, a recital is an important activity within the careers of

classical musicians by providing a crucial platform for the presentation of the music and

technical skill expected by audiences.

Collaborative Performance Contexts

Collaborative performance contexts include major multi-performer, multi-venue

events such as conferences and festivals. The use of the term collaborative refers to the

nature of these events to combine multiple performances, lectures, and presentations

under the larger umbrella banner of the main event. Conferences and festivals allow for

the building of professional networks and creation of new artistic outputs. Australian

classical saxophonists have embraced collaborative events including conferences and

festivals as an important means of networking and collaborating. These events also bring

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together practitioners in the field that may be living and working in separate locations and

present an opportunity to connect professionally and share work, repertoire, and projects

together. During the process of this research, three major collaborative performance

contexts in the CSM field were conducted: in 2012, the XVI World Saxophone Congress

(WSC) was held in St Andrews, Scotland; in 2013, the Australasian Saxophone and

Clarinet Conference was held in Sydney, Australia; in 2014, the North American

Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference was held in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA

and finally in 2015, the XVII World Saxophone Congress (WSC) held in Strasbourg,

France.

Educational Performance Contexts

Within this thesis, ‘Educational Performance Contexts’ is used to describe

masterclasses and workshops which include live performance activities that have the

principal purpose of education. In these instances, the performance itself is not always

focussed on the performer but instead can be the performer engaging with students,

amateurs, or audience members in the pursuit of an educational outcome. Performances

which fall under the banner of 'Educational' do not always have the final goal of

performing or presenting music. Instead, Educational Performance Contexts are centred

around educational activities for the audience or attendees. The role of education in

performance is an area expanded upon later in this thesis; however, there are often times

when education is a key focus and a goal of performance such as in masterclasses or

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workshops. Masterclasses and workshops form a significant portion of the performance

outputs of the participants included in this research.

Scope

This study pertains solely to the investigation of live performance practices of

musicians specialising in the CSM genre. By focusing purely on the performance outputs

of these musicians, the study is in the position of being able to more thoroughly assess

the practices of these musicians within the scope of a doctoral thesis. The research also

focusses specifically on the Australian CSM community. In Australia, these musicians

face their own unique sets of conditions and challenges in pursuing and growing a

performance career. For this reason, focussing on the Australian community provides the

research with clear parameters and the ability to delve into the specificities of the

Australian context. This will provide comprehensive information from saxophonists

operating in this field, and also provide detailed case studies of leaders in the Australian

CSM field.

Organisation of the Research

Chapters Two and Three will present a comprehensive literature review and

methodological outline respectively before the thesis delves into the key issues identified

in the research. Chapter Four will explore the participants involved in the study and

present an overview of their work and professional milestones and influences. The

inclusion of this chapter is to provide context and clarity to the case studies and set up the

14

data presented in the following four chapters. Chapters Five through Eight present the

core findings of the research investigation and conclusions drawn from this work. The

organisation of the chapters is based on the four major research areas developed in the

literature review and theoretical framework. These four areas are: Performance

Management and Logistical Considerations; Artistic Relationships; Digital Music-

Making and Technological Engagement; and Performer Satisfaction. A brief overview of

these four areas is provided below and their full definitions and justification provided in

following chapters.

Performance Management and Logistical Considerations is the term used to

describe the logistical planning of a live performance activity and encompasses a number

of different facets pre-, during, and post-performance. A selection of logistical concerns

which fall into this category range from instigation of a performance, venue hire,

repertoire choice, funding, and marketing, all of which are important requirements of any

live performance. Artistic Relationships takes the discussion to a deeper level by

unpacking relationships and connections formed through the live performance of music

and the resulting impacts on the musicians involved. Topics discussed include

connections between performer and repertoire, the intricate triangle of performer-venue-

audience, and national identity. Digital Music-Making and Technological Engagement

focuses specifically on the involvement of technology and the internet on the live

performance activities of Australian classical saxophonists. This discussion has two

distinct centres: firstly, the involvement of digital media in the live performance such as

15

recordings, CDs, and digital products; and secondly, the integration of technology into

the live performance such as electronic music, social media and marketing, and digital

presence. Performer Satisfaction discusses the satisfaction these musicians glean from

their live performance activities and how they view and measure successful

performances. This chapter aims to directly address a current gap in the literature

regarding musicians’ job satisfaction amongst soloists or chamber musicians.

Chapter 2 – Literature Review

It is within recent years that “the category of live performance has only just

started to gain scholarly attention” (Holt, 2010, p. 244). The reasoning for this lacunae in

academic literature is unclear and "performance practice in recent contemporary art

music is an area that musicology has largely left unexplored” (Heaton, 2012, p. 96). In a

somewhat related view, some authors acknowledge a significant gap in current

knowledge within the areas of “musicians’ career patterns, roles, contributions and skills”

(Bartleet, Bennett, Bridgstock, Draper, Harrison, & Schippers, 2012, p. 33). Heaton

proposes that this may be the result of a disconnect between performers and academics

and that the source of the knowledge (the performers) may not be directly connected with

the method of academic dispersal (the scholars) and as such, the disconnection of

performing musicians to academic publication means that "very few expert performers

write about what they do: some contribute in an anecdotal way, mostly in interviews; and

some, in time-honoured fashion, write treatises" (Heaton, 2012, p. 96). Dogantan-Dack

presents the argument that the musicological discipline does not historically cover

performance research. This has changed with recent developments in musicological fields

allowing for an increasingly thorough investigation of modern performance practice. As

she elaborates:

The three broad areas defining this musicological discipline – namely historical

performance practice, the psychology of performance, and analysis and

performance (Rink, 2004) – characteristically employ recorded performances as

their primary source material… Consequently, the research context on the making

17

of a live performance of music in the Western classical style involving a score is

currently very limited. (Dogantan-Dack, 2012, pp. 35-36)

This limitation, however, has not held back developments in performance research. As a

discipline of musicological investigation, research into live performance activities holds

many merits; for example:

…artistic research projects about live musical performance are particularly

valuable on two accounts… One has to do with the role and status of performers

within the discipline… there is a need to include the performer’s authentic voice

and discourse within the discipline. (Dogantan-Dack, 2012, p. 38)

Bartleet et al. also acknowledge that “tertiary music education is a key player in this

‘musical ecosystem’” (2012, p. 33). While this thesis does not specifically examine the

tertiary programs in CSM currently available at Australian tertiary institutions, the

important role of the tertiary education in the development of modern musicians must be

acknowledged. This is further promoted by the increasing body of literature surrounding

tertiary music education programs and in this sense, research into music industry

practices, and, further, current performance practices provides support to tertiary

institutions in their application of music education.

With this broader context in mind, this literature review explores classical

saxophone performance and performance in the classical music industry more

specifically. In this literature review, commonly covered themes are divided into two

18

streams: research into the saxophone as an instrument, and research in the practices of

live music performance in the classical music industry. This thesis therefore will address

the overwhelming gap between these two areas by combining the practice of CSM with

the investigation of the music industry in the 21st-Century. The limited research

combining these two fields highlights the need to undertake research into the Australian

classical saxophone community and explore a number of pertinent themes including

historical development, Australian music, live performance practices, visual aesthetics,

place, engagement with technology, and performer satisfaction. To put this study into a

broader context, this literature review, therefore, begins with an investigation of CSM on

an international scale and narrows in to specific developments in Australia. With the vast

majority of documentation in the history of CSM, more specific studies in Australian

CSM are lacking with the most pertinent sources presented here. Following on from this,

investigation into contemporary performance practices brought forth the wide variety of

related topics. The topics covered in the area of live performance include portfolio

careers, audience relationships and development, classical music performance etiquette,

visual aesthetics, place and venue choice, digital music-making practices, as well as job

satisfaction through performance.

This chapter will explore several areas of literature all pertinent to this

investigation. As previously stated, the examination of the literature reveals two clear

areas of discussion and this is reflected in the presentation of the review below. The first

sub-chapter will deal with the CSM tradition: beginning with the early development of

19

the saxophone as an instrument and repertoire development, the review continues through

the modern developments in the CSM tradition and a focus on Australian CSM. The

lacunae in current CSM research is evident; however, research that has been completed in

this field focuses on “history, repertoire, pedagogy, as well as stylistic issues such as

cross-genre music” (Di Marco, 2014a, p. 23). Following this discussion, the literature

review will examine the live performance of classical music from a current perspective.

The topics discussed include: classical music performance and careers; the performer-

audience relationship and the changing traditions of the classical music concert; visual

aesthetics; place, venue, and the space in which performances take place; the Internet,

social media, and changing digital music-making practices; and finally, performer

satisfaction through performance. To complete this chapter, a theoretical framework is

presented, based on information gleaned in the literature review that illuminates the

development of the methodological approach.

An Introduction to the Saxophone – Positioning the Research

The history of the saxophone has been documented with a focus on the creation of

a new instrument and understanding the man behind this invention: Adolphe Sax (1814 –

1894). The documentation and investigation of the saxophone, its repertoire, and the

historical circumstances surrounding its invention have been discussed by academic

scholars and performing saxophonists alike. A significant portion of academic literature

pertaining to CSM is drawn from postgraduate and doctoral dissertations where students

are investigating CSM at a thorough and extremely in-depth level. These dissertations

20

focus on the history and development of CSM and some specialise further to focus solely

on a particular piece of repertoire and provide a comprehensive performance analysis and

stylistic guide (Bunte, 2010; Cripps, 2006; Frigo, 2005; Lamar, 1986; Lichnovsky, 2008;

Mickel, 2011; Williams, 2011). This literature review will now briefly examine the

history of the saxophone and development of the CSM genre, as it has led to the

development of the Australian CSM community of today. This overview of work

conducted in the historical field of the saxophone provides context to the CSM genre and

clarifies the basis through which artists in the field now operate.

An invention of Belgium instrument maker Adolphe Sax, “[t]he exact date of the

saxophone’s invention has likewise been subject to confusion” (Hemke, 1975) but it is

commonly accepted that the saxophone was invented in the 1840’s (Di Marco, 2014a;

Frigo, 2005; Koval, 1999; Liley, 1998a). The saxophone was an instrument adopted

easily by jazz and popular music forms yet struggled to gain acceptance in the Western

Classical canon (Frigo, 2005). As Cripps describes, “the saxophone has a brief but rich

history in military, jazz, ragtime, pop, rock, and many other genres of music in North and

South America, Europe, and other continents. In addition, a powerful tradition of

classical saxophone has emerged” (Cripps, 2006, p. 1). Unlike other instruments that

developed over a long period of time, the young saxophone was thrust into a well-

developed musical tradition whilst still only in its formative years, building a community

of active and proficient performers, teachers, and enthusiasts. Vanderheyden states that:

21

While the classical tradition of playing music preceded the birth of jazz by

hundreds of years, the saxophone took a roundabout way into its place in the

current canon of each genre, and was suffering something of an identity crisis in

the early twentieth century. (Vanderheyden, 2010, p. 3)

Through an extensive process of development and the continuing support of Sax, the

saxophone gradually began to gain widespread acceptance; however the extensive

process to the mainstream classical music scene has been attributed to many different

reasons in the literature. Reasoning around this includes ideas such as the tone colours of

the instrument not being suitable for the compositional styles of composers to the

personality characteristics of its inventor Adolphe Sax off-putting potential performers

and teachers; however, one of the most highly discussed issues is that of the relative

exclusion of the saxophone from the symphony orchestra. At the time of the saxophone’s

invention the symphony orchestra was one of the central forms of music-making in

Europe and it was Sax’s original intention for the instrument to join the orchestra, filling

in timbral gaps and providing new, rich tone colours to exploit (Horwood, 1980; Liley,

1998a). “By 1844 the basic description and tonal qualities of the saxophone were well

known to artists and composers. The saxophone was envisioned as a further colour for

the orchestral palette which held … potential” (Hemke, 1975, p. 247). Despite this

acceptance on a small scale and interest of composers of the day, “the saxophone started

out with great potential and promise… yet failed to become [a] regular [member] of the

orchestra” (Koval, 1999, p. 150).

22

Whilst the exclusion of the saxophone in the orchestra cannot be attributed to one

single specific reason, Koval suggests that the portrayal of the saxophone in orchestral

treatises is a crucial influence on many composers’ use of the instrument. Koval’s

argument proposes that “if treatises of orchestration and instrumentation are found to be

biased against the use of saxophones in the orchestra, then this would help explain why

these instruments have been unsuccessful in the past in gaining a foothold in this

medium” (Koval, 1999, p. 6). Despite the minimal inclusion of the saxophone in

orchestral music, there has been “widespread acceptance in ensembles in other areas of

music-making” (Koval, 1999, p. 6). Koval’s analysis included examinations of numerous

treatises and concluded with the assumption that the youth of the instrument has not

allowed composers to utilise the saxophone to its greatest potential within the symphony

orchestra. It could also be argued that the saxophone’s exclusion from the orchestra is

irrelevant to its development as a solo instrument however this is not entirely supported.

The symphony orchestra was a key form of classical music in Europe at the time of the

saxophone’s invention; it’s exclusion from the orchestra also left it far removed from

significant composers’ musical outputs. Frigo explains:

[The] saxophone is a young instrument compared to the more traditional

orchestral string and wind instruments, and this presents various challenges to the

establishment of the saxophone as a legitimate and worthy orchestral instrument...

Its (sic) long displacement from the orchestra continues in the modern era even

though now its exclusion is both economic and historic (Frigo, 2005, p. 1)

23

The separation of the saxophone and the symphony orchestra has permitted other areas of

musical involvement to develop further; namely, the involvement of the saxophone in

European military bands.

As a brand new instrument, the saxophone required the creation of new music

specifically written for its tonal and technical capabilities. The young saxophone did not

have the technical capabilities of more mature instruments and performers were not as

proficient on the instrument to perform at a high artistic level; therefore, the instrument

was not being performed regularly and gaining public exposure or any serious

recognition from audiences and critics. The lack of exposure meant little recognition

which in turn affected new compositions being composed. With no new or innovative

music for the young instrument, it fell into the margins of classical music.

The saxophone was seen as an oddity for decades, and because of this, it took a

great deal of effort by classical soloists to have compositions written that were not

in the “pop” style of the time. (Williams, 2011, p. 3)

Despite increasing popularity and dissemination of the instrument, “general popularity

does not necessarily produce excellence, particularly on an instrument which appears

deceptively easy to master” (Ashton, 1998, p. 21). Other musical genres, such as jazz for

example, were not as cautious in creating new music for the saxophone. And it can be

seen that "the saxophone enjoys immense popularity and an undeniable sense of

belonging in the jazz and popular music idioms, but its place in the concert hall realm - in

formal orchestral and solo/chamber music settings - is more ambiguous" (Frigo, 2005, p.

24

1). It is through the development of new music that early classical saxophonists could be

seen to have developed their own style and performance practice as they pushed to create

a tradition of CSM in the greater musical community; in essence, "they can create their

own [performance practice] in new music" (Heaton, 2012, p. 97).

The Continual Development of Classical Saxophone Music: Repertoire, Reception,

and Key Figures

As CSM has continued developing, repertoire has continually been adapting to

differing musical tastes and ideas. The beginning of the twentieth century saw that “in

classical music the saxophone made only an occasional appearance, due in large part to

the lack of substantial repertoire and the disinterest of orchestral musicians” (Ashton,

1998, p. 20). Some specialist performers, however, were encouraging composers to

develop new repertoire in the classical style. The 1930’s saw saxophonist Marcel Mule

form “an SATB quartet” (Ashton, 1998, p. 23) whose primary goal was to encourage and

stimulate “some of the great classical repertoire for the medium” (Ashton, 1998, p. 23).

With active soloists and the ongoing prominence of the saxophone quartet in chamber

music, the twentieth century was an important era in the development of the CSM genre

and has cemented its current place within the repertory of saxophone education. With

“twentieth-century pioneers of the classical saxophone [including] Marcel Mule (1901-

2001) in France, Larry Teal (1905-1984) in America, Sigurd Rascher (1907-2001), first

in Germany and later in America, and Peter Clinch (b.1930) in Australia” (Di Marco,

2014a, p. 26) leaving a legacy of commissioning new music, repertoire development, and

25

pushing the musical and technical boundaries of classical saxophone performance. Of the

saxophonists presented, Rascher and Mule are arguably the most influential in the CSM

genre and current performance practice:

The influence and position of Sigurd Rascher and Marcel Mule are central to any

discussion of the development of the classical saxophone in the twentieth century.

They have been responsible both for attracting significant contributions from

composers and for the dissemination of these works via live performance,

broadcast and the teaching studio. Each artist’s personal musical style has

repeatedly chronicled as influential by their fellow musicians and can now be

viewed as a legacy passed to following generations. (Dryer-Beers, 1998, pp. 41-

42)

Dryer-Beers highlights an important element of CSM performance: many modern-day

classical saxophonists view these pioneers as incredibly influential in their current careers

and approach to CSM performance. This suggests a strong, interconnected network and a

sense of community created through the shared appreciation of the genre, its soloists, and

its history. These pioneers also exemplify the nature of careers in CSM which constitute

“the performance of the saxophone as a classical instrument, the academic instruction of

the instrument in the performance of the style, and the commissioning of new works for

the instrument” (Colón-Martín, 2015, p. 41).

Strong musical influences and figurehead soloists can be found in other areas of

music-making which have impacted on the development of the CSM genre. This is

26

particularly notable in America where increasing interest in the saxophone developed

through commercial entertainment and the increasing prevalence of recording

technology. As Ashton elaborates:

Edouard Lefèbre, through the bands of Patrick Gilmore and John Philip Sousa,

delighted American audiences with fine quality playing for nearly forty years.

Shortly afterwards the masterful Rudy Wiedoeft was recording, composing, and

promoting the saxophone to the public in a manner allying the instrument with

high-class control, nuance and first-rate entertainment. Wiedoeft’s choice of

instrument was a happy one for champions of the saxophone, and fortunately

coincided with early growth in the recording industry and the public’s post-war

appetite for novel entertainment. So unfolded the unprecedented saxophone

‘craze’ of the 1920s in America, directly responsible not only for the spawning of

so many good quality performers and a large listening public, but also for

tremendous amateur interest. (Ashton, 1998, p. 21)

This ‘craze’ extends only to America and was unmatched in other parts of the world;

however, “the events of those years contributed so much to the technical development of

the saxophone, the demands and abilities of its exponents, and the launching of the

saxophone into the jazz and dance bands” (Ashton, 1998, pp. 21-22).

Education has been identified as an important factor in the continuing

development of the CSM genre; however, “the tenuous thread spun by Adolphe’s early

teaching at the Paris Conservatoire seems barely discernible until reinforced by Marcel

27

Mule and Sigurd Rascher some fifty years later” (Ashton, 1998, p. 20). The education of

saxophonists and the CSM tradition has been slowly developed in many countries where

higher education programs have been slowly implemented. This trend has been seen in

many countries across the globe particularly in France, America, and Canada as well as

later in other countries including Australia. As far as tertiary education is concerned, this

has taken even longer to develop with many saxophonists unable to study their

instrument at a tertiary institution as the programs and staff members were unavailable

(Abbink, 2011) until relatively recently.

Just as the historical development of CSM in Australia is limited in academic

literature, researchers in other countries, such as Canada are attempting to solve the same

problem and fill in the blanks. As part of his doctoral dissertation, Erik Abbink

investigated the development of education and performance in British Columbia in a

qualitative study involving active saxophonists in that area. Documenting an early history

of music in the British Columbia region, he outlines the social and economic changes

across the region that saw the increase in demand for music and entertainment that

ultimately led to the inclusion of the saxophone in musical life (Abbink, 2011). Dubbing

the earliest existence of the saxophone in British Columbia musical life as a saxophone

quartet performance in 1885, Abbink states that the instrument has been on a steady path

into general musical activities of performance and education ever since (Abbink, 2011).

28

The continuing development of CSM - particularly in Australia – has been due to

the ongoing relationships between performers and composers and the resulting music that

is created from these unions. The performer-composer relationship therefore can be

viewed as a key factor in the continuing exploration and dissemination of CSM. This has

been due to the fact that "the commissioning of new music for the saxophone plays a

critical role in the ongoing effort to strengthen the recognition and respect of the

saxophone as a legitimate concert instrument" (Frigo, 2005, p. 2) and therefore

contributes to the establishment of the performer-composer relationship as a viable means

of mutual benefit. The development of new repertoire in the Australian CSM genre often

comes about through different commissioning processes that may or may not include

financial transactions. Commissions have spawned positive relationships between

saxophonists and composers and fostered future projects, new works, and mutual career

advancement (Di Marco, 2014a). Frigo stipulates: “It is common for composers to be

inspired by specific performers, agreeing or even offering to write a new work out of

admiration for a particular performer or instrument. The ‘admiration’ commission implies

a non-financial commission” (2005, p. 6). For new music development in future

generations, Frigo describes that the friendships developed in early studies, such as

tertiary institutions, are a crucial component of positive relationships in the workforce.

Students (both performance and composition) that are able to collaborate on new music

projects consequently grow together, learning from each other and having a better ability

to expand this relationship in the professional world.

29

The relationship is now no longer a curriculum requirement, and both must now

create commissioning opportunities for themselves. They are no longer in a

school environment with convenient access to one another and to the resources a

university offers, such as free performing space and a built-in audience. (Frigo,

2005, p. 46)

The collaboration between saxophonists and composers in educational contexts suggests

an approach to career preparation which is reflective of the modern concept of a

‘portfolio’ career musician (Bartleet et al., 2012; Bennett, 2007) and the need for music

professionals to be active in creating opportunities for themselves. Ultimately, the

performer-composer relationship has the potential to directly benefit both parties and

create new, innovative music through collaborative processes. This can be the catalyst for

repertoire which pushes the boundaries musically or technically on the instrument, as

Heaton suggests:

Composers, as was always the case, often come into contact with exceptional

players. The resulting works can extend the technical boundaries, with both the

composer making demands that at first may seem impossible to execute (but soon,

with the next generation of players, begin to come within reach), and the player

encouraging composers. (Heaton, 2012, p. 98)

The performer-composer relationship can be seen as an underpinning factor in the

development of the CSM genre both in Australia and internationally and therefore must

be considered in any investigation of this music.

30

Australian classical saxophonists are rapidly developing a strongly connected

network focussed on promoting the genre through performance, education, and, to a

lesser extent, research. In my professional capacity, I have observed this in the field

throughout my work as a performer and engagement with the industry at conferences and

festivals. The development of classical saxophone networks in other countries is well

known with notable examples being a strong ‘school’ of French classical saxophonists

beginning with Adolphe Sax himself opening a classical saxophone class at the Paris

Conservatoire (Liley, 1998a) and continuing to the present day where Claude Delangle,

head of the CNSM Paris saxophone class for the past 25 years has acquired an

international reputation as the master of French classical saxophone style.

Classical Saxophone Music in Australia

When focussing on the CSM genre in Australia, it can be seen that this tradition is

much younger and less established than other national CSM traditions. In Australia,

audiences were initially introduced to the saxophone in jazz, popular, and vaudeville

music forms, following the popular music trends of the United States of America in the

1920’s. Audiences lapped up the antics and showmanship of the raucous saxophonists

(A.B.M., 1954); however, performances of this kind only further solidified the position of

the saxophone as a less than serious instrument. Performances utilising the saxophone

presented it as a comic instrument and neglected the tonal capabilities it possessed that

were suitable for classical music as audiences “[overlooked] the real beauty of the

instrument when turned to serious matters” (N.D., 1932, p. 2). It is also interesting to note

31

that the frivolous perception of the saxophone extends further than Australia, where in

Puerto Rico for example, “the idea that the saxophone was a lesser quality instrument,

representative of ‘lowbrow’ music” was widely considered (Colón-Martín, 2015).

From an academic perspective, the Australian classical saxophone tradition “is

not as proud or illustrious as in the other nations” (Lichnovsky, 2008, p. 1). Why the

situation has developed as such is unclear and not discussed thoroughly throughout the

literature. However, the status quo has emerged and Australian CSM has formed into a

niche musical genre and “a relatively late arrival on Australia’s classical music scene”

(Andra, 2005, p.5). There are two notable champions of the saxophone in the

development of Australian CSM: composer Peter Grainger (1882 – 1961) and soloist

Peter Clinch (1930 – 1995). Australia’s premier champion of the saxophone was

composer Percy Grainger. He frequently spoke of the positive qualities of the saxophone

and used the instrument extensively in his concert band compositions.

“I like the saxophone,” exclaimed Mr. Grainger, “because it is the most voice-like

of wind instruments. The trumpet and horn are beautiful, but they have a metallic

quality; the clarinet and the oboe are beautiful, but they have a very reedy quality;

and the flute has some kind of a hollow quality which is not very beautiful. The

saxophone… [is] the most lyrical of wind instruments.” (The West Australian,

1934, p. 14)

32

Grainger’s constant inclusion and promotion of the saxophone within wind band

repertoire was an important reinforcement of the capabilities of the instrument and

provided numerous opportunities for the instrument to receive further attention.

The most long lasting impact upon the Australian saxophone community and

influence on saxophone performance education in Australia was made by soloist Dr Peter

Clinch (1930 – 1995); a clarinettist and saxophonist often credited as the founding father

of the Australian CSM genre. Clinch’s work throughout Australia was extensive, as

documented by Clinch’s biography:

[H]e played clarinet and saxophone with every ABC Symphony Orchestra in

Australia either as a member of the orchestra or as a soloist. Peter was the Head of

the Music Department at the Melbourne College of Advanced Education and later

the Reader, then Associate Dean (Music Education) at the Faculty of Music,

University of Melbourne. As well as producing a number of recordings, including

those used as the basis of this disc, Peter toured extensively in Europe, Asia and

the USA as a soloist, recitalist, a chamber music performer, and a conductor as

well as giving lectures and masterclasses. The Peter Clinch Saxophone Quartet

was the most exciting ensemble of the Australian music scene, certainly its most

pertinent in contemporary significance. (Move Records, 2015)

Clinch’s impact upon the Australian CSM community was made firstly, through his

performances and active role as a performer with the Peter Clinch Saxophone Quartet,

and secondly, as an educator who has made a significant impact on leading figures in the

33

Australian CSM community today including saxophonist Barry Cockcroft who is a

research participant in this investigation. The continuing development of the Australian

CSM community can trace its roots back to the activities of Peter Clinch. The education

of saxophonists in Australia early on was limited with many students learning from

“doublers” or teachers who specialised in a number of instruments (in many cases a

clarinettist who also taught saxophone for example) (Hemke, 1975) and this is a parallel

development with CSM traditions in other nations. In early development, some

saxophonists may find they must develop a specialisation in either classical or jazz

traditions, particularly in cases of applying for tertiary education programs. Tyson

elaborates: “Saxophonists at any level of his/her development are often faced with the

difficult dilemma of choosing whether to be a classical or jazz specialist, however, many

modern saxophonists are developing an integrated approach to playing the instrument”

(Tyson, 2004). This modern approach is reflective of the diverse nature of saxophone

education programs. The continuing development of the Australian repertoire is crucial to

this community.

The repertory of Australian CSM is beginning to grow however there is no clear

start to when composers began writing music in this particular style. Whilst “there has

been no evolution of an accepted interpretive style” (Lichnovsky, 2008, p. 2) of

Australian CSM, the slow and steady trickle of original compositions provided

performers with a greater opportunity to explore the classical saxophone genre and begin

to pave the path of an Australian ‘style’ of CSM. This trend has been stimulated over

34

many years by enthusiastic and dedicated saxophonists that have worked with living

composers to create music that creates a unique mix between different musical trends and

individual expression that, having been involved in the creation, allows them to stamp the

music with their own, uniquely Australian, perspective. Michael Lichnovsky, an

Australian saxophonist, wrote his doctoral dissertation on three classical sonatas for the

saxophone by major Australian composers: Dulcie Holland, William Lovelock, and

Margaret Sutherland and how these Australian compositions help to empower the

national identity of Australian CSM. In his dissertation, Lichnovsky discusses these three

works in detail and concludes with a discussion of these works as ‘lost gems’ in the

Australian repertory, neglected by generations of saxophonists. The conclusions in his

discussion highlighted the lack of development of an Australian classical repertory of the

saxophone. In more recent years, Australian compositions have grown in number and are

getting increasing numbers of performances. This is due to the pioneering spirit of

Australian classical saxophonists and their persistence in building and nourishing this

musical tradition.

National identity within the classical music paradigm is not a new concept.

Discussion of national identity has been ongoing in the literature; however, exploring the

idea of national identity through the lens of Australian CSM is a relatively new

application of this knowledge. Over the centuries, nationalism in classical music has

taken many forms including outright patriotism, evocations of history and landscape,

references to the motherland, pieces in what is conceived to be a recognised style, folk

35

songs influencing specific attempts to define a national style (Arblaster, 2002). From an

Australian perspective, “the benefits the arts bring to Australia’s national identity and to

the community in general is a point relatively commonly made in advocacy for the arts”

(Costantoura, 2001, p. 50). Many discussions and analyses surrounding nationalist ideas

in classical music narrow in specifically on the composers’ perspective and the works

produced as a result of their nationalistic ideals (Arblaster, 2002). From a modern

perspective, nationalism in classical music can be a channel for creating connections

between composer, performer, and audience member: "the matter of finding an audience,

of relating to a community, is one key to understanding the importance of nationalism to

the composer" (Arblaster, 2002, p. 270). National identity within music can be

interpreted as a personal form of expression as well as that of a community.

Understanding how this applies to the Australian CSM genre means understanding where

this sense of identity is drawn from:

[T]echnically speaking, you can also, within limits, choose your nationality, or

change it. But even if you, as an Italian or a Korean or a Mexican, choose to go

and live in the United States, it will probably be a long time before you feel that

you have become an American. And no matter how long you live in Italy or

Japan, it is unlikely, if you were brought up and grew up elsewhere, that you will

ever feel that you are Italian or Japanese, whatever your formal citizenship may

be. There are many other dimensions to the sense of identity, some more local

than nationality. (Arblaster, 2002, p. 271)

36

National identity is not the only form of identity which can be gleaned from musical

experiences. A more broad approach can be considered where music is representative of

the individual and of the community. This is the key concept which can be considered

within the CSM genre.

Music, then, represents a remarkable meeting point of the private and public

realms, providing encounters of self-identity (this is who I am; this is who I’m

not) with collective identity (this is who we are; this is who we’re not). Of course

all cultural products have this potential – films, television programmes, even

shoes and cars. Yet music’s often-noted link to the emotions arguably makes it an

especially powerful site for such encounters. (Hesmondhaigh, 2008, pp. 329-330)

National identity is a discussion that has permeated musicological investigations in the

past yet rarely broached the subject of the CSM. As this discussion suggests, further work

could be conducted within the Australian CSM field in the understanding of national

identity and its impact on the greater community and development of the genre.

At this point, the literature review has presented a variety of sources detailing the

history, development, and practices of the CSM genre. The discussions around the

development of the instrument and challenging methods for its inclusion into the greater

Western art music scene provide insights into the practices and attitudes of current day

practitioners. The greater classical music industry, and in particular, the examination of

live performance practices will now be addressed.

37

Classical Music Performance

Understanding the nature of the classical music industry provides a well-rounded

perspective and insight into the nature of the CSM genre, particularly as “live music

performance is currently an under-researched area within contemporary music

performance studies” (Dogantan-Dack, 2012, p. 35). Further to this, "until recently, there

has been virtually no research on the process by which performers develop and refine

their interpretations and expressive performance" (Clarke, Cook, Harrison, & Thomas,

2005, p. 32). This area of research has seen ongoing development in recent years and as

Gabrielsson suggests, “there is a rapidly increasing number of contributions concerning

models of performance, performance planning and practice” (Gabrielsson, 2003, p. 221).

Some areas of investigation in classical music performance that have been explored

include understanding classical music audiences today (Barlow et al., 2007; Freeman,

1996; Gelb, 1996; Jacob, 1996; Kozinn, 2000); shaping the classical music concert

experience (Aroutiounian, 2011; Bradshaw & Shankar, 2008; Cluley, 2009; Holt, 2010;

Marontate, 2005; Parncutt, 2007; Tyson, 2004); venue and the role of place in music

presentation (Aitken, 2009; Craik, Kyte, Lancaster, & Schippers, 2010; Drake, 2003); the

classical music recording industry (Holt, 2010; Kozinn, 2000; Marontate, 2005; Midgette,

2010; Rolston & Di Benedetto, 2002); creating a better understanding of the role of the

internet within live performance (Beeching, 2005; Bennett, 2012; Horsley, 2001;

Rosenberg, 2000); and unpacking job satisfaction of performing musicians (Mogelof &

Rohrer, 2005; Parasuraman & Purohit, 2000; Steiner & Schneider, 2013; Streimikiene &

Grundey, 2009). With increasing discussion in the field, the area of research into live

38

performance is of particular interest to researchers and practitioners alike. This is due to

the unique conditions of the live performance experience and the resulting changes that

are currently taking place within the industry. Dogantan-Dack elaborates:

There is ample anecdotal evidence indicating that for performing musicians there

are significant phenomenological, aesthetic and indeed existential differences

between the experiences of performing live and in the recording studio.

(Dogantan-Dack, 2012, p. 36)

This implies that an in-depth understanding of performance research must be drawn from

performance-specific investigations and active fieldwork with professionals. Dogantan-

Dack continues to state that research of this nature “is in its early stages” (Dogantan-

Dack, 2012, p. 40) and this is particularly the case regarding research into the

performance activities within Australian CSM.

Live performance is, in itself, an engaging and emotional medium. Music is a

celebrated and integral part of society and it is for this reason that the live performance of

music still remains as valuable to many citizens as ever before. Experiencing music in a

live performance - as compared to a recording or digital music experience - is an

engaging and intensive experience and can shared by all persons present in the moment.

Bradshaw and Shankar elaborate:

The condition of music emerges as a sort of magical domain that can captivate

audiences, provide cathartic and embodied experiences, and ground identities and

communities, but also introduce us to rich exchanges between peoples while

39

somehow both reifying and subverting power structures. Before the advent of

recorded sound, music was the ultimate intangible experience rooted to time and

place, simultaneously created and destroyed, produced and consumed. (Bradshaw

et al., 2008, p. 225)

Bradshaw and Shankar have here captured some of the essence of live performance and it

is this definition of live performance that is used throughout this research. The connection

of the live experience to the ‘here and now’ is a defining characteristic of what

constitutes a live performance, and Holt echoes: “The live experience is associated with

co-presence in the here and now, and the strict meaning involves a face-to-face relation in

the same physical space” (Holt, 2010, p. 245). The use of the term ‘live performance’ is

common throughout this thesis and developing a distinction between a live performance

and any other mode of performance is of increasing relevance to this discussion for both

context and scope.

The word ‘live’ started to be used in the 1930s to mean the alternative to recorded

material in radio broadcasts (see the Oxford English Dictionary, 1989). A sound

reproduction was defined as a copy in relation to an imagined original (Holt,

2010, p. 244)

Further to this, I have already established an understanding of the term ‘live performance’

as relevant to this investigation and the subsequent use of the term throughout this thesis

which has already been established in a previously published article:

Live performance can be defined in comparison to its opposite - recorded media -

as being an experience between performer and audience in the same space at the

40

same time. As many scholars have identified, CDs, recordings, and digital media

remain an important part of the classical music industry. Nonetheless, live music

performance is also important as it has the potential to not only physically and

emotionally affect the audience by engaging the senses and mind, but also to

create a shared yet simultaneously unique experience for each audience member

present. The visceral quality of experiencing a live performance as an audience

member cannot be replicated by a set of earphones or in isolation. (Di Marco,

2014a, pp. 24-25)

For classical musicians, it is acknowledged that engagement in live performance

activities may begin at an early age. Musical training exercises, educational activities,

performance competitions, and recitals all form a significant component of the learning

process of becoming a classical musician and significantly prepare a musician for future

professional activities (Gabor, 2009).

By the time a classical instrumentalist is in his or her late teens, he or she has

normally acquired considerable experience in live music-making. For those who

go on stage regularly, live performance-making becomes a totally natural activity,

a way of being and of becoming. (Dogantan-Dack, 2012, p. 37)

Given this understanding of the role of live performance activities within classical music

careers, the education of classical musicians will now be considered. Music education is

not a specific focus of this research investigation but forms an increasingly larger part of

the discussion surrounding classical music in the 21st-Century (Borgonovi, 2004; Buder,

41

2013; Freeman, 1996; Jacob, 1996; McKinnon & Lowry, 2012; Whale, 2008) and the

live performance contexts of classical saxophonists.

Classical Music Careers and Early Development

A long and intensive process, education and studies for classical musicians are

often conducted over many years or possibly decades of specialised study (Dogantan-

Dack, 2012). The development into a professional classical musician requires the

learning of superior technical ability on a chosen instrument/s, a strong sense of

musicianship and musical individuality, and the necessary management skills to maintain

an active career (Bennett, 2007; Mills, 2007). Jarvin and Subotnik state that for classical

musicians “technical proficiency is important and that it is essential to acquire it early”

(Jarvin & Subotnik, 2010, p. 81). In their study of conservatory faculty and the skills

required for success in the modern classical music industry, Jarvin and Subotnik (2010)

were able to isolate specific elements crucial to specific stages of a music career, as

identified by established, successful musicians:

We first discuss the factors perceived as being of the greatest importance in the

early stages of a musician’s development (analytical abilities, technical

proficiency, parental support, teachability, teacher–student relationship, external

rewards, persistence, intrinsic motivation), then move to those perceived as

gaining importance in the middle stages (knowing one’ s strengths and

weaknesses, self-promotion, playing the game, social skills, and self-confidence),

42

and review those that matter most in later stages and finally those that are viewed

as innate (risk taking, musicality, and charisma). (Jarvin et al., 2010, pp. 80-81)

What was also identified (and of significance to this investigation) was that “they

clumped together intrinsic motivation, persistence, and self-confidence as qualities

possessed by artists who come to their attention” (Jarvin et al., 2010, pp. 82-83). The

performance of classical music in a modern setting requires performers to negotiate a

balance between traditional and time-honoured routines with new and innovative ideas.

The dichotomy between maintaining traditional performance standards and creating new

musical traditions provides the industry with many new paths to explore surrounding

etiquette, presentation, repertoire choice, and venue choice. The changing musical tastes

and easy availability of a vast number of musical styles has created a musical melting pot

of which classical music forms just one small ingredient. This has, in turn, required

classical musicians to move away from earlier models of instrumental virtuosos focussing

solely on their craft and created a new breed of entrepreneurial musicians whose

“financial viability depends for many musicians not only on talent, but also on their own

‘portfolio’ skills such as in advertising, social media, merchandising, venue management

and ticketing arrangements” (Bartleet et al., 2012, p. 35). With many musicians finding

that a full-time performance career is unattainable, some are expanding their output to

incorporate other fields such as teaching, research, recording, composing, music

administration and conducting. This is consolidated by Hannan who suggests throughout

a portfolio career “the work musicians undertake may include performing, teaching,

composing, managing, administering and other music-related activities (Hannan, 2003)

43

across diverse music genres such as classical, pop, world music and jazz” (as cited by

Bartleet et al., 2012, p. 35). This is not exclusive to the CSM field:

Data strongly indicated that far from making a living by making music, the

majority of musicians finance music making by making a living. Commonplace

definitions of a musician as ‘someone who performs’ are not supported by

participants in this study. Rather, participants believe that musicians practice

within the profession of music. (Bennett, 2007, p. 185)

This suggests that the idea of live performance being a sole source of work or income is

unlikely for Australian classical saxophonists and consequently, other areas of work

including recording projects, engagement with the Internet as well as other positions

(education, arts administration) must be explored (Colón-Martín, 2015).

The full range of music activities and industries that make up the Australian

music sector is estimated to represent a turnover in excess of seven billion dollars

a year (Music Council of Australia, 2009; cf Guldberg & Letts, 2005). Music in

turn forms part of a much larger industry sector known collectively as the creative

industries … Estimating the scale and characteristics of the music workforce itself

is problematic because national census collections, including the Australian

census, record only the main source of income for each respondent; hence much

of the activity undertaken by musicians with diversified work patterns is not

captured. (Bartleet et al., 2012, p. 33)

Performance is not necessarily the primary output for these musicians. From a CSM

perspective: “The daunting question shared by many saxophone players for many years

44

has been, ‘what are the job outcomes for a saxophonist?’ Many professional saxophone

players have faced this question in their careers” (Tyson, 2004). Tyson interviewed a

number of leading Australian saxophone pedagogues (including specialists from both

classical and jazz idioms) who acknowledged that lack of performance opportunities for

saxophonists within the symphony orchestra and large ensembles can be a stumbling

block for younger musicians. The “poor musician” (Tyson, 2004) theory is therefore not

necessarily applicable to modern day saxophonists who “owing to the sometimes fickle

nature of the music world, [find] other employment opportunities” (Tyson, 2004). This

was echoed, in part, in Jarvin and Subotnik’s work where they identified that “self-

promotion and ‘knowing how to play the game’ were grouped together by most of our

participants and recognised as important for the middle and later stages in a musician’s

career but not at an early age” (Jarvin et al., 2010, p. 83). This was also found in the

writings of Crappell who stated: “a healthy network of contacts is a must for a successful

music career” (Crappell, 2011, p. 10) and a continual goal of a successful musician is “to

market ourselves accurately and effectively” (Crappell, 2011, p. 10).

Understanding marketing strategy and finding effective means of performance

promotion is a challenge for all musicians, and in particular those centred around live

performance activities (Beard & O'Hara, 2006). Soloist or chamber music ensembles are

not alone in navigating challenges presented by differing musical tastes. It is argued that

the industry needs to learn “how to loosen up old conventions and enhance the experience

for modern music fans” (Lee, 2003, p. 14). The proposal has even been raised that

45

compared to other musical genres and forms, classical music has “more intrinsic value…

because of its significance for our musical tradition and its intellectual complexity” (Lee,

2003). This intellectual value is also a leading cause of the elitism that has often plagued

classical music and fed the general decline in its popularity. There is also the viewpoint

that classical music has stagnated with constant performances of the same repertoire and

attempts to continue strongly European traditions even when in other continents provides

a reasonable explanation for lacking interest in the musical genre as a whole (Gann,

1997). Whilst this is not the case for all forms of classical music and is certainly not a

concept found in all countries around the world, it does show how individuals are

perceiving this genre. Macmillan writes: “No one believes classical music is going to

disappear. But many people in the field believe that it is set to undergo a potentially

tumultuous and painful transformation – one that in some areas is already underway”

(2010, p. 1)

A significant element of the current dynamics in the classical music industry is

the new repertoire currently being composed and performed and research has been

conducted in this field (Arblaster, 2002; Heaton, 2012; Keefe, 2009; Milne, 1985). The

entrepreneurial nature of saxophonists within the CSM field sees them currently engaging

in the development of new music by collaborating with composers. Furthermore, there is

currently a presence of performer-composers in the CSM field whereby saxophonists are

composing and presenting their own musical creations and this is acknowledged more

generally and historically in the classical music industry (Keefe, 2009; Weathersby,

46

2002). Previously, musicians would engage in a “traditional performer-composer

relationship where the written score remains on a socially constructed throne”

(Colangelo, 1996, p. 4). This is elaborated on further by Colangelo:

In a commonly-held view of tradition of Western Art Music, a performer is

obliged to treat a composer's score as a contract. If the composer specified a

metronome marking for tempo, the performer is duty bound to try to maintain that

tempo. If none is marked, then the performer may use his or her judgement.

Similarly, if specific dynamics are marked, they must be played as written.

According to this paradigm, the basis for all interpretative judgement by the

performer should come from the score. (Colangelo, 1996, p. 1)

The performance of classical repertoire therefore transforms the performer into an

interpretive vessel, bringing the music to life as the composer has imagined it. For

Edidin, "classical performers are indeed musical artists, who in some important ways

function as collaborators with composers in the process of bringing music to

performance" (Edidin, 2000, p. 317). This does not account for the fact that "even the

most detailed score cannot begin to indicate to the performer exactly how a work should

be performed" (O'Grady, 1980, p. 56). This spawns a twofold discussion: firstly, exactly

how should performers realise a musical composition in performance situations, and

secondly, how does a collaborative compositional process affect the final performance

outcome? A significant and highly subjective area, this has been investigated in this

thesis with a specific examination of the repertoire performed by Australian classical

saxophonists and their interaction with composers in the creation of new music.

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21st-Century Music Consumers and the Performer-Audience Relationship

The challenge for current classical musicians is to explore the practice of

presenting music in a traditional format and navigating new choices and new options that

developing technologies and changing audiences’ interests provide. The experience of a

traditional classical music performance has been flagged as out of touch with

contemporary audiences (Eichler, 2006; Kozinn, 1997; Lee, 2003; Thorncroft, 1998).

This is not only limited to solo or chamber music performance: in terms of orchestral

performance, "tuxedo-clad orchestra musicians arrayed in neat semi-circles across the

stage - each paired with a gleaming trombone or handcrafted violin, and with five

centuries of prestige on their side - can seem invincible” (MacMillan, 2010, p. 1). For

those unfamiliar with the etiquette of a classical music performance, it can seem a

daunting task to attend a concert:

The concept of accessibility reaches beyond the physical capacity to gain access

to a performance; it may well relate to a perception of status and exclusivity from

which the audience feels alienated, or which is simply irrelevant to their everyday

cultural pursuits. (Craik et al., 2010, p. 25)

This brings forth a discussion to change the presentation of this music to create a more

appealing experience for new audience members “despite the fact that many presenters of

classical music are “scared of alienating their long time, tradition-bound concertgoer[s]”

(MacMillan, 2010, p. 1). This initiates a discussion of finding a balance between the two

and creating an industry that is sensitive to the needs and wants of the consumers whilst

48

balancing the artistic goals and outcomes of the performers. Further to this discussion,

financial considerations must be thought through to ensure performance activities are not

solely dependant on government or corporate funding or overly expensive ticket prices

(Gersch, 2007). This concept could be continued as a discussion of how classical music

can be interpreted as stable, unchanging element which has rarely, or only very slowly,

adapted to changing times. Eckersall, Gray, Menon, and Van Graan argue that the

success of one type of classical music - Opera - is that it has had to adapt to a changing

market and modern musical climate rather than focussing on the same presentation style

of previous decades:

In order for opera to survive it has to be demusealized; it has to be returned to its

status as a living organism in dynamic engagement with its changing cultural,

economic and political landscape. The cultural capital of opera has to be re-

imagined, dispersed, so that it may speak of timely issues through its sonorous

affective power. (Eckersall, Gray, Menon, & Van Graan, 2013, p. 45)

And whilst not every opera company can be viewed in this light, it does suggest that the

organisation of a live performance must be centred around this interaction: “A live music

concert is about communicating. Indeed, we are familiar with hearing musicians tell us

that the audience is as important to a successful show as the performers” (Cluley, 2009, p.

376). It certainly follows that a stronger focus needs to be placed on creating positive

interactions between performers and their audiences and the planning and management of

a live performance activity must consider this relationship with great care.

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Audience development can be understood as an "activity which is undertaken

specifically to meet the needs of existing and potential audiences and to help arts

organisations to develop ongoing relationships with audiences (Barlow et al., 2007, p.

105). This is arguably a crucial aspect in maintaining a performance career in music. To

implement a program of greater engagement with potential audiences, Barlow and Shibli

state: "Successful audience development requires a strong commitment to working

beyond the usual channels of conventional arts marketing. A willingness to try new

approaches and undertake innovative advertising" (Barlow et al., 2007, p. 118). From the

perspective of CSM, this genre has been developing for a far shorter period when

compared to other genres of Western art music.

Visual Aesthetics: Choice and Artistic Vision

The visual element of live music performance has increasingly become a highly

discussed area of music research, and has been approached from many angles. It is

increasingly being acknowledged that “the role that auditory versus visual information

plays in performance evaluation is of particular interest to researchers, practitioners, and

educators” (Tsay, 2013, p. 1). Time honoured traditions have been rigidly accepted in

many circumstances, particularly in orchestral performance, where a uniform of black

and white is still readily adopted (MacMillan, 2010). It is increasingly being

acknowledged that the visual aspects of a performance can play a crucial role in the

experience of the audience present and impact upon the perceived success of this

performance (Griffiths, 2011; Kozinn, 1997; Tsay, 2013). This idea stems from the

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valuation of products in everyday life and how we, as consumers, assess products based

on their aesthetic appeal.

We prefer the nicely wrapped holiday gifts (1), fall in love at first sight (2), and

vote for the politician who looks most competent (3). Daily life is littered with

examples of how visual information can have a powerful effect on social

cognition, ranging from interpersonal perception to consumer judgment. (Tsay,

2013, p. 1)

Particularly within the consumer experience, products are increasingly being improved

for their visual appeal: “vegetable peelers, wireless phones, car-washing buckets, and

lawn tractors are all being designed with attention to the aesthetic value of their

appearance” (Bloch, Brunel, & Arnold, 2003). From both a wider context and a classical

music perspective, visual aesthetics refers to a multitude of factors including but not

limited to colour, ornamentation, shapes, sizes, and materials used (Bloch et al., 2003). In

many cases, “such mundane but ubiquitous aesthetic considerations are so deeply woven

into the fabric of our mental lives that we seldom reflect on what our preferences are or

why we have them” (Palmer, Schloss, & Sammartino, 2013, p. 78).

Moshagen and Thielsch present the argument that “beauty is intrinsic, because an

object is perceived without any reasoning about expected utility. This feature of beauty

implies that aesthetic responses occur immediately at first sight, rather than being the

result of a long lasting cognitive analysis” (M. Moshagen & Thielsch, 2010, p. 689). The

concept that a response to perceived beauty is instantaneous can be seen to have

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ramifications for live performers and musicians. Despite having the entire length of a

performance to make a positive impact upon their audiences, initial judgements may

prove to be the most important and long-lasting to audiences; therefore, musicians must

decide carefully how they present themselves and their entire performance on-stage. This

suggests that performing musicians may be able to negotiate their appearance to create

improved relationships with audiences. When discussing visual aesthetics, “four facets of

perceived visual aesthetics … were identified and validated in a series of seven studies:

Simplicity, Diversity, Colorfulness (sic), and Craftsmanship” (M. Moshagen et al., 2010,

p. 705). These are four characteristics which could be used to develop the visual

aesthetics of a concert or recital. The negotiation of these four facets can be applied to

clothing and dress, personal presentation, stage layout, appearance of the concert venue,

and the overall appearance of the concert. Musicians are trained in performance and

musical skills and the application of four straightforward facets to their planning of visual

aesthetics means musicians could make better choices.

Examining how classical musicians present themselves in live performance

activities can be analysed according to two clear concepts emerging in the literature: a

historically-based approach to presentation and a progressive-based approach. Kozinn

argues that the development of thinking in this area has been brewing for some time and

states:

Classical musicians and the impresarios who sponsor their concerts have been

thinking a lot lately about how performances look, and about what can be done to

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drag classical concerts toward the 21st century. Music, they argue, may be the

principal attraction and main event of the concert experience, but why not engage

the eye as well as the ear? Why maintain a tradition of unadorned stages, formal

dress and unvaried white lighting at a time when the young audiences that

musicians hope to attract regard that presentation style as uninvitingly dull, and

assume that the music is as well?” (Kozinn, 1997, p. 2)

This statement calls into play a plethora of choices to be made by classical musicians:

everything previously identified from clothing choice to stage lighting and the use of

amplification. Traditional classical music etiquette calls for “19th-century performance

protocol” (Lasserson, 2002, p. 10) and therefore the updating of these performance

practises “is a sensible evolutionary step” (Kozinn, 1997, p. 2) in modern times. One

example of this would be to compare an orchestral concert in a traditional concert hall to

a pop music performance at a large-scale stadium in a theoretical context; scenarios that

many music consumers would be familiar with. A symphony orchestra – dressed in full

concert blacks – enters the stage to calm and gentle applause; as they sit, the

concertmaster takes to the podium and tunes the ensemble. Following this, the conductor

confidently enters the stage, once again to gentle, polite applause. As the orchestra begins

to play, visual interest for the audience is the occasional bow flinging from the first

violins or overly dramatic gesture from the conductor. Lasserson states, “How could the

mind fail to wander in such a situation?” (2002, p. 10). This can be seen as a stark

contrast to a concert by a popular music performance. At a concert of this nature,

audience members are often packed in with standing room only. Shouting, screaming,

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chanting and laughter all precede the concert and are welcome gestures throughout the

entire performance. When the star enters the stage, the screaming and chanting reaches a

high. The audience is addressed directly, drawn into the music and wowed by differing

combinations of elaborate costumes, dancing, pyrotechnics, and larger than life displays.

It is understandable to conceive that faced with the two choices, audiences would prefer a

more engaging and provocative performance and over time they have come to “expect an

interactive experience” (Torrance, 2007, p. 1).

Classical musicians conduct a number of different performance activities which

include a visual element such as recitals, festivals, and auditions, alongside non-live

activities such as promotional posters, CD covers and booklets, and websites. Despite

that many “professional musicians consistently report that sound is the most important

information” (Tsay, 2013, p. 1), and that visual cues are acknowledged as an important

factor in the judgement of a musical process. In some contexts, such as auditions,

musicians may be subjected to a ‘blind’ process where they perform behind a screen or

blockade from the auditioning panel and therefore anonymous in the execution of the

activity. This process is accepted in terms of ‘fairness’ and ‘equality’ in the auditioning

process but Tsay also describes this may be for “those who prioritize visually stimulating

choreography over the composer’s intended sound” (2013, p. 1). What cannot be ignored

is that musical training is based principally on the development of sound and expressive

interpretation - sound is “the foundation of the field” (Tsay, 2013, p. 1). Despite this, it is

54

increasingly being uncovered that the evaluation of musical performance, whether by an

experienced or amateur listener, is affected by visual cues and stimulation.

These findings suggest that there may be gaps between what we say we use to

evaluate performance and what we actually use. People may be unlikely to

recognize (sic) or admit that visual displays can affect their judgment about music

performance, particularly in a domain in which other signals are deemed to be

more indicative of quality. (Tsay, 2013, p. 1)

Tsay conducted an investigation into how experts and amateurs judge piano performance

with and without sound present, having been presented with videos of classical piano

performances. In her work she was able to conclusively state that “this set of seven

experiments … suggests that novices’ judgment mirrors that of professionals; both

novices and experts make judgments about music performance quickly and automatically

on the basis of visual information” (Tsay, 2013, p. 4). She continued to state:

Professional musicians and competition judges consciously value sound as central

to this domain of performance, yet they arrive at different winners depending on

whether visual information is available or not. This finding suggests that visual

cues are indeed persuasive and sway judges away from recognizing the best

performance that they themselves have, by consensus, defined as dependent on

sound. (Tsay, 2013, p. 4)

This study highlights the importance of visual aesthetics in live performance activities

and the need for classical musicians to acknowledge and respond to this understanding.

“Professional training may hone musicians’ technical prowess and cultivate their

55

expressive range, but in this last bastion of the realm of sound, it does little to shift our

natural and automatic overweighting of visual cues” (Tsay, 2013, p. 4).

One aspect of the visual aesthetics discussion is the dress and clothing choice that

classical musicians partake in. Crafting a positive professional image, as explained, is

invariably dependant upon personal appearance onstage and during performance. “This

impression depends upon our friendly manner, but it also includes the way we dress. …

the simple fact is that our appearance matters” (Crappell, 2011). Another perspective is

the use of promotional photos for publicity and creating a professional image. The

construction of this photo provides potential audiences with an insight into the musicians

and their music. Benching describes this:

Although your photo should be appealing, publicity photos for musicians

primarily need to communicate to the audience what you actually look like (on a

good day), as well as who you are as a musician and what your music-making is

like. (Beeching, 2005, p. 49)

The time-honoured saying that ‘a picture tells a thousand words’ is relevant in this setting

where a photo can be a strong tool for communication to audiences. Benching continues:

“An effective publicity photo is one that makes a memorable, positive impression, and

conveys the image you intend” (Beeching, 2005, p. 45).

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Place and Performance

Different venues for live performances can facilitate interesting and inventive

experiences for audiences and this been an area of interest within the classical music

industry (Cluley, 2009; Drake, 2003; Hoffman, 2002; Mencarelli & Pulh, 2006). The

concept of place within the context of the performance of classical music has increasingly

been contemplated from differing perspectives. Key concepts presented include the

impact of venue choice on audiences through prestige, expectations, and interpreted ‘road

blocks’ to the venue as well as the performers with emotional response, inspiration, and

community engagement. For listeners, making the decision to attend a live musical

experience over a personal listening device at home means a variety of factors come into

play: accessibility to the venue, ease of access, and an inviting atmosphere which

encourages regular and non-regular listeners to come along. Furthermore, the

presentation of classical music is often conducted in venues specifically designed for

music-making. What is currently being examined within the literature is the presentation

of live classical music in non-traditional venues and the resulting impact this has upon the

music in its presentation (Alioff, Warson, MacDougall, & Thompson, 1997). This can be

considered as: “How have new environments of performance reimagined 'high art'?"

(Eckersall et al., 2013, p. 31). For many, the problem in the choice of venue stems from

the “artistic prestige” (Craik et al., 2010, p. 14) of larger music halls that can leave

audience members feeling like a foreigner without a passport. In these circumstances,

Eichler suggests that “concert halls are too often seen as solemn temples of high art

governed by a formal, rigid, and altogether foreign code of etiquette” (Eichler, 2006, p.

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1). Furthermore, “it is a larger sense that a new subculture must be learned before [the

audience] will be able to enjoy a live performance” (Eichler, 2006, p. 1).

To remedy this, the presenters of classical music are choosing venues that are

different from the traditional, large-scale concert halls in order to provide a sense of

comfort and security to the audience attendees in turn using the venue as a tool for

improving and enhancing the listening experience.

These are intimate spaces, small enough that no matter where you sit or stand

you'll have a good view. Where up close and personal is a given because there

isn't any other option. Where you'll leave feeling like you've seen and heard

something special, because you were close enough to feel it as well as hear it.

(Behe, 2008)

This choice of intimate venue is an intentional decision made in an attempt to provide the

audience with a connection to the music; they are encompassed by the music and receive

more than just a live performance of the music and are rewarded for their attendance with

a unique and innovative experience. The deliberate choice of venue is relevant to the

overall production of a music performance as “the physical setting represents the

background for the musical performance and the interaction between the musicians and

the audience. In general, the environment plays a crucial role in a service encounter”

(Minor, Wagner, Brewerton, & Hausman, 2004, p. 10). The use of a smaller or more

intimately conducted space for the presentation of music can also remove the pre-existing

expectations of some audience members. In these instances, those in “the front row of

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seats [are] so close you could touch the performer” (Kanny, 2012) and are given a chance

to connect with the performer of the music in a manner unable to be provided by a

recording. This is especially inviting for “young or otherwise uninitiated listeners,

[where] a major barrier to entry is not the music itself but the packaging” (Eichler, 2006,

p. 1). This change of venue from the traditional large, shoe-box style concert hall is just

one solution to the classical music image problem in contemporary society; however, it is

a growing trend that is being explored in many countries and by many performers in the

classical music industry.

Stemming out from the relationship of audiences and place, research also suggests

that ‘place’ can play a more profound role on the artistic decisions of the performers as

well. In some cases, “a creative worker’s subjective, personal or emotional response to

place will affect how they may use the attributes of that place for aesthetic inspiration”

(Drake, 2003, p. 513). This affection can be as simple as choosing one piece of repertoire

over another or as complex as planning an entire production to suit and compliment the

choice of venue. This, again, provides performers with a multitude of choices and sources

of inspiration to present their work in and transform a venue from a mere platform for the

presentation of art into a resource and integral part of the artistic process (Drake, 2003).

The choice of venue for a musical performance is no longer considered only for its

“traditional factors” (Drake, 2003, p. 513) such as financial benefits, public accessibility,

and space but also for its creative influence on the production as a whole. As confirmed

in the Redefining Places for Art study: “arts organisations [are] choosing to engage with a

59

broader community; and the community [are] responding with increased interest in

diverse places for experiencing the performing arts” (Craik et al., 2010, p. 21). The

diversity of performance places also encompasses the technological side of music making

- that is, recorded music and its distribution amongst the community – and is becoming

increasingly relevant as more and more engage with music in a non-live format and,

again, redefine the concept of venue and place.

Recorded Music, the Internet, and Digital Engagement

The music recording industry represents a significant portion of today’s music

market and it is through recorded music that many consumers are engaging with musical

content and relying on digital media for music consumption. Hesmondhaigh argues that

“many people report that music plays a very important role in their lives. This role does

not appear to have diminished with industrialisation, commodification, and the mass

consumption of music; if anything, it has grown” (2008, p. 329). The increasing

digitisation of daily life has seen changing attitudes towards the live experience and a

push towards on-demand, 'anywhere, anytime' musical consumption fuelled in part by the

increasing availability of low cost, high speed internet services and portable, internet

capable devices. This is a significant transition away from earlier times where live music

was the central, and only, form of musical consumption possible.

In the new era of globalisation by digitisation, the music industry is at the fore. As

in many other industries, global corporations have emerged to create and exploit

global music markets. But the music industry goes further than almost any other:

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the entire transaction of purchasing and delivering music can now be completed in

non-material form over the internet (Letts, 2000, n. p.) (Bartleet et al., 2012, p.

34)

There is significant discussion about the role of digital music-making and engagement

with technology in the literature (Bartleet et al., 2012; Beeching, 2005; Cluley, 2009;

Crappell, 2011; Holt, 2010; Kozinn, 2000; Loveland, 2009; Marontate, 2005; Rolston et

al., 2002). Due to the nature of the research investigation and the scope of this PhD

research, this part of the literature review narrows in specifically on digital technologies

which impact on or relate to the live performance arena. The role of electronic music and

digitally produced sounds provide ample academic discussion but do not fit currently fit

within the realm of CSM. “Digital technologies and the creative practices associated with

them are transforming the lived experience of music in ways that have the potential to

reconfigure radically the relations between creators, mediators (e.g., record companies),

and publics” (Marontate, 2005, p. 1422). This sentiment can be identified in the writings

of other academics and music practitioners alike. The Internet has therefore changed the

musical landscape and no examination of live performance in the 21st-century could

ignore it. What is currently unknown within the industry is the ongoing ramifications of

continuing technological advancement and the impact for live performance. As Beeching

elaborates:

What the full impact of Internet technology will be on the music industry and on

individual musicians is not yet known. In the coming years, as Internet sound

quality improves, as broadband, high speed Internet access proliferates, as

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streaming of live concerts becomes more practical, and issues of copyright are

sorted out, musicians will have unforeseen opportunities. (Beeching, 2005, p.

111)

Constantly developing technologies also incite “students and recent graduates to listen to

a wide range of music, to participate in creative networks, and to share their work with

various publics” (Marontate, 2005, p. 1435) in a manner not previously possible. The

possibilities for music to unite different peoples and bring together audience members

with shared interests is now possible in the digital realm through disseminations of

recordings, websites, forums, and online fan bases. The connection between a particular

style or genre of music and an individual means a personal connection can be crafted

over time and this connection extended to groups of people sharing in the live

performance experience and having the opportunity to bond over a shared sense of

appreciation. Hesmondhaigh describes this phenomenon:

The continuing and perhaps growing importance of music in everyday life may be

based on two contrasting but co-existing dimensions of musical experience in

modern societies. The first is that music often feels intensely and emotionally

linked to the private self… the second is that music is often the basis for

collective public experiences, whether in live performance, or simply by virtue of

the fact that thousands and sometimes millions of people can come to own the

same recordings. (Hesmondhaigh, 2008, p. 329)

The availability of digital recordings and ability to listen to music online and connect

directly with artists and fellow fans allows consumers to develop meaningful

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relationships with the music and its performers. Moreover, the emergence of social media

has allowed for performers to create an elaborate digital presence which, outside of the

live performance arena, promotes themselves and their work. Altogether, this presents an

avenue of investigation which must be explored with the participants of this study.

This increased engagement with recorded music, has spawned an era of greater

musical interest spread across all genres and levels from amateurs to the highest level of

professional musicians including media “from home videos on YouTube to talent shows

on TV and beyond to the streaming of concerts across multiple media platforms” (Holt,

2010, p. 244). In this sense, music audiences or ‘fans’ have changed their methods of

participating in music-making as “[t]he arrival and expansion of the Internet have

changed music fandom quite significantly, at least in the ways in which some fans engage

with the live music experience" (Bennett, 2012, p. 545). Technology has allowed the live

experience to transcend the physical presence and incorporate music consumption on the

go, often in solitary ways (such as with headphones and with the personal consumption of

music) and in increasingly public ways through social media by connecting like-minded

listeners. It also appears to have transitioned performers’ focus away from producing

CDs for profit and instead on building new audience bases by engaging interested

listeners, especially given the low sales reported for classical music recordings (Duncan,

1994). The live performance of music is no longer the only method for social interaction

with music, digital technologies have provided new outlets for expression, discussion,

interaction, and differing developments in fan (audience) bases.

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Before the advent of electronic media, live performances in such locations as

private homes, concert halls, opera houses, and churches formed the backbone of

social interaction. These live performances still provide an important

entertainment and social role. (Minor et al., 2004, p. 7)

Exactly how digital changes are taking place has been the source of some discussion in

the literature and the question to be asked is: ‘Are digital media practices boosting

interest in live music?’” (Holt, 2010, p. 244).

The Internet is a powerful tool for the dissemination of work and “managers,

musicians and union officials [have] explored the option of offering their product directly

to consumers in cyberspace, minus the commercial hand of recording companies”

(Rosenberg, 2000, p. 1). Whilst the digital dispersion of music has definitely impacted on

the method of consumption, it has numerous other positive effects for musicians and

music professionals which aid the live performance process. Personal websites provided a

space for musicians to present their work and accomplishments with relative ease and at a

low cost; social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Soundcloud,

Vimeo, MySpace all provided even further opportunities to disseminate recordings, work

samples, photos, biographies, accolades, and more; and music consumers can easily

search for their favourite musician, CD, recording, or find a new interest at the touch of a

few buttons as “it seems that for many classical fans, the Web is taking up the slack”

(Horsley, 2001, p. 2). As noted by Horsley in 2001, “the virtual explosion of Web sites

for classical information, streaming audio, live radio feeds and MP3s continues to belie

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the notion that global interest in Grieg and Glinka and Glass is on the wane” (p. 9). The

explosion continues today.

The increasing dominance of the Internet into daily life has also required that

musicians ensure they have a digital presence to communicate with audiences, drum up

support, and ultimately engage with the music community as a whole.

Most businesses have realized (sic) that some kind of cyberspace presence is a

competitive necessity, and marketers are realizing (sic) that creating an effective

Web presence requires more thought than throwing up a simple billboard on the

Information Superhighway. Even elaborate Web sites with seemingly endless

features can be confusing, if not well-planned. (Fisk, Grove, & J., 2000, p. 26)

Audiences and music enthusiasts now have the opportunity to engage with classical

musicians in cyber space in new and increasingly easier ways. “In the twenty-first-

century context, social network capability includes the capacity to exploit the affordances

of social media and other digital platforms” (Bartleet et al., 2012, p. 36). Social media

platforms, particularly Facebook or Twitter, engage a perpetual conversation between

performer and audiences and connect to people on a personal and daily level. “Online

social networking is influencing our daily communication with friends, family and

coworkers, and its power and scope is still expanding” (Crappell, 2011, p. 10). This

constant development and ever-changing digital landscape has arguably changed the

methods by which classical musicians communicate with their audiences outside of the

performance sphere. There are now ample opportunities for younger and less recognised

65

classical musicians to build a strong online following, promote their work, and advertise

live performances at no or very little cost. What is not clear in the literature is how

Australian classical saxophonists are using social media platforms to their advantage as

research has previously focused more generally on the music industry, rather than on a

specific group of musicians.

Another interesting advantage of social media is the ability to connect the live

experience with the digital through websites such as Twitter.

The use of mobile Internet and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook has

not only allowed fans to find and connect with each other at shows, but also to

tweet concert set-lists and other information as they happen, thereby allowing

non-attendees around the world to feel part of the event. (Bennett, 2012, p. 545)

This is particularly the case in popular music performances where many audience

members are able and generally encouraged to interact with their smart phones, recording

devices, and other tablet-based equipment with mobile phones generally the most highly

used device (Bennett, 2012). This scenario sees that “media penetration is greater than

ever before” (Holt, 2010, p. 252). The documentation of their live experience in real time

has proven effective in creating an online atmosphere for the concert. Bennett argues that

"these online tools are involving individuals who are not physically present at the show,

seemingly incorporating them into the real-time ‘live’ experience” (Bennett, 2012, p.

545). This calls into question the definition of a live event where participants can engage

without being physically present. "Fans are using social and mobile media in an attempt

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to contest and reshape the boundaries of live music concerts, a practice that works to re-

appropriate ideas of immersion in ‘liveness’” (Bennett, 2012, p. 545). The appeal of a

live performance that embraces a digital presence is explained by Holt:

[W]e can understand the live music show as a performance that features the artist

and repertoire known from the media. Media activity around the event heightens

the sense of magnitude and the social performance of media culture and its own

sense of reality. The combination of experiencing a unique performance and being

part of a major media event is powerful. (Holt, 2010, p. 255)

Whilst many classical musicians – and particularly musicians operating in the CSM field

– may not have the interest of mainstream, large-scale media, media involvement on

some scale is sure to play a part in the staging of a live performance. Engagement with

local radio stations or specialist classical music stations, digital marketing including

Facebook campaigns, as well as corporate sponsorship may play a role in the production

and marketing of a classical music performance. This media engagement has the potential

to create a field of interest and anticipation prior to an event. The networking

opportunities of social media and online forums provides classical musicians with ample

marketing opportunities at no or minimal costs. This, in combination with the marketing

factor of live events and public based appearances is a powerful combination for building

status, creating an artistic persona, and continually building positive relations with an

audience base. This is seen, in particular, from a popular music perspective: “live public

performance is a key site for discovering, assessing and promoting popular music artists,

and live music events are increasingly used as marketing events” (Holt, 2010, p. 245)

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Music streaming services are also changing the face of music consumption with

on-demand music services providing unlimited access to recordings. “The scope of the

Naxos Music Library is mind-boggling for a service primarily devoted to a single,

specialized genre: It currently claims to offer 52,000 CDs containing more than 750,000

tracks, and it adds 800 new CDs per month” (McElhearn, 2011, p. 66). It can be surmised

that a subscription to a service such as this can provide consumers with a greater musical

experience and greater ‘bang for their buck’ compared with a live recital performance.

This even extends to classical radio stations that are also being affected. At this point in

time, “…the transition to the age of downloading has arrived” (Swed, 2006, p. 40).

Live streaming is rapidly making broadcast radio superfluous – suggesting that

the slump in classical radio might not be that big a deal. Replacing it are instant

gratification downloads that allow classical lovers to store and listen to virtually

anything on the face of the earth, often for free… and other sites offer generous

samples of classical CDs for the choosy shopper. It's all there, and like other areas

of the Web, these sites are encouraging more and more classical fans to stay home

in their computer chairs and steer through the world at their own pace. (Horsley,

2001, p. 9)

Through the constant developments and improvements in technology, the invention of the

iPod and mp3 devices, and the ever-increasing speed of the Internet, music has evolved

into two clear formats. Firstly, a live and interactive art form, which physically, mentally

and emotionally engages the audience creating an inclusive environment where all

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listeners are drawn in collectively and secondly, it has its digital counterpart, purely

engaging with its audience via a computer or device promoting the consumption of music

individually, in your own time, and in your own space. So how does this new method of

consumption pertain to the classical saxophone genre? Unfortunately, this answer is not

well documented within the literature; it is unclear whether there is a relationship

between recorded and live classical saxophone music. CSM has the potential to grow and

expand to satisfy the greater community at large as “new recording technologies offer

new options for creation, but musicians still seek to position themselves within

established taste cultures to find audiences and achieve recognition” (Marontate, 2005, p.

1429), particularly in the field of classical music where live performance is a crucial

element to maintaining an active career.

Musician Satisfaction through Performance

The final area of investigation in this literature review is the consideration of

performer satisfaction gleaned from the live performance arena. Looking through the lens

of the classical music, permanent or tenured positions in live performance are limited

with symphony orchestras and defence force bands viewed as some of the major

employers of graduating classical musicians globally (Beeching, 2005; Loveland, 2009;

Trezona, 2012). As a saxophonist, these potential ensemble positions dwindle when you

consider the lack of a permanent saxophone position in the symphony orchestra (Koval,

1999; Vanderheyden, 2010). When considered in combination with current thinking in

the portfolio career model, understanding how performers glean satisfaction from the

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performance process is challenging given that so many classical musicians may not

include live performance activities as the bulk of their workload. Adding to this the fact

that many practitioners enter the classical music profession due to their 'love of music' or

creative personality rather than specifically for financial success or job stability

(Parasuraman et al., 2000). With the high number of artistic professionals active across

the arts sector and the limited number of highly paid or stable positions available, job

satisfaction could be seen as a major contributing factor in the decision to pursue a career

in the arts. This presents a potential concept that performing musicians are gaining more

personally in their work than they are financially gaining. This is certainly an emerging

area in the literature and the investigation of job satisfaction and motivation of musicians

and artists is building. This research area is focussed on uncovering the specifics of how

these careers are broken down and where the satisfaction is derived from. With a great

deal of research focussing on both employment and unemployment levels within the arts

(Abbing, 2002; Menger, 2001) as well as broader analyses of job satisfaction within the

symphony orchestra industry (Parasuraman et al., 2000), and audience satisfaction

(Minor et al., 2004). This literature review also draws on broader studies of job

satisfaction in the arts (Mogelof et al., 2005; Steiner et al., 2013) and thinking around job

satisfaction and work performance (Streimikiene et al., 2009). Specific research into the

understanding of performer satisfaction is currently lacking and has left room for this

investigation to fill.

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As a musician’s career evolves in a constantly changing industry, many will look

for different ways of generating a substantial income or maximising their personal work

output. As previously discussed in this literature review, this will involve the

development of portfolio careers that allow musicians to take on multiple roles including

performance, composition, education, and more resulting in the maximisation of their

personal talents. Consequently, this results in no two portfolio career musicians having

the same career path (Loveland, 2009, p. 207). The management of a portfolio career

calls for numerous non-musical skills and administrative tasks which the performer may

not have been trained for bringing numerous challenges, hurdles, and complications for

today’s professional musicians. This ultimately begs the question: why do musicians

engage in careers in the arts industry in the 21st-century? Whilst portfolio careers offer a

level of stability and financial security, the difficulties in maintaining the necessary

workload provoke the question as to whether they are satisfied with their profession and

whether this is their motivating factor in the pursuing of a career in the arts (Steiner et al.,

2013). Essentially, Steiner and Schneider hypothesised the lower pay rates and higher

unemployment levels are counteracted by a superior level of job satisfaction (Steiner et

al., 2013). This study was labelled as “...the first direct empirical investigation into

artists’ utility derived from their work” (Steiner et al., 2013, p. 225) and outlines self-

reported job satisfaction levels from artists. Steiner and Schneider’s work alongside other

studies highlight that artists report higher levels of job satisfaction than those in other

professions (Abbing, 2002; Menger, 2001). This poses the suggestion that the work

undertaken in pursuing a career in the arts is conducive to greater worker satisfaction. In

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the case of musicians, engaging in specific activities such as performance or teaching

may be the motivating factor in satisfying the musicians.

Within the understanding of artist satisfaction comes the understanding of the

motivations to pursue a career in the arts. Motivations and intentions have been

considered in the literature and stressed as an important factor within a career in the

creative arts (Jarvin et al., 2010; Parasuraman et al., 2000; Steiner et al., 2013). This

discussion often focusses on the arts generally rather than a specific focus on musicians,

visual artists, dancers, or any other number of art specialists. In his book, Why Are Artists

Poor? The Exceptional Economy of the Arts, Abbing discusses the concept of two

different kinds of artists: the “commercial artist” and the “noncommercial artist”. These

two definitions cover the two main rationales for a person to pursue an artistic career:

The well-being of a commercial artist depends on external rewards like money,

recognition, fame and not on the ‘making of art’. A noncommercial artist, one

‘selflessly’ devoted to art, on the other hand, is only concerned with the ‘making

of art’. There are no external rewards. (Abbing, 2002, p. 82)

While this dichotomy presented by Abbing is used to provide a rationale for each artist, it

fails to entirely take into account job satisfaction and especially in the case of musicians,

fails to establish the satisfaction derived from each specific musical performance. Or, as

Dogantan-Dack states: “In other words, performers may value the opportunity to perform

but not particularly love or enjoy the music they play” (2012, p. 44). This is particularly

evident in orchestral musicians.

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Within symphony orchestras, research has been conducted investigating the

satisfaction and mental health of these musicians within the larger ensemble. These

investigations of the satisfaction have examined financial reward and job security,

amongst other areas of satisfaction (Mogelof et al., 2005). Research conducted by

Parasuraman and Purohit suggested that “three stressors - social tension, lack of artistic

integrity, and work environment - are positively related to job dissatisfaction”

(Parasuraman et al., 2000, p. 79). It can also be seen that:

Whereas their education prepares them for solo performance and emphasizes (sic)

creativity, the job of a symphony musician requires coordinated teamwork and the

submergence of one's identity and creativity in the collective sound. Typically,

symphony musicians rehearse 20 hr or more a week under the close supervision

of the conductor. The authoritarian leadership styles of some conductors and the

lack of participation in program selection make many musicians feel that their

skills are undervalued and underutilized. (Parasuraman et al., 2000, p. 74)

The authors concluded that “low artistic integrity was found to exacerbate distress,

boredom stress, and job dissatisfaction” (Parasuraman et al., 2000, p. 80). This is of

particular interest to this investigation as the role of artistic integrity is a central

component of live performance.

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Ultimately, it is apparent that the investigation of job satisfaction in musicians is

overwhelmingly lacking in academia, particularly from the perspective of chamber

music, solo artists, and classical music in general.

Despite the fact that there are more than 1,000 symphony orchestras in the United

States (most of them small), there is little research on stress among symphony

musicians. More attention has been devoted to examining the economic, financial,

and administrative issues related to orchestra management. (Parasuraman et al.,

2000, p. 75)

This suggests that research is needed in the field of performer satisfaction and this relates,

particularly, to this investigation of live performance activities. This thesis has the

potential to make a positive contribution to academic knowledge in the Australian CSM

field and, in particular, to younger musicians entering the industry. A comprehensive

understanding of performer satisfaction within Australian classical saxophonists is

invaluable to younger musicians in helping to shape positive, engaging careers that are

sustainable both financially and emotionally. This investigation will therefore take this

literature as starting point and build a theoretical framework which incorporates this data

and builds the foundation of the research investigation to follow.

Conceptual Framework

In conclusion, in order to unify the discussion and consequently develop a

methodology appropriate for this study a unique framework has been developed from the

multiple dimensions of the literature review which to operate. The literature highlighted

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that there are four key streams of live performance activities in the classical music

industry that, collectively, fall pre-, during, and post- performance. These were identified

as: Logistical Considerations, Artistic Relationships, Digital Engagement, and Performer

Satisfaction. It must be acknowledged that there are a multitude of factors that play into

the live performance process; however, these four streams can effectively incorporate the

vast majority of these and would be able to be ratified or debunked depending on the

results of work with the participants. In essence, my developed theoretical framework is

the theory that the multitude of issues and negotiations required to execute a live classical

music performance successfully depends on the successful navigation of the four

identified streams. This allows musicians to manage and continue successful and long-

lived performance careers in the modern classical music industry. Future research may

highlight that there are more streams that do not fit into these four criteria. My research,

therefore, explores how this model works and how practitioners can implement them in

the field for more satisfying and successful careers. This framework will be tested on a

variety of performance contexts that Australian classical saxophonists engage with: these

will include recitals, small scale concerts, conferences, festivals, educational

performances, and other contexts that have been reported by the participants. Further

discussion of the exact performance contexts used by participants will occur in the

methodology chapter (Chapter 3). The exact performance context is not crucial to the

analysis of each category but does play a role and this will be discussed further on the

research document. The table below presents the four streams and provides detailed

information about the areas of discussion which fall under them.

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76

Individual Performance

Contexts

Collaborative

Performance Contexts

Educational Performance

Contexts

Logistical

Considerations

Instigation

Funding

Choices: Repertoire,

Venue, Dress

Instigation: Application

process

Choices: Repertoire,

Dress

Possible Travel

Instigation

Funding/Payment/Fee

Choices: Repertoire,

Venue, Dress

Potential Audience

Educational Outcomes

Artistic

Relationships

VRA Triangle: Venue –

Repertoire – Audience

Choices: Repertoire

Australian Music

VRA Triangle: Venue –

Repertoire – Audience

Choices: Repertoire

Australian Music

Networking

VRA Triangle: Venue –

Repertoire – Audience

Choices: Repertoire

Australian Music

Networking

Digital

Engagement

Technology in/during

performance

Digital marketing

Social Media

Recordings/CDs

Career Development

(Exposure)

Technology in/during

Performance

Digital Marketing

Social Networking

Recordings/CDs

Career Development

(Exposure)

Technology in/during

Performance

Digital Marketing

Social Networking

Recordings/CDs

Career Development

(Exposure)

Performer

Satisfaction

Self described

satisfaction

Career "milestones"

Audience

interaction/connection

Self described

satisfaction

Career "milestones"

Audience

interaction/connection

Self described satisfaction

Career "milestones"

Audience

interaction/connection”

Table 1. Cross-Examination of Conceptual Framework and Application of Australian

CSM-Specific Data

Developing the framework in this manner has allowed for the four major areas of the

research to be clearly organised and defined and has acknowledged the different

performance contexts these musicians engage in. This theoretical framework, developed

from the literature, has provided a clear starting point from which the research took place

and presents the four major chapters which will follow: Performance Management and

Logistical Considerations; Artistic Relationships; Digital Music-Making and

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Technological Engagement; and Performer Satisfaction. The data has been analysed to

understand whether the hypothesised framework above correlates with the actual practice

of the participants.

Chapter 3 - Methods

In order to investigate the performance activities of Australian saxophonists

specialising in CSM this study employs a qualitative methodological approach. In

particular, it has used qualitative methods including interviewing, non-participant

observations, and a reflexive field journal. Many methodological texts acknowledge the

need to combine the use of different tools for more thorough data collection and the

development of this methodology has incorporated these ideas combined with a varied

participant pool (Bryman, 2012; Creswell, 2007). Without being able to base the research

design of this study on relevant, previously conducted research in the Australian CSM

field, the theoretical framework provided a focus for the qualitative nature of the work.

This chapter will fully outline the methods undertaken and justify the use of the chosen

methodological tools through the theoretical framework created for the research.

The investigation of live performance in previous studies has involved the use of

qualitative, mixed-method human research (Dobson, 2010; Dogantan-Dack, 2012;

Heaton, 2012; Tsay, 2013). The use of different techniques such as interviewing,

observations, as well as the building of case studies of participants provides an insightful

and inclusive survey of current music industry practices. Due to the small pool of

geographically separated participants in the Australian CSM field, I decided to focus

specifically on identified leaders in the field and their current career practices. The

resulting case studies therefore represent current practices of highly active Australian

CSM practitioners in order to avoid larger generalisations that are not reflective of other

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saxophonists who may not subscribe to the same ideas in their practice. The study also

draws on my own personal practice as a classical saxophonist to round out the

methodological approach. The inclusion of my personal experiences as a saxophonist

specialising in Australian CSM was to provide my perspective as an artist building a

profile and engaging in live performance activities and reflect on how my research is

influencing my practice. This investigation has gathered firsthand information from the

Australian CSM field and, in particular, how Australian CSM practitioners are

approaching the planning and execution of their live performance activities.

Instruments

For this research plan, the specific choice of methodology is multifaceted

including one-on-one interviews with Australian classical saxophonists; email interviews

with major CSM event organisers; a reflexive journal of my own work as a freelance

classical saxophonist; and non-participant observations of live classical saxophone

performances. The data collection was developed to contain a central stream of

investigation with the Australian classical saxophonists and saxophone ensembles with

supplementary data being collected from major industry event organisers and myself,

personally. The final component of the data collection is the examination of the public

profiles of the Australian classical saxophonists and saxophone quartets involved in the

study.

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Tool Participants Involved Notes

Interviews Australian Classical

Saxophonists/Saxophone

Quartets

One primary interview

(confirmed) plus one

follow up interview where

possible depending on the

participant’s availability

Non-Participant

Observation

Australian Classical

Saxophonists/Saxophone

Quartets

One observation to be

conducted following the

primary interview, pending

the participant’s

availability

Reflexive Field Journal Researcher (Emma Di

Marco)

Reflexive journal kept to

document my own

practices as a classical

saxophonist

Email interviews Organisers of Major CSM

Industry Events

One interview over email

to discuss their work as

organisers of major events

(conferences, festivals) and

the connection with

Australian classical

saxophonists

Public Profiles Australian Classical

Saxophonists/Saxophone

Quartets

Researcher collecting data

from publicly available

sources about the

participants including

professional websites,

Facebook pages and

YouTube videos.

Table 2. Methodological Tools employed in the Research Design

The figure below demonstrates the organisation of the data collection tools, as

utilised in this research investigation. The core stream of data collection is centralised

around a three-step process with Australian classical saxophonists and saxophone

80

ensembles. The tools chosen (two interviews and a non-participant observation) are based

on previous studies in the literature and the decision to craft a qualitative approach to the

methodology.

Figure 1. Diagram of Data Collection Tools and Organisation of Work

The core component of the data collection involved interviews and non-

participant observations conducted with current, professional Australian classical

saxophonists. The process saw each participant approached for an in-depth interview and

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subsequently approached to complete a non-participant observation of a live performance

activity and follow up interview, depending on their availability. A first interview –

herein referred to as Interview 1 – was conducted with each participant in the study.

Interview 1 was a one-on-one discussion that closely discussed the topic of classical

saxophone performance and their choices in conducting a classical saxophone recital.

This interview was the first face-to-face discussion with participants regarding the

research topic. Semi-structured in format, Interview 1 was designed with twenty one

questions for the participants to answer and included room for further conversation and

discussion of tangential topics. Interview 1 was recorded using an audio device and

transcribed following the interview. The interview questions were formulated under

specific categories: musical background, planning and logistical concerns, artistic

choices, audience, marketing, venue, and performance success. The choice of interviews

as the first major data collection tool was due to the personable and qualitative nature of

the format and allowed for specific questioning; the chance for detailed response by

participants; and the ability to discuss anecdotes and obtain further information. These

interviews were received positively by the participants. The first interviews covered the

key research topics and included questions which explored the participants professional

background and a line of questioning grounded in the literature review and subsequent

theoretical framework. Interview 1 was the first and principal method of data collection

with the Australian classical saxophonists and was conducted with all nine participants.

The information gleaned in these interviews was used as a foundation for the next phase

of data collection.

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Interview 1 was followed by non-participant observations of a single live

performance of each interview participant; this is, I observed actual classical saxophone

recitals in order to document the practices discussed in the interview process. The central

element in the construction of the observation process is the separation of the researcher

and the performance; in essence, I am only observing the events from outside the process.

Non-participant observations were chosen in order to allow me to effectively gain insight

into how the participants conducted their live performance activities without my presence

altering any specifics of the event or impacting upon the attitudes or responses of the

participant. This included observing pre-performance preparations; logistical planning

and preparations; the full performance and post-performance proceedings as allowed by

the research participants. Pre-performance preparations included any rehearsals and

practice of the repertoire to be performed, dress rehearsals or run-throughs in the venue

of the performance as well as management and planning tasks required before the

performance where possible to be observed. Logistical preparations included the choice

and booking of the venue; planning of the repertoire and concert proceedings;

organisation of stage requirements; as well as financial management of the performance.

Finally, the performance post-concert proceedings consisted of stage layout; personal

presentation of the performers; execution of the repertoire; sound and lighting choices;

interaction and connection with the audience; body language; use of humour and

emotion; and physical interaction with the space. Field notes were kept with the specific

intention of noting commercial, artistic, and educational elements that are key to the live

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performance activity. These non-participant observations provided a better understanding

of the working processes and procedures of these research participants’ live performance

activities.

A second and final one-on-one interview was conducted to discuss the

observational findings from the second phase and final, research-informed questions.

This interview contained a selection of predetermined questions that structured the

discussion and further investigated the topics from Interview 1. The second interview was

an additional step in the research process as it better contextualised the observations that

have been made and provided some broader perspectives from the research participants.

Due to the busy schedules of the interview participants it was not possible to conduct the

second interview with every participant; however these interviews provided a high degree

of insight into the data. Through the combination of the literature survey, the interviews,

and the observations, the data was combined to form a valid and current picture of

classical saxophone performance in Australia.

As outlined earlier, two additional areas of data collection were conducted which

contribute to this central stream of investigation: interviews with major industry event

organisers and a reflexive journal kept by myself reflecting on my work as an early career

saxophonist. Structured interviews have been conducted with organisers of both the XVI

World Saxophone Congress (Mr Michael Brogan) and the Australasian Saxophone and

Clarinet Conference (Mr Justin Ankus) in order to better understand how performances

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are conducted in these collaborative performance contexts and gain a perspective of

major industry players that are not performance based. Finally, I have kept a reflexive

journal of my own performance activities within a one year period. Focussing specifically

on my involvement in the Barega Saxophone Quartet as both Soprano Saxophonist and

ensemble co-manager, this journal presents an insight into the practices and application

of a classical music performance career in the early stages. As this journal is a personal

activity, it reflects the views and opinions of myself only and not all members of the

saxophone quartet. This journal is an event by event breakdown of the planning,

execution, and follow up required to maintain a performance career. The journal

represents 18 months of the data collection process from July 1, 2013 to November 1,

2014. Barega is an independent, freelance quartet specialising in CSM and maintains an

active profile engaging with Australian composers in the development of new music. The

second half of the journal documents my work as a classical saxophone soloist and

activities in developing, promoting, and continuing my solo career parallel to other

musical work.

Participants

This investigation incorporates two groups of participants covering multiple areas

of the classical saxophone industry and combines this with a reflexive journal kept by

myself. The two participant pools consist, firstly, of Australian classical saxophonists and

saxophone ensembles, and secondly, organisers of major industry events such as

conferences and festivals. I also included myself, as an early career classical saxophonist,

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into the study by keeping a reflexive journal for 18 months which documented the

performances I engaged in not only as a soloist but as a part of my professional ensemble:

the Barega Saxophone Quartet. In all cases, participants were contacted via email and

consequently, an interview time, ethical concerns and project involvement all were

discussed electronically.

This participant pool included both individual saxophone soloists alongside

saxophone ensembles to reflect the diverse nature of Australian classical saxophonists.

These participants are also recognised within the community as leaders in the field of

Australian CSM. The saxophonists involved in this participant pool collectively

incorporate a variety of personal and musical backgrounds and cite a number of different

influences on their musical development. This broad mix of participants was felt by the

researcher to be crucial to the study in order to provide the most illuminating and

accurate case studies. In the development of the participant pool, guidelines were set up

for the inclusion of participants: primarily, a saxophonist or saxophone ensemble eligible

for inclusion needed to principally be a current, professional Australian classical

saxophonist. For the purposes of this project, the term ‘current professional Australian

classical saxophonist’ is defined as a musician working full time in the musical field

either in performance, education, research or another associated role with a specialisation

in the classical saxophone genre. The term professional is difficult to define in the current

industry and, in this instance, the most influential factor in the selection of potential

candidates is the specialisation of the candidate in the genre of classical saxophone music

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and their involvement in the Australian classical music industry. Also, the expansion of

the potential participant pool to incorporate professional classical saxophone quartets, not

only individuals, is a key feature of this research as each individual member of the

ensembles can be recognised under the earlier definition for inclusion in the study. The

quartets selected for inclusion in the study each consist of four professional saxophonists

who each are engaged within the music industry as professional individuals who have

come together to form an ensemble. Whilst this project is focusing on classical

saxophone music “in Australia”, the participants in this project are centralised around the

Australian capital cities, currently including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart, and

Perth, and consequently the project is centralised around those locations. One possible

explanation for the geographical “hotspots” of classical saxophonists is the apparent

proximity to conservatorium and higher education institutions that offer strong and well-

established classical saxophone study programs however this is not a conclusive reason.

Further investigation into the geographical position of the classical saxophone industry is

an issue for another study.

The Australian classical saxophonists and ensembles were approached to be

involved in a three-step research study consisting of two interviews bookending a non-

participant observation of a performance. In selecting potential candidates for this

project a number of considerations surrounding professional practices were taken into

account and final selection came down to the potential participants meeting a number of

key factors. The participants for this study must be identified as current practising

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musicians specialising in the genre of classical saxophone music as well as being

Australian. This was a non-negotiable factor in selection for the research. Once it could

be established that this requirement had been met, then a further examination of the

potential participants professional practice was undertaken to ensure they met the

following criteria:

Regularly engaging in performance activities in Australia and/or abroad?

Active in the professional community as a classical saxophonist?

Involved in academic or tertiary institutions or involved in Classical saxophone

education in anyway?

Recognised by their peers as a professional and highly regarded ensemble? (For

saxophone ensembles only)

National standing as a successful classical saxophonist through a career history of

performances in a wide variety of contexts?

Each participant in the research was identified as being able to answer yes to each

of the above questions and consequently was invited to take part in the research project

by email. Following the initial email approach, participants that were willing to take part

in the research investigation were presented with informed consent materials as

prescribed by the university ethics guidelines under which the project was approved

(QCM/10/12/HREC).

Participant Name Classification Location

Katia Beaugeais Soloist Sydney

Barry Cockcroft Soloist Melbourne

Michael Duke Soloist Sydney

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Jabra Latham Soloist Hobart

Ben Price Soloist Hobart

Erin Royer Soloist Perth

Matthew Styles Soloist Perth

Continuum Sax

Martin Kay

Christina Leonard

James Nightingale

Nicholas Russoniello

Saxophone Quartet Sydney

Nexas Quartet

Jay Byrnes

Michael Duke

Nathan Henshaw

Andrew Smith

Saxophone Quartet Sydney

Table 3. Participants: Australian Classical Saxophonists and Saxophone Ensembles

To supplement the data collection, organisers of large-scale major industry events

within the CSM community were approached to conduct an interview regarding their

management and undertaking of these conferences. During the period of the research

investigation three major CSM events were held globally: in 2012, the XVI WSC was

held in St Andrews, Scotland; in 2013, the Australasian Saxophone and Clarinet

Conference was held in Sydney, Australia; and in 2014, the North American Saxophone

Alliance Biennial Conference was held in Urban-Champaign, Illinois, USA. Whilst there

were undoubtedly a large number of individual persons involved in the planning and

execution of these events, leaders in the organisation were identified and approached via

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email for their involvement in a one-on-one interview. The below table illustrates the

industry event organisers that were able to be contacted during the research period:

Event Name Participant Name Role

XVI World Saxophone

Congress

Michael Brogan Event Organiser

Australasian Saxophone and

Clarinet Conference

Justin Ankus Event Organiser

Table 4. Participants: Organisers of Major Industry Events

As a member of the organisational team for the North American Saxophone Alliance

Biennial Conference was not able to be interviewed during the research, I have included a

reflexive journal of my participation at this Conference as part of the data collection.

The final participant included in the data collection is myself. As previously

described, I am an early career saxophonist and a specialist in the Australian CSM genre

with a Bachelor of Music (Honours) in Advanced Performance. Over the past few years,

through performance and teaching activities, I have established myself as a regular on the

industry conferencing scene and emerging performing artist within the Australian

classical music industry. I am also a founding member of the Barega Saxophone Quartet

which I assisted to grow from a student ensemble in the Queensland Conservatorium

Griffith University chamber music program to a professional, internationally regarded

quartet. The inclusion of my own experiences within the data collection was to provide a

reflexive element and compare the data collected from successful, established industry

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leaders against the work of an early career musician with the intent to provide useful

insights to young musicians and the Australian CSM community.

Procedures and Timeframe

Data collection in this research project began in May 2012 following ethical

clearance from the university and was concluded in October 2014. There were several

stages and varying methods employed which took place in an overlapping fashion and

exact scheduling was largely dependent on the availability of the research participants.

The table below presents an overview of the data collection and the different dates and

locations in which this has occurred.

Interviewee Date Location

Interview 1: Australian Classical Saxophonists and Saxophone Ensembles

Katia Beaugeais 11 July 2013 Café in Sydney

Barry Cockcroft 19 October 2012 Café in Melbourne

Michael Duke 14 June 2012 Sydney Conservatorium of

Music

Jabra Latham 12 July 2012 Café in St Andrews,

Scotland (WSC XVI)

Ben Price 1 September 2013 Café in Hobart

Erin Royer 25 June 2013 Via Skype

Matthew Styles 21 June 2012 Via Skype

Continuum Sax

Martin Kay

Christina Leonard

James Nightingale

Nicholas Russoniello

16 May 2012 Via Skype

Nexas Quartet

Jay Byrnes

Michael Duke

Nathan Henshaw

Andrew Smith

15 June 2012 Sydney Conservatorium of

Music

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Non-Participant Observations: Australian Classical Saxophonists and Saxophone

Ensembles

Katia Beaugeais 6 September 2014 Solo Concert, Sydney

Conservatorium of Music

Barry Cockcroft N/A This participant did not

partake in a NPO

Michael Duke 1 March 2013 HD Duo Recital,

Queensland

Conservatorium of Music

Jabra Latham 31 August 2013 Opus House Recital, Hobart

North Uniting Church

Ben Price 13 July 2013 ASCC (Conference),

Sydney Conservatorium of

Music

Erin Royer N/A This participant did not

partake in a NPO

Matthew Styles N/A This participant did not

partake in a NPO

Continuum Sax

Martin Kay

Christina Leonard

James Nightingale

Nicholas Russoniello

13 July 2013 ASCC (Conference),

Sydney Conservatorium of

Music

Nexas Quartet

Jay Byrnes

Michael Duke

Nathan Henshaw

Andrew Smith

13 July 2013 ASCC (Conference),

Sydney Conservatorium of

Music

Interview 2: Australian Classical Saxophonists and Saxophone Ensembles

Katia Beaugeais 7 September 2014 Sydney Conservatorium of

Music

Barry Cockcroft N/A Participant was not

available for this interview

Michael Duke 16 July 2014 Via Skype

Jabra Latham 15 July 2014 Via Skype

Ben Price Email Interview, 2014

Erin Royer Email Interview, 2014

Matthew Styles N/A Participant was not

available for this interview

Continuum Sax

Martin Kay

Christina Leonard

James Nightingale

Email Interview (with Kay, Nightingale, & Russoniello),

2014

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Nicholas Russoniello

Nexas Quartet

Jay Byrnes

Michael Duke

Nathan Henshaw

Andrew Smith

Email Interview (with Smith), 2014

Interview: Industry Event Organisers

Michael Brogan Email Interview, 2013

Justin Ankus 11 September 2014 Sydney Conservatorium of

Music

Reflexive Journal: Author

Emma Di Marco 2013 - 2015

Table 5. Summary of Data Collection (Dates & Locations)

The execution of the research plan progressed smoothly with only minor

challenges arising throughout the process. In particular, the main challenge to be

navigated was the availability of the research participants (Australian classical

saxophonists and saxophone ensembles) to conduct the observation and second interview.

As seen above, this was not possible in all cases as the availability and activities of a

select number of research participants were unavailable to complete these activities.

Analysis

The analysis of the differing forms of data required a comprehensive approach.

From the literature survey, some preliminary themes were observed, namely: the

promotion of classical saxophone music; classical saxophonists championing ‘new’

music; increasing audience attendance of classical music performances; venue choice of

classical music performance; review of concert etiquette; the impact of the recording

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industry on live performance; and the role of the internet. This research attempts to cross-

examine these themes against the data collected looking for similarities and unanticipated

concepts. The method of analysis selected in the project was a three-step thematic

analysis searching for key elements within the data that may or may not align with the

identified areas of discussion. This required an extensive coding process and examination

into how specific data points do or do not correlate between each different facet of the

research. The ultimate result is that the analysis process yielded conclusions consistent

with the framework developed in Chapter 2 and also presented several points – raised by

participants – that may require further research. The data was subjected to three rounds of

intensive coding, following coding systems identified in the literature and in

methodology texts; these were, Attribute coding, Thematic analysis (Open and Axial

coding), and Descriptive coding (Saldana, 2013).

To begin the analysis process, the Attribute coding was applied to the data in

order to provide clarity and structure to the responses. This was a process of labelling

responses and organising the data across five major categories. Attribute coding can be

understood as:

the notation… of basic descriptive information such as: the fieldwork setting (e.g.,

school name, city, country), participant characteristics or demographics (e.g., age,

gender, ethnicity, health status), data format (e.g., interview transcript, field note,

document), time frame (e.g., 2010, May 2012, 8:00-10:00a.m.), and other

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variables of interest for qualitative and some applications of quantitative analysis.

(Saldana, 2013, p. 70)

Through the Attribute coding process, a better understanding of the varying

demographics are easily identifiable and an organisational framework is created for the

intensive coding rounds to follow. This has provided an important basis for the analysis

of major issues through a clear understanding of how the participants view the topic and

how the discussion has led to the information they have provided. The Attribute coding

process was an important first step in the analysis process and organisation of the data but

ultimately was followed by intensive and rigorous coding rounds of more analytical

coding. The key and most fruitful method of coding used was the thematic analysis

undertaken using different methods of coding including Open, Axial, and Descriptive

coding (Bryman, 2012). This process was applied to all of the data collected and was

undertaken to concisely analyse the different themes present in the data collection and

succinctly break down each different theme into key elements, as reflected by the

participants which would present results under the four major areas identified in the

theoretical framework. Open coding was applied to all the data collected and undertook

the following process, as presented by Neuman:

The researcher locates themes and assigns initial codes or labels in a first attempt

to condense the mass of data into categories… Open coding brings themes to the

surface from deep inside the data. The themes are at a low level of abstraction and

come from the researcher’s initial research question, concepts in the literature…

or new thoughts stimulated by immersion in the data (Neuman, 1997, p. 422)

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Once the process of Open coding was completed, a considerable amount of time was

spent following through a process of Axial coding to further investigate the themes

presented in the data. This saw the continuing unpacking of the themes presented by the

research participants through the examination of “causes and consequences, conditions

and interactions, strategies and processes” (Neuman, 1997, p. 423). The final element of

analysis was the undertaking of Descriptive coding – or Topic coding as it is sometimes

referred to (Saldana, 2013) – and was a process which “summarizes (sic) in a word or

short phrase – most often as a noun – the basic topic of a passage of qualitative data”

(Saldana, 2013, p. 88). The process of descriptive coding was undertaken on all of the

data collected, and in particular, was conducted using the coding results from the

previous rounds of open and axial coding. The process followed saw short, one word

codes applied to pieces of data within each of the major codes formed during the open

coding round, specifically to align the themes presented in the work with the exact

language used by participants, providing an authentic method of presenting the results in

the final dissertation.

Ethics and Limitations

Under the university guidelines, human ethical clearance was required for the

completion of this research project and this was initiated on April 4, 2012, with the

Human Research Ethics Committee of Griffith University granting full ethical clearance

for the project on April 18, 2012. The ethical requirements of this project saw the

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comprehensive preparation of informed consent materials for the interview candidates.

Under the ethical clearance given by the University, research participants were approved

to be identified in the final thesis and were given prior warning of any possible concerns

before their entrance into the research project. Participants were also asked to specifically

nominate their approval to be identified on the consent form which accompanied the

project informed consent materials. All research participants involved in the data

collection agreed to be named in the final document.

Chapter 4 – Australian Classical Saxophonists

In order to introduce the participants in this study, this chapter will explore the

background and significant influences of the saxophonists featured in this study. Moving

through the Australian classical saxophonist participants, this chapter will therefore

examine the background influences and milestones which have impacted their

development as a musician and current career paths. The information presented in this

chapter was extracted from publicly available data, mostly on or from the internet, which

represents the musicians listed combined with interview questions discussing their music

background. The profiles of the Australian classical saxophonists presented herein have

all been taken from publicly presented promotional materials which have been listed

online. Further, a profile of myself and my ensemble Barega Saxophone Quartet are also

included in this chapter, given my reflections included in the data collection. The purpose

of this chapter is to provide some insight into the participants and contextualise their

involvement in the study. This chapter therefore provides further information regarding

the participants professional activities and will add depth to later discussion in the thesis

regarding their interview question responses and observational data. The participants are

herein discussed in alphabetical order of surnames (for the soloists) followed by the

saxophone ensembles.

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Katia Beaugeais (Sydney)

Figure 2. Photo taken from http://www.newmusicblock.com/gallery/premiere-of-terra-

obscura-concerto-for-saxophone/

Katia Beaugeais is a saxophonist and composer based in Sydney, Australia. One

of three performer-composers within the participant pool, Beaugeais has established

herself as a leading soloist and innovator in the field of Australian CSM repertoire

through her contemporary compositions and regular performance of her own works.

Beaugeais’ compositional style has been known to frequently incorporate contemporary

techniques on the instrument and she often drives inspiration from her surroundings, for

example, her work Sounds from Bondi based on her experiences living in Sydney.

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Beaugeais, herself, describes her compositions as “innovative and unique repertoire

ranging from solo saxophone to full orchestra, promoting new Australian music to an

international audience” (Beaugeais, 2014). As an educator, Beaugeais “teaches

composition and chamber music ensembles at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music”

(Beaugeais, 2014). Her considerable experience as a classical saxophone soloist and her

insights as a performer-composer are a valuable contribution to the research.

Beaugeais’ training began with tertiary study in the field of classroom music

education before pursuing performance in a Graduate Diploma program. She states that it

was during her postgraduate study that she engaged with saxophonists Mark Walton and

Margery Smith and was encouraged to pursue her love of compositions by putting

“works of my own in the recital and [other concerts]” (K. Beaugeais, personal

communication, Jul 11, 2013). Her performance career also includes recitals at the

Australian Embassy in Croatia and World Saxophone Congresses. Throughout the period

of this research project Beaugeais performed at multiple international conferences and

composed and premiered her first saxophone concerto at the Sydney Conservatorium of

Music in 2014.

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Barry Cockcroft (Melbourne)

Figure 3. Photo taken from http://www.reedmusic.com/composers/cockcroft-barry/

Barry Cockcroft is a Melbourne-based saxophonist and composer with an

international reputation as a leader in the Australian CSM field. Cockcroft has had an

extensive career as a soloist and is also well known as a composer for saxophone and

other wind instruments. Cockcroft has a professional relationship with pianist Adam

Pinto and together forming the acclaimed classical group: Rompduo (Rompduo, N.D.).

Cockcroft is also a member of the International Saxophone Committee and the only

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Australian saxophonist to hold this position. Cockcroft’s biography boasts performances

“in more than 40 countries” (Cockcroft, N.D.) and “one of the most internationally

performed and recorded composers of his generation” (Cockcroft, N.D.). His

compositional style is “captivating, quirkily humorous and technically demanding”

(Cockcroft, N.D.) with his works included in programs such as the Australian Music

Examinations Board syllabus. Cockcroft also maintains two high-profile endorsements

being “a Selmer Artist and a D’Addario International Artist (RICO Reeds)” (Cockcroft,

N.D.).

Cockcroft cites several of his former teachers as influential in his musical

development including Peter Clinch, Marie-Bernadette Charpentier, and Jean-Marie

Londeix. Having studied both in Australia and abroad in France, Cockcroft’s approach to

CSM is ratified by his extensive performance career and recognition as an industry leader

by other saxophonists internationally. When asked about significant career milestones,

Cockcroft describes his path as a gradual process. He elaborates:

[I]t tends to be a little bit more … Where things continue one from another rather

than arriving at a certain point like, ‘I graduated! – now I’m a saxophone player’

It’s much more gradual. So each thing affects the next thing… I wouldn’t put any

single point down … that’s the key. (B. Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct

19, 2012)

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Cockcroft maintains an active and influential position within the Australian CSM

community where his expertise as both a performer and composer provides a valuable

perspective to this research.

Dr Michael Duke (Sydney)

Figure 4. Image taken from http://www.michael-duke.com/live/

Dr Michael Duke is currently Senior Lecturer in Saxophone at the Sydney

Conservatorium of Music and a specialist in the CSM field. His work to date, amongst

other activities, includes performing with accomplished pianist David Howie in the

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chamber ensemble, ‘HD Duo’. The saxophone-piano combination has seen them engage

regularly with composers on the production of new Australian music (Duke, N.D.-b).

Both musicians are currently on staff at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. As an

educator, Duke is a leader in the field of Australian CSM and currently holds the “first

ever full-time classical saxophone lecturer [position] in Australia at the Sydney

Conservatorium of Music” (Duke, N.D.-a).

Duke boasts an impressive list of former teachers including Eugene Rousseau,

Thomas Walsh, Jean-Yves Formeau, Arno Bornkamp, and George Garzone. Duke has

received invitations “to perform at numerous North American Saxophone Alliance

National conferences, three World Saxophone Congresses, and has lectured at the

Australian National Band and Orchestra Clinic” (Duke, N.D.-a). He also has “three solo

recordings on the Cala (“Australian Portrait”) and Saxophone Classics (“Duo Sax” and

“Incandescence”) labels” (Duke, N.D.-a). Duke cites a variety of milestones throughout

his career as influential, in particular, the teaching positions he has held. For Duke,

“being able to have to formulate and articulate your ideas and being able to teach and be

a performer… Working out how to teach and perform at the same time” (M. Duke,

personal communication, Jun 14, 2012). His experience as an educator and lecturer in

saxophone at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music also influences his personal

performance style as “being in an environment where there are lots of other high level

performers too … has influenced the way I think and look at people and … watching

what they do and how they do it” (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012).

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Jabra Latham (Hobart)

Figure 5. Image taken from http://www.opushouse.com.au

Jabra Latham is a classical saxophone soloist based in Hobart, Tasmania. With

several accomplishments to his name including a “Fellowship from the Winston

Churchill Memorial Trust, a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours, and a

Licentiate of Music Australia with Distinction” (University of Tasmania, 2012), Latham

is widely recognised as a leading classical saxophone specialist and currently holds a

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position at the Conservatorium of Music, University of Tasmania where “[h]e is an

instructor in classical saxophone, chamber music and performance” (University of

Tasmania, 2012). Latham boasts an impressive record of performances as a soloist and

orchestral musician having worked both domestically and abroad. Throughout the period

of this research, Latham was the artistic director of Opus House, an ensemble which

debuted in 2013 with a focus on new, local music and crafting engaging experiences for

Hobart audiences. The Opus House ensemble presented a variety of concerts of new and

unusual repertoire and showcased Latham’s ability on the saxophone in interesting and

collaborative ways.

Latham has previously studied with saxophonists Elliot Dalgliesh, Barry

Cockcroft, and Margery Smith. When discussing early influences, Latham highlighted

the importance of diversity that has led him to the path of music-making he currently

takes. This included being motivated by the connection and sense of community that

comes from ensemble playing to the influence of colleagues at the Conservatorium of

Music. For Latham, he describes his career milestones as “moments” where “you are

playing and you just, all of a sudden, feel utter joy… that’s why you do it” (J. Latham,

personal communication, Jul 12, 2012). Latham takes musical inspiration from the

Rascher Quartet and in particular the performance styles of Carina Rascher, Elliot Riley,

and John-Edward Kelly; with Latham being one of only two participants in this study

who identified this as a key source of inspiration. Latham uses this musical inspiration to

create a unique performance style.

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Ben Price (Hobart)

Figure 6. Image taken from http://benpricemusic.wix.com/music#!about/c10fk

Ben Price is also a Hobart based saxophonist and a former student of the previous

participant, Jabra Latham. Despite his young age, Price has already achieved a number of

notable performances both as a soloist and as a member of the ensemble ‘22SQ’. He “has

recorded several CDs; Gilmour’s XI Duos with Jabra Latham, two albums with the

saxophone quartet 22SQ, and broadcast live on 3MBS Melbourne and ABC Hobart in

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addition to performing for the scores to several short films” (Price, 2014). During the

period of this research, Price and Latham went on to perform tracks from their album at

the XVI WSC in St Andrews, Scotland. Price has also had solo engagement at the 2013

Australasian Saxophone and Clarinet Conference in Sydney, Australia where he

cemented a position as a young leader in the field.

Price’s musical development was greatly influenced by his teacher Jabra Latham,

and similar to Latham, he finds great deal of musical inspiration from the Rascher

Quartet. Price stated that he prefers to perform on vintage instruments that fit within the

Rascher school of saxophone performances as “having access to that instrument and

feeling as if all the boundaries of the normal instrument [have] completely disappeared”

(B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013). The discussion with Price surrounding

his musical development and influences on his personal performance style have

illuminated a forward-thinking and engaged young musician who is rapidly building a

profile as an independent soloist. Similar to Erin Royer, Price has chosen to partake in

further study internationally for a short period of time during this research project,

travelling to Europe to study with other teachers and mentors.

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Erin Royer (Perth)

Figure 7. Image taken from http://www.erinroyer.com/gallery/files/page6-1000-full.html

Erin Royer is one of the younger participants included in the participant pool and

specialises in solo tenor saxophone performance. Royer had a stand out solo recital at the

XVI WSC in St Andrews, Scotland “where she was selected to perform as the youngest

Australian delegate a 30 minute recital of self commissioned works for tenor saxophone

and piano, to showcase local Western Australian compositions” (Royer, 2013). This

performance consequently saw Royer build an international profile and become

recognised as a leading young tenor saxophonist. She followed up her major international

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performance with the release of her debut album at the following XVII WSC in

Strasbourg, France in July, 2015. Royer has studied at the Western Australian Academy

of Performing Arts with Dr Matthew Styles and completed Honours research which

explored “career pathways for the twenty-first century classical tenor saxophonist”

(Royer, 2013). In 2013, during the research process, Erin moved from Perth to the United

Kingdom for a short period where she was undertaking a Masters program at the Royal

Northern College of Music. Royer states in her professional biography that she “is

determined, as a life goal, to make Perth, Western Australia a sought after place to study

saxophone” (Royer, 2013), a demonstration of her commitment to Australian CSM.

Royer cites several influences on her performance style including her previous

teacher Matthew Styles, UK saxophonist Andy Scott, and tenor saxophonist James

Houlik. Additionally, she states that an opportunity to briefly learn from American

saxophonist Otis Murphy encouraged and nurtured in interest in becoming a dedicated

tenor saxophone specialist. Royer’s dedication to the tenor saxophone has seen her

commission new repertoire for the instrument and, in 2015, release a debut album

showcasing the work.

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Dr Matthew Styles (Perth)

Figure 8. Image taken from http://mattstyles.com.au/cpt_photoalbums/photo-album-

2/playing-at-waapa-lt-web/

Dr Matthew Styles is Perth based soloist, educator, and academic who describes

his music as “classical, jazz and ‘cross-over’” (N.D., 2013b). Styles has a significant

level of experience teaching and performing both domestically and internationally “with

20 years teaching at primary, secondary and tertiary levels” (N.D., 2013b). Styles is an

endorsed artist with Selmer (Paris) and Vandoren and maintains a high level profile as an

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innovative and engaging performer having performed with a variety of international

artists including other instrumentalists and well-known singers, including “Ben Folds,

Diana Ross, Dave Weckl, Ben Lee, Paul Grabowsky, Kate Cebrano, Olivia Newton-John

and The Manhattan Transfer” (N.D., 2013b). Styles is currently pursuing research in the

saxophone field and “has been awarded an Early Career Research Grant, enabling him to

identify, arrange, interpret and record Australia cross-genre works for the saxophone in

2014” (N.D., 2013b) showing a strong interest in the academic study of saxophone

music.

When asked to identify influential people in his musical development, Styles felt

that his teachers – from his flute teachers (the instrument he studied prior to learning the

saxophone) to his teacher Kyle Horch at the Royal College of Music in the UK – were

incredibly influential in shaping his development as a musician. It appears that Styles’

holistic approach to music performance is mirrored in his musical influences as he states

“it's a whole gamete of people not just saxophone but everything, every style … people

who really helped to form my own opinions” (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun

21, 2012). When describing significant influences on his personal performance style,

Styles continued discussing his holistic approach stating that pianists, flautists, and jazz

musicians have all played a role in developing his performance style. Styles has also had

a significant amount of experience studying and working internationally; he describes his

entrance into the Royal College of Music as a significant milestone, as is his first position

in the UK at “Brunel University and that was, that was sensational at the age of 25 and

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then I was offered full time in charge of one of the departments there” (M. Styles,

personal communication, Jun 21, 2012). Styles is now head of the saxophone program at

the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and a leading saxophone educator in

Australia. Throughout the period of this research Styles has engaged in solo recitals,

chamber music activities, and both speaking and performance engagements at

international industry events such as the XVI WSC in 2012, the Australasian Saxophone

and Clarinet Conference in 2013.

Continuum Sax (Sydney)

Figure 9. Image taken from http://continuumsax.com

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Continuum Sax is a saxophone quartet based in Sydney, Australia, often regarded

as Australia’s leading saxophone quartet. The ensemble is comprised of four successful

Australian classical saxophonists: Christina Leonard on soprano saxophone, James

Nightingale on alto saxophone, Martin Kay on tenor saxophone, and Nicholas

Russoniello on baritone saxophone. The ensemble had originally been founded with a

different line up of musicians: Margery Smith on soprano saxophone, James Nightingale

on alto saxophone, Martin Kay on tenor saxophone, and Jared Whitbourn on baritone

saxophone. The founding formation of the ensemble performed together successfully for

many years until Smith handed over the soprano saxophone position to Christina Leonard

and Whitbourn passed the baritone saxophone position to Nicholas Russoniello. This

current line up of the ensemble were recruited into the research study and have been

involved in all three steps of the investigation. Despite the personnel changes across time,

the ensemble has consistently maintained core values including the commissioning and

dissemination of new Australian music and championing the live performance of new

music. The dedication this ensemble has shown to Australian music has been a key factor

in their incorporation into this research alongside their reputation for outstanding

performances and extremely high level of saxophone performance execution.

Continuum Sax maintains a strong position as a leader in the Australian CSM

field and are actively engaged within the industry in live performance activities.

Continuum boasts a long history of domestic and international performance engagements

at festivals, conferences, ABC Classic FM broadcasts, as well as independently organised

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performance activities. Their repertoire is drawn from a long list of collaborations,

commissions, and dedications with leading composers such as “Rosalind Page, Margery

Smith, Erik Griswold, Damien Ricketson, Brian Howard, Robert Davidson, Stuart

Greenbaum, Paul Stanhope, Barry Cockcroft, and Matthew Hindson” (Continuum Sax,

2011). Continuum Sax have also contributed to the recorded repertory of CSM by

recording “a large number of educational works for reedmusic.com” ” (Continuum Sax,

2011) and releasing two CDs of their own repertoire.

Nexas Quartet (Sydney)

Figure 10. Image taken from http://www.nexasquartet.com

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Nexas Quartet is a Sydney-based saxophone quartet specialising in the CSM

genre. The ensemble consists of four soloists: Michael Duke on soprano saxophone,

Andrew Smith on alto saxophone, Nathan Henshaw on tenor saxophone, and Jonathan

‘Jay’ Byrnes on baritone saxophone. Much like Continuum Sax, the ensemble was

founded with a different constitution of members – Sydney based saxophonist Ben Carey

originally on soprano saxophone - however, Michael Duke is the current soprano

saxophonist and officially joined the ensemble in 2012. Nexas Quartet are regularly

performing around Sydney at a variety of different performances and in 2014 instigated a

highly successful concert series of four themed concerts with guest artists at each event.

The concert series was found to be so successful that they had to schedule an encore

performance of their third concert in August 2014 and continued their concert series in

2015. The group’s success in live performance ventures, and in particular their acclaimed

annual concert series, has led to them becoming a major figure in the Australian classical

saxophone community and an example of entrepreneurship and musical talent combining.

Nexas Quartet describe themselves as an ensemble that is “focused on promoting

the musical plurality of the saxophone, showcasing its versatility and ability to cross

genres” (Nexas, 2015). The early years of the ensemble saw them take inspiration from

David Miller, Mark Walton, and interestingly, fellow participants Continuum Sax (Nexas

Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012) but ultimately focussed on “finding

something different and unique” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012).

For the ensemble, “the exposure to classical saxophonists who took chamber music, and

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quartet in particular, as their main artistic opportunities really affected the way that we

approached quartet … it became [a] more important focus on our opportunities to

perform” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012).

Emma Di Marco (Brisbane)

Figure 11. Image taken from http://www.emmadimarco.com

I am currently engaged in a varied portfolio career, working as a solo saxophonist;

chamber musician with the Barega Saxophone Quartet; educator at primary, secondary,

and tertiary levels; and an adjudicator for local and state competitions, amongst other

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roles. Born and raised in Brisbane, Australia, I am still based there as I develop my career

and complete my doctoral studies. At this early point in my career, I have been fortunate

to perform both domestically and internationally with solo recitals at large-scale industry

events such the Australasian Saxophone and Clarinet Conference (2013) and the XVII

WSC (2015) in Strasbourg, France. Further, 2014 saw my first solo tour of Australia with

performances in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Hobart and musical collaborations

with many of the participants featured in this study, coinciding with the release of my

debut EP ‘Charisma’. I am also grateful to be an endorsed artist for D’Addario

Woodwinds having been a long time champion of Rico and Reserve reeds and

accessories.

Important influences in my musical life have come from other saxophonists. The

most important musical influence is saxophonist Barry Bobart, whom I studied with as an

undergraduate student at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. Further, my

time as a student at Universite Europeene de Saxophone in 2010 and 2011 gave me the

opportunity to learn from leading international saxophonists such as Claude Delangle,

Arno Bornkamp, Vincent David, Damien Royannais, Masataka Hirano, and ensembles

such as the Diastema Saxophone Quartet and the Habanera Saxophone Quartet. By

having such a diverse group of saxophonists in my formative years, I was able to hone

my skills as an instrumentalist whilst having encouragement and guidance to find my

own voice as an artist. Barega Saxophone Quartet, the ensemble I have been performed in

for nearly ten years has also been a central part of my development as a musician.

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Working with close friends and colleagues in the creation, commissioning, and

dissemination of new Australian music has been a central part of my musical life.

Barega Saxophone Quartet (Brisbane)

Figure 12. Image taken from https://www.facebook.com/baregasq/photos_stream

Whilst I perform as a soloist, my work with the Barega Saxophone Quartet is

some of my most enjoyable and artistically satisfying. The group was formed in 2007

with saxophonists Ashleigh Porter, Matthew Fellows, and Robert Mathews and over the

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years has evolved and changed to the current line up of myself, Sarah Henderson,

Samantha Mason, and Andrew Ball. With beginnings as an ensemble for assessment as

undergraduate students, the group has successfully transitioned to one of the most

celebrated young Australian chamber music groups and is now internationally

recognised. Barega performs regularly in Brisbane and across Australia, having just

recently completed the Colossus Tour in Brisbane and Sydney in 2014 with special

collaborative performances with clarinettists Andrew Kennedy and Annie Larsen. The

group has enjoyed a number of collaborative performances and some notable examples

include Australian jazz trio Trichotomy and Dutch saxophonist Niels Bijl. Barega is a

regular fixture in the CSM community with performances at industry events such as the

Crossbow Festival in 2012 and 2014; the Australasian Saxophone and Clarinet

Conference in 2013; and most notably, recitals at the XVI and XVII World Saxophone

Congresses in 2012 and 2015 respectively. Also in 2015, Barega released their debut

album ‘Three Serpents’, a specially curated collection of Australian music composed for

and commissioned by the ensemble.

Chapter 5 – Performance Management and Logistical Considerations

This chapter presents the data collected in the area of performance logistics and

the practicalities involved in organising live performance activities by the participants.

The execution of a live performance activity is impossible without the coordination of

different logistical factors and planning. This is due, in part, to the need to structure the

event which will take place; the advertising required to ensure interested parties are

aware of the event; and finally, the “on the day” co-ordination to ensure that everything

runs smoothly. In this sense, the use of the term “logistical” is specifically referencing the

planning and organisation. Live performance activities for the musicians are reported as

almost entirely self-managed and they are regularly engaging in the different planning

and management tasks. The plethora of choices to be made by Australian classical

saxophonists is extensive and provides these musicians with the opportunity to express

individuality within either traditional or more contemporary performance situations.

It was originally hypothesised that the issues falling under the Logistical

Considerations banner would be: instigation, dress, venue, repertoire, funding, and travel.

The issues included in the hypothesis were found to be consistent with the data analysis

and therefore the hypothesis was correct in identifying major elements relevant to this

category. There is more than one approach to any organisational challenge and looking at

the differences in how these musicians approach these different elements provides insight

on two fronts: firstly, the data analysis reveals exactly how their career differences impact

their organisation approach to logistical requirements, and secondly, the differences in

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their approach to these areas provides readers with the potential to identify strategies for

their own use which are proven effective.

Instigation and Rationale

A key focus of investigating live performance was to uncover the exact instigating

factor of live performance activities undertaken by the participants. The instigation and

rationale for a live performance has a strong influence on a number of choices to be made

during the planning of a live performance including venue choice, repertoire choice,

visual aesthetics, and audience response amongst others. For the purposes of this

research, a distinction is made between performance instigation and performance

rationale. The term performance instigation is used to refer the method by which a live

performance activity is undertaken whereas performance rationale is the reasoning for the

performance to take place in a specific way. An example of this relationship would be an

Australian classical saxophonist performing a self-produced recital of newly

commissioned works. In this case, the performance instigation is that it is self-organised

and instigated by the performer and the performance rationale is the goal of performing

the newly commissioned works for the first time. Sixteen types of instigation that have

emerged from the data are presented in the table below:

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Category Method of Instigation

Self-initiated

(Saxophonists as the primary instigator)

Applications

Call outs

Conference hosting

Connections

Major works and repertoire

Personal effort*

Touring

Instigated by a third party Agents

Artistic bodies

Conservatoriums

Invitations*

Musica Viva

New Music Network

Outsourcing

Postgraduate Study

Study

Table 6. Types of Instigation Identified by the Participants

The methods of performance instigation can be clearly divided into two

categories: saxophonists as the primary instigator of a live performance activity and

instigation of a live performance activity by a third party. Regarding the first of these

categories, each of the nine research participants reported themselves as the primary

instigator of the majority of their live performance activities. This was often followed by

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a remark that they felt they needed to be the driving force behind most of their

performances to ensure they maintained an active and satisfying career. The participants

are organising independent live performance and engaging in non-musical or

administrative activities to ensure the successful production of the performance. This

finding that the majority of the participants’ performances are self-instigated

demonstrates the industrious nature of the participants who are actively working and

presenting music to their audiences. It also provides an insight to younger musicians that

they may need to follow this example and self-produce their own performance activities

to further their careers and profile within the industry. Each of the participants had

slightly different rationales for engaging in self-instigated performances. Some, like Dr

Matthew Styles, felt that he is increasingly engaging in more self-instigated performances

due to the freedom to plan the performance in the exact way he would like. This was

echoed by both Nexas Quartet and Continuum Sax. Other research participants, such as

Barry Cockcroft, felt that in many cases he was the driving force behind his performances

as “no one was going to do it for me” (B. Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct 19,

2012) and he took full responsibility for his career development; correlating with the

literature that suggests classical musicians need to take further responsibility and

investment in their career.

The second type of instigation, as seen in the table above, was performances

instigated by third parties. The analysis of the different types of third party instigations

illuminated that ‘invitations’ to perform were the most common for the participants.

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These saxophonists could be receiving invitations from artistic organisations, private

companies, educational institutions, music clubs, theatre companies, and more. In these

instances, saxophonists are performing “on the coattails of other people who’ve organised

things” (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012). These types of performances

vary significantly from self-produced events, particularly given that the third party is

often responsible for all logistical and organisational concerns including venue hire,

programming, marketing, and general production of the event. An example of this can be

seen in the participants working with the New Music Network or Musica Viva. In these

events, they are not required to undertake major administrative tasks but instead are able

to focus on their music-making. Third party instigated performances can also be

attributed the role of supporting saxophonists by providing opportunities for exposure

and growth. Nexas Quartet provided a clear example of this when discussing the Sydney

Conservatorium of Music providing them with a venue in the early days of the ensemble

whilst the members of the ensemble were still undergraduate students. This demonstrates

that whilst some organisational tasks (in this case managing the venue) will be

undertaken by a third party, there is still an artistic responsibility of the group to maintain

the organisation of issues such as rehearsals, personal preparation, and performance

standard.

When comparing to this to my own practice, the findings correlate directly with

the live performance activities undertaken by my ensemble, the Barega Saxophone

Quartet. Being a group of young musicians, developing a profile in the industry has been

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a long process and, therefore, a large proportion of the live performance activities the

ensemble has undertaken have been self-instigated and self-managed. Solely over the

period of this research, the ensemble’s self-instigated activities have ranged from small,

intimate recitals, collaborations with other musicians and visual artists to a multi-state

tour and two international engagements at the XVI and XVII World Saxophone

Congresses. Given this personal experience in the field, it was not a surprising result to

find that other Australian saxophonists are facing the same requirement to be the driving

force behind their live performance activities. What could be argued from this data is that

more significant training in event management and planning live performances is

required. The literature suggests that this is increasingly becoming a component of

tertiary programs (Bartleet et al., 2012; Bennett, 2007; Tolmie, 2013) and with the

correlation by the participants in this study, it becomes more vital for young saxophonists

to not only study their instruments but also learn how to instigate and plan live

performance activities. I would also argue from my own practice that the need for

planning skills extends more broadly and requires the instigation of a variety of

performance contexts.

Finances

An underpinning element of a sustainable portfolio career is a musicians

capability to maintain financial stability. Australian classical saxophonists are not

stepping into positions which provide 100% of their income through live performance

activities, therefore, examining how they do manage to maintain the financial success of

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performances is relevant information for younger musicians. Consequently, classical

musicians and particular Australian CSM artists are now looking for new and inventive

ways of funding their performance activities to ensure sustainability and longevity in the

music industry as well as supporting themselves financially. Each of the research

participants are engaged in portfolio careers and as independent musicians they do not

have luxury of a record company or management firm to assist in the production of their

live performance activities. This requires that live performance activities must often be

self-funded implying the possibility of uncertain takings at the box office or the need for

government grants to support the production of an event. Looking outside of their live

performance activities found other modes of employment to pay bills and living expenses

and therefore sees these musicians engaged in teaching and arts administration roles. This

situation is illustrated clearly through the revelation that none of the research participants

in this investigation receive the largest portion of their total income from live

performance activities. Some perspectives provided by the research participants on this

concept included the feeling that the funding of performances is very insular and

dependant on ticket sales to cover costs as well as feeling that pursuing live performance

activities is rooted in a mission to create and disseminate music that these saxophonists

are passionate and connected to.

When asked to report how they fund their live performance activities, the research

participants responses are illustrated in the figure below with the exact funding sources

reported and the number of participants that reported it present. Research participants

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were able to report multiple funding sources and, as such, there was a wide spread in the

results. The numbers along the bottom of the graph show how many participants reported

each item as a funding source.

Figure 13. Graph of Funding Sources for Live Performance Activities

The two methods of funding that clearly stand out from the above graph are ‘Box

office ticket sales’ and ‘Grants’. To understand these two methods further, box office

ticket sales refers to the money made by selling tickets to the live performance. In cases

where this is the primary method of funding, participants will often outlay the initial costs

of staging a performance from personal or previously earned funds and then rely on ticket

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sales to cover costs and potentially make a profit. Several research participants including

Continuum Sax, Jabra Latham, Benjamin Price, Nexas Quartet, Matthew Styles, and Erin

Royer all reported that can fund the initial costs of staging a performance themselves

making them their own “biggest investors” (Continuum Sax, personal communication,

May 16, 2012). This is directly in line with the previously reported results. What is

noteworthy is how the participants are approaching the management of performances that

require box office ticket sales. Interestingly, many of the research participants reported

that they are more than willingly to invest personal funds into the production of their live

performance activities, creating an investment in themselves as musicians. For

Continuum Sax, the creation of “fighting fund” (Continuum Sax, personal

communication, May 16, 2012) of money the group has earned from other, third party

instigated performances has been collected and they have used this money to fund the

initial costs of staging self-instigated performances. This approach provides the ensemble

with a stable pool of money from which to fund potential performance activities and

appears to provide a level of financial stability to any projects. This was echoed by Erin

Royer who spoke of a similar system in her previous work with a Perth-based saxophone

quartet:

We have a kitty going where we would pull money from that to solidify the venue

and make sure that we've promoted it and sold enough tickets to cover venue

costs. So that we can be paid as well. (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25,

2013)

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The fact that this concept was raised in the situation of saxophone quartets suggests the

viability of this as a funding strategy is dependant on cooperation. Whilst this strategy

may work for soloists, it does not appear to be currently employed by any of the solo

participants. Further, it is dependant on the collection of fees from third party instigated

performances which do not comprise the bulk of these musicians’ outputs and this

suggests it may not be simple for early career musicians to execute this financial strategy

for their own benefit. In correlation with the portfolio career model these musicians

employ, many of the participants reported that they do not make a significant amount of

money from their performance activities and instead find the bulk of their income in other

work. This suggests that the “box office” (B. Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct 19,

2012) style of operation where “ticket sales and things like that cover whatever costs

we’ve spent” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012) can be successful

for these participants to maintain the financial stability of their performance activities.

This appears to be due to their independent status within the industry, not having a larger

artistic body that funds their work. When discussing this, Price stated that “mainly it’s

just privately through myself or from the group that … we’ll pay for the venue, or I’ll pay

for the accompanist … normally it’s just all privately funded” (B. Price, personal

communication, Sep 1, 2013).

Many of the research participants reported that the financial goal of a performance

will be to break even or just cover the overhead costs in staging a performance. Overhead

costs, in this instance, refers to venue hire, accompanist fees, and marketing costs (J.

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Latham, personal communication, Jul 12, 2012) and they are usually recovered through

the box office method described previously. None of the research participants reported

that they are approaching live performance activities as a means to “pay for the rent for

the week or to buy the groceries” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15,

2012), instead, appearing to be focused on creating sustainable performance activities by

ensuring they are not at a personal financial loss post-concert. This was described best by

the Nexas Quartet: “we all love to do it and then hopefully we can show that to an

audience … we don’t look at making money, we look at trying to break even for a

concert” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012). Despite the wide

variety of funding methods, the overwhelming presence of a ‘breaking even’ mentality

suggests that an overarching goal or mission is superseding the pursuit of financial

success. Cockcroft took this further stating: “I’m a bit more of a believer that we should

try and find ways to … make events stand on their own two feet… That’s a good

challenge in itself, that’s a business challenge” (B. Cockcroft, personal communication,

Oct 19, 2012). Duke described his work with HD Duo as having this sense of purpose

overriding financial motivations:

It would be nice to be making lots of money out of performing, but that's not

really our goal in what we're doing. Our goal is to perform and get new music

written, typically Australian [music], and to break even. That's really what we're

looking for more than anything. (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14,

2012)

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In the light of this, Australian classical saxophonists are branching out to explore

different financial options including grants and corporate funding. Whilst not always

successful, some saxophonists are turning to grant applications to fund performance

activities. The main issue with this approach, and in many cases with sourcing grant

funding, is finding a way to best present to the board that decides what will be funded and

“what [funding bodies] want you to give them as far as information and community

outlook and so forth” (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012). When

successful, organisations that saxophonists have been affiliated with include the

Australian Music Centre, the New Music Network, and the Australia Council that have

supported them to facilitate live performances and recording projects. Whilst not the

primary source of financial support, external grant funding does represent a potential

source to be further tapped into by classical musicians and this potential also extends into

philanthropy and corporate funding which the participants reported as the most difficult

to obtain.

Similar to the way performances are instigated, the methods of funding live

performance activities discussed by the participants appear to correlate with what many

independent classical musicians would report in their own practice and it certainly aligns

with my own. For my own self-instigated performances, the box office method has been a

manageable way to engage in self-produced events and has been a centrepiece of early

projects for the Barega Saxophone Quartet. What is not represented in the participants’

responses is the amount of careful consideration needed when taking on the financial

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management of performances. The box office method is effective but requires an

understanding of the limits of a live performance activity and the creation of an

appropriate budget; for example, booking a venue at a low cost, creating a marketing

strategy and budget, factoring any travel costs for tours, and any other performance-

related costs. Young musicians at an early stage in their career may not have the initial

funds required for staging a live performance. With this knowledge, the “fighting fund”

(Continuum Sax, personal communication, May 16, 2012) concept raised by Continuum

Sax makes for a much more practical solution. Young musicians are able to create a pool

of funds over time from other work in their developing portfolio career and create a

financial base for their performance activities. An example of this can be taken from

Barega Saxophone Quartet, in the early years of the ensemble, the group would pool

money taken from other performances – for example, educational workshops that had a

set fee or prize money from local competitions – and was able to use these funds to

commission new repertoire and pay deposits on venues. Without putting together this

fund, many of the early opportunities that launched the ensemble would never have been

possible. In fact, many of the decisions made as a young ensemble were on the advice of

our teachers and mentors and, with experience, we learnt to plan and execute live

performances for ourselves. One such decision, in which we have changed our approach

over the years, was our approach to visual aesthetics – the topic which will now be

discussed.

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Visual Aesthetics

For many saxophonists, developing the visual aspects of their performance skills

are not a high priority with the musicians instead choosing to focus primarily on sound

(Continuum Sax, personal communication, May 16, 2012). The data in the literature

review has reinforced the idea that the connection between audience and performer is

strengthened through the visual presentation on stage (Griffiths, 2011; Tsay, 2013). In

essence, performers can build the relationship with their audience by ensuring that the

audience will have a visually pleasing performance to watch. The data has presented two

different areas of discussion: Personal and Physical. Personal visual aesthetics include

any decisions made which affect the visual presentation of the performer themselves

including clothing, presence on stage, and personal appearance and was the most highly

discussed by the participants with clothing choice being the most discussed facet of

visual aesthetics. The second area of visual aesthetics is the Physical elements of visual

aesthetics, referring specifically to the presentation of the venue and stage area.

In any performance context, the presentation of the musicians involved is “vital

and important” (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012). For many musicians,

the presentation of a professional image is not about conforming to concert etiquette

ideals but instead about showcasing a personal pride in their work. Furthermore, the

clothing that a performer chooses to wear onstage can have a strong impact on how the

musicians and the music itself is perceived by the audience. The participants presented

two different approaches to clothing choice: traditional and individual. Traditional dress

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can be understood as clothing which is all black or black and white including suits which

is formal in nature and include clothing choices which are reflective of the history of

Western art music. Individual dress is more reflective of the performer’s personality and

as the individual clothing choices that the performer makes including colourful pieces,

jeans, and more casual items. There was no clear decision by the research participants

about whether one choice was better than the other, instead highlighting that it is a

personal choice and one that must be considered in reference to the type of presentation

they would like to make and their comfort level while playing their instrument. Clothing

choice therefore becomes a challenge to find the right combination of variables.

When unpacking the data presented by the participants, it became apparent that

there is a strong element of personal preference involved. Whilst is was accepted that

there is a standard or traditional method of dressing for a classical music concert within

the greater classical music industry, this was not always seen to be an image consistent

with the identity of these saxophonists, as Continuum Sax explains:

When it comes to things like dress, we’re conscious that we’re never going to be

as hip as a rock band, so we’re not going to show that rock out dress, but we also

don’t want to be as stuffy as a symphony orchestra and we also don’t want to be

sort of anonymous … That’s where you don’t want any musicians to sort of stick

out from the crowd, you all want to be uniformly hidden in a way … I’ve

certainly thought about and expressed my view that we shouldn’t all dress all in

black … I find that too anonymous and boring and neither should we try to hate

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the symphony orchestra where everybody has to try to dress the same... So we try,

in the way we dress, we respect each others ways of doing things. (Continuum

Sax, personal communication, May 16, 2012)

This quote highlights the sentiment that traditional clothing choices such as all black

attire are not reflective of the personalities of the ensemble and these musicians are

actively attempting to circumnavigate this result. Continuum Sax exemplified this

approach to clothing choice in their observed performance at the Australasian Saxophone

and Clarinet Conference in 2013 as well as providing an anecdote of their usual concert

dress in their first interview: “Christina was wearing jeans, Martin in the safari suit, and I

wore my black suit with the colourful shirt, no ties. It expresses different personalities…

we all dressed quite differently” (Continuum Sax, personal communication, May 16,

2012). This was continued by Duke who highlighted the potential for individual clothing

choices to impact upon the perception of the musical content stating: “If there's

somebody standing in there in leather jacket, leather pants, you've put some preconceived

ideas - before you've even played a note - in their head as to what they're going to hear”

(M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012).

Some participants were extremely detailed in giving descriptions of clothing for

their performances, particularly where clothing choice has had a negative impact upon

the performance. Nexas Quartet provided one such anecdote. In a particular past

performance, the ensemble chose to each wear a shirt of a different colour without prior

co-ordination. In this instance, the shirt colours were not complimentary to each other

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and the overall look of the ensemble created “a poor attempt at a Christmas concert in

June” and “ a bit of a [Wiggles] approach” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication,

Jun 15, 2012). Whilst individuality and expression in the ensemble was valued by Nexas

Quartet, it appears from this anecdote that careful consideration needs to be taken to

ensure that personal presentation reflects a polished, professional image that is satisfying

to the musicians. This is especially the case in regards to ensembles where differing

personalities and, therefore, differing choices need to be managed. Latham elaborated on

the clothing choice process in his contemporary music ensemble Opus House:

We all sit around before [the performance]: “What are we wearing? Blacks?

Black and white? T-shirts? Are we going to wear jeans? Be a bit funky with a

black Bonds tee?” … I like to be comfortable ... I think you do need to respect

people, respect the audience. (J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12, 2012)

This discussion was continued with Latham who outlined his personal preference for

individual clothing choice stating he prefers “jeans and a t-shirt and comfortable shoes”

(J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12, 2012) suggesting a strong link between the

“comfort” (J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12, 2012) and the “respect” (M.

Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012) paid to the audience.

Some participants, however, were happy to choose a more conservative approach

to clothing which they felt reflected the music which they were performing: “So visually,

we try to dress in a manner which fits in the tradition of chamber music; which is either

dressing black or uniform … in dark suits or something like that” (M. Duke, personal

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communication, Jun 14, 2012) in order to “go a bit more traditional” (M. Duke, personal

communication, Jun 14, 2012). Cockcroft felt that there is “a dress that’s generally

perceived to be the correct thing to wear” (B. Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct

19, 2012) and whilst he acknowledged that musicians may chose an alternative, many

musicians do follow this ideal. Another participant who described a more traditional

approach to dress was Matthew Styles, highlighting the connection between clothing and

repertoire:

I think what you wear is incredibly important. And I think [for] most recitalists

you’re wearing all black or a suit and a tie and that sort of thing… Depending

what venue you’re in … that can work but there’s something to said for matching

what you wear to what you’re going to play. (M. Styles, personal communication,

Jun 21, 2012)

Styles spoke directly of traditional clothing choices and the respect that can be portrayed

through a more traditional approach to concert dress, a further participant to highlight

how clothing can show respect to an audience:

If you’re going to present a traditional program, you don’t necessarily have to

wear a puffed wig and a cravat and a top hat and a cane but I think it’s very

important that you do demonstrate... Well firstly, I think you need to respect your

audience with what you wear, very much so and I think you also need to reflect

the venue and reflect the music. (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21,

2012)

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This discussion has centred on the pillar of personal presentation and it is evident that

there is an overriding goal of the performers “to look professional” (Nexas Quartet,

personal communication, Jun 15, 2012). Understanding this goal to look professional and

simultaneously portray a sense of individuality, my own experiences have varied

concerning clothing choice. When performing with Barega Saxophone Quartet, our

clothing choices have gradually evolved over the years from the choice to wear all-black

to a more individual ‘free-dress’ approach. In the earlier years of the group, Barega

would choose to wear all black clothes as a way of creating a formal, unified look. Years

later, as we began to carve our own niche within the Australian CSM community, we

decided to switch strategies and dress in our own, unique way. With each member of the

ensemble being free to dress comfortably within their own sense of professional style, it

has provided a more relatable aspect to our performances.

More than just clothing choice, crafting a professional image also extends also to

the surroundings within the performance venue as discussed by Dr Matthew Styles: “I

think that’s very important that what they see is also valid side of stage… You walk into

a music auditorium and there’s stands and chairs and [miscellaneous items] everywhere,

well, what’s the audience going to think?” (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21,

2012). The presentation of the venue itself connects with the concept of ‘place’ and

stimulates thought around the interaction of the physical space in which a performance

takes place and the resulting influences that place makes on the performance. The second

area of discussion concerning visual aesthetics, ‘physical’ visual aesthetics was not

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discussed as frequently. What was emphasised was that “...people want to come along

and see you” (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012) and “whatever

structures you want to put it in, they’ve got to be able to see you clearly and what’s

behind you and around you is incredibly important (M. Styles, personal communication,

Jun 21, 2012). The use of the stage to ensure good sight lines is important in any context

of performance. In many circumstances the choice of venue is not always left up to the

performer and in those instances it is up to them to maximise the potential of the venue.

Achieved through different methods, performers wanting clear sight lines to the audience

may be looking to increase their own connections with the audience thereby increasing

their own sense of satisfaction from the performance; Styles uses his music stand: “My

stand is right down because I think I want to eyeball the audience too and I want to be

able to see them” (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012).

It became apparent in the data that the management of visual aesthetics is not

always considered a high priority. Some participants expressly stated that they are

prioritising sound and music production over considerations such as clothing choice.

Given the data present in the literature suggesting the importance of visual aesthetics

(Tsay, 2013), it is surprising to find that practitioners in the field are not considering the

effect of visual aesthetics more carefully. There are two possible explanations for this

which may shed some light on the reasoning for not prioritizing visual aesthetics. Firstly,

music is undoubtedly the focus of any live performance activity and therefore these

musicians are choosing to ensure their practice is of a high standard. This means that

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issues such as visual aesthetics may only be considered after the music is at a sufficient

level of preparation. Secondly, being self-managed artists, their time and resources need

to be maximized appropriately and time spent managing elements not related to the music

production may be seen as improper. Finally, Latham identified another key aspect that

musicians are not often trained in the management of visual aesthetics and how to

approach this area of management:

[A]t the moment, with the project I’m working on, I’ve actually employed a

marketing consultant and we’ve just gone to them and said, “Can you choose

what to wear?” Because I play the saxophone, I don’t know how to choose what

to wear (J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12, 2012)

This suggests that while Latham is prioritising the music and his knowledge in this area,

his delegation of the management of this area to experienced, trained professionals

presents his priorities. Unfortunately, not all the participants, and by extension not all

saxophonists, have the ability to consult with specialists in visual aesthetics. This requires

a personal exploration of how to dress for a live performance. My own ensemble has

experimented with different clothing options and has found that each live performance

calls for a slightly different approach. Whilst we firmly subscribe to the opinion that

clothing choice needs to be reflective of individual personalities, we try to balance the

formality of our dress choices with the formality of the performance. Ultimately, the

visual aesthetics of any live performance are going to impact upon the presentation and

reception of the performer.

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Venue Choice

The literature review highlighted the “complexity already existing in relationships

between performance and place” (Craik et al., 2010) and how the environment of a live

performance activity plays a significant role in cultivating a positive relationship between

performers and their audiences (Minor et al., 2004). It is argued that those unfamiliar with

the etiquette of a classical music performance can be easily perturbed. In this sense,

“[t]he concept of accessibility reaches beyond the physical capacity to gain access to a

performance; it may well relate to a perception of status and exclusivity from which the

audience feels alienated” (Craik et al., 2010, p. 25). Further to this, the audience’s

understanding of the practices and etiquette of live classical music performance is seen as

a potential barrier and a key point of discussion (Airey, 1998; Craik et al., 2010; Dobson,

2010; Lee, 2003). Venue choice, therefore, must be made with considerations of both the

appropriate place for music-making and repertoire alongside considerations of how the

venue will impact upon the expected audience.

The participants stated that the specific choice of venue is dependent upon the

main organiser: either the research participants themselves or a third party tasked with

producing the performance. In the event of the latter occurring, “quite often the venues

are forced upon you or … if you’re doing something off your own bat you choose the

venue” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012). When the participants

are engaging in self-instigated live performances, they are wholly responsible for venue

choice and the subsequent management needed – an important note for younger

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musicians to acknowledge and endeavour to gain experience dealing with. Another factor

to be considered in this discussion is the performance context of the activity in question:

whilst recitals and individual performance contexts allow more freedom in venue choice,

collaborative and educational performance contexts afford much less choice. Individual

performance contexts, by definition, focus on the presentation of a select performer/s in

one small to medium sized performance event. With this in mind, a performance venue

must be chosen which facilitates a suitable stage area for the performer and intimate,

accessible seating for the audience. This suggests a range of possible venues may be

suitable for the individual performance context, such as recital halls, open plan

performance spaces, churches, or art galleries. As an example, during the period of this

research, Barega Saxophone Quartet gave performances which can be classified as

individual performance contexts in venues ranging from recital halls in two Australian

states, a school oval, an art gallery, a shipping container, a multipurpose arts studio, and

three major music festivals.

The participants clearly identified that a number of performances instigated by

third parties took control of the venue and production of the event, thereby removing

them from the venue decision. This meant that the participants are not always concerned

with how the performance will be conducted in the specific venue or whether there will

be any acoustical issues. As Nexas Quartet elaborates: “we don’t really think about it

though; I think we get to the venue and go ‘oh ok we’ll have to play this this particular

way because of the venue” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012). The

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ensemble continued to emphasise that in these situations, the venue itself may be

completely unknown to them: “a lot of the time it is a secondary thing … we get booked

to perform and play stuff like that and we may not necessarily know the venue” (Nexas

Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012). This appears that venue choice, when

not under control of the research participants, can be a positive experience but does put

limitations on the production of the performance. This seems in correlation with the

findings within the “performance instigation” category where the instigator of a

performance is responsible for performance management and production.

Further to this, it was evident for the participants that venue choice must be

reflective of the anticipated size of the audience. Large venues for a small scale

production are not practical, expensive, and there will undoubtedly be empty seats. The

question is, where is the line between realistic and cynical? As the expected audience of a

performance may be limited or large in numbers depending on the specific occasion,

some research participants reported that they felt an element of realism is needed in the

approach to venue choice as “you wouldn’t be likely to try and book out a like a $3000,

3000- seat concert hall” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012). and this

was echoed by Cockcroft, stating:

If you can play in an empty room - even if there’s 200 people there but it seats

2000 - it feels empty and you don’t get the same sort of critical mass from

audience reaction. People need to be tightly packed to get that; so, it’s better to

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have an overflowing room, regardless of the size, than a half empty room. (B.

Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct 19, 2012)

This suggests that performers are conscious of the number of audiences members

expected at a performance and are attempting to be realistic about their audience base and

then relating this back to their venue choice. Interestingly, Royer felt this was not such an

issue given the chance to perform to a core, loyal audience:

If there's a venue available we'll go there. If it seats 800 people and we only get

70, it doesn't feel like such a big deal, just because we've got somewhere to play

and there is a select amount of people who are coming to watch us who are really

enjoying it. (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25, 2013)

The realities of venue choice were also brought forth by XVI WSC organiser Michael

Brogan who provided a unique perspective to the discussion. Brogan suggested three key

variables which were considered in the management of venue choice at the WSC in St

Andrews, Scotland:

1) Riders. We were occasionally limited by equipment available in each venue.

For example, any music featuring electronics or A/V equipment tended to be

scheduled in the Byre Theatre which is designed to host such events.

2) Programming. If a performer was chosen to perform some baroque music or

solo repertoire, we felt it would be appropriate to schedule their performance in a

church or more intimate venue. Acoustically, it suited the music much better, and

it also helped to establish an appropriate sense of mood or atmosphere.

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3) Reputation. It is simple fact that some more established performers will draw a

large crowd. So, we made sure these performers were given an auditorium with a

larger audience capacity. (M. Brogan, personal communication, 2013)

These three factors highlight the apparent need to manage venue choice alongside other

variables that may or may not come into play in a live performance activity.

The concept of a venue being inaccessible to a non-classical music enthusiast is a barrier

to potential new audience members (Craik et al., 2010; Arts Council of England, 2008).

This has been articulated in the literature but not as widely identified by the research

participants. The only research participant which explicitly articulated accessibility as a

concern within venue choice was Jabra Latham:

Are they going to be warm? Are they going to sit in the round? Are the chairs too

comfy so they’re going to fall asleep? Are they too painful? You know, how close

is the coffee? How close is the beer? Can they move if they want? Do they have

to stay for the whole performance? … All of these questions I think are really

related to the venue. (J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12, 2012)

The thinking presented by the participants concerning venue choice has developed from

the dependence of who is instigating the performance to the relationships it appears to

maintain with other live performance elements. This has raised and answered many

questions in this field including:

Who is choosing the venue?

How is the venue crafting an “experience”?

Venue choice requires the organiser to be realistic but not afraid to occasionally

diversify

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What accessibility needs to be negotiated?

These points present the beginnings of a framework for the choice of venue for a live

performance activity. By considering the questions provided above, performers and live

performance organisers can choose appropriate venues which cover a variety of bases.

Repertoire

In the discussion of repertoire choice, the data analysis in this investigation

presented two major areas of thinking: firstly, the CSM field (repertoire, history, and

national schools) which influences the participants and secondly, the development of

repertoire within the live performance arena. The repertoire these performers have to

choose from is all from the same pool and therefore it was hypothesised to expect some

overlap in their exact choices. The focus on development and creation of new music in

the CSM genre was also hypothesised to be a motivating factor in their choices. The data

analysis revealed a huge variety of responses and ideas within this area. The following

discussion includes the exact choices being made, the exact influences impacting upon

the musicians and problems and issues that arise in this process. By following through the

presentation of these two streams by the research participants, a clear understanding of

how repertoire choice is negotiated by these musicians will be attained as well as

providing the underpinnings of the discussion to take in the next chapter where artistic

relationships between repertoire, performers, audiences, and venues is to take place.

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A text analysis on the research participants’ responses found fourteen motivating

factors that influence the participants’ choice of repertoire within their live performance

activities and these are presented in the figure below:

Figure 14. Participant Responses Regarding Repertoire Choice for their Live

Performance Activities

As the participants were able to report multiple factors, a wide variety of

responses were provided. As evidenced above, the two most widely reported factors were

musical taste and new music. Musical taste in repertoire choice refers to compositions

which are satisfying to the taste of the participants. In these cases, repertoire is chosen

because of the preferences of the participants. Secondly, new music refers to the

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

NewMusic

MusicalTaste

BuildingPrograms

Commissioning

SheetMusicCollec ons

"StumbleAcross"

Arrangements

Collabora on

Concerto

Submissions

Sugges ons

Theming

Timing

Variety

Par cipantResponses

Par cipantResponses

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repertoire choice to include newly composed music into a live performance. To unpack

these further, the five research participants that reported musical taste as a factor in their

repertoire choices were Nexas Quartet, Jabra Latham, Barry Cockcroft, Katia Beaugeais,

and Ben Price. It was suggested by the Nexas Quartet that their repertoire choice is often

a balance between individual musical tastes and between the different members of the

ensemble: “Even within the group, you realise how different peoples musical ideals are

and it’s quite hard to satisfy all four parties” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication,

Jun 15, 2012). The quartet elaborated in this further:

[F]or the group, it really hasn’t done come down to ‘new music’ or

‘transcriptions’ or ‘standard repertoire’. It’s kind of like: ‘do you like the piece?’

‘does it work well for the ensemble?’ Great, let’s do it!’. And I don’t think we go

‘oh well, we have to play a piece that was written in the last six years in every

concert’ or something like that. (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15,

2012)

Complimentary to this, Cockcroft and Price were both direct in their discussions of

repertoire choice, stating categorically that personal preference plays a strong role in their

choices by stating that “I generally play things I want to” (B. Cockcroft, personal

communication, Oct 19, 2012) and “I’m gonna [sic] play the music that I want to play”

(B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013). Katia Beaugeais suggested that her

interests as a performer-composer influence her preferences concerning repertoire and

this consequently impacts upon her repertoire choice:

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I just keep doing what I’m influenced with [and[ what I like doing. And I’m

always now doing Australian music; I just keep plugging it, it’s my thing … as a

composer I want to support other composers because I know what it’s like. (K.

Beaugeais, personal communication, Jul 11, 2013)

Collectively, this suggests the strong presence of musical tastes and personal preferences

as a motivating factor in the development of a performance. As well as hinting at the

strong influence of Australian repertoire within their choices.

Alternatively, several of the participants discussed new music as an important

component of their repertoire choices including Beaugeais, Cockcroft, Duke, Latham,

and Royer. As identified initially in the literature review, the development of new

repertoire within the genre forms a major component of many CSM artists careers (Frigo,

2005). With this knowledge, it can be understood that the development and consequent

performance of this new Australian music would also form a significant component of

the research participants’ activities. The six participants already identified as discussing

this idea all stated, in differing ways, how new music and the performance of newly

composed music was often a goal. The dissemination of newly composed music is a

strongly reoccurring point of discussion with the research participants. Their interaction

with composers and focus on the creation of new music in the Australian CSM genre

highlights an important prerequisite for entering into the field. Each of the nine research

participants discussed their involvement with new music and framed their discussion in

the area around the need to develop new repertoire within the CSM genre. It became

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apparent that the participants have a strong interest in newer repertoire. Price stated: “I

just find it more exciting, I have never really wanted to listen to old music anyway… I

don’t think I’ve played anything earlier than 1980s probably except for Berio, it’s just ... it

doesn’t interest me” (B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013). This was backed up

by Beaugeais who felt “I actually like to put a newish piece in the program” (K.

Beaugeais, personal communication, Jul 11, 2013) and felt that as a performer-composer

she was able to incorporate new compositions in specific occasions. This was particularly

the case in one anecdote:

For this … recital for the Australian Embassy … maybe they have heard a

classical saxophone but they’d be more used to the jazz … I did all Australian

music by Ross Edwards, ‘Raft Song at Sunrise’, and I also wanted to do an

extended technique piece because I just thought, “You know what? I’m just going

to do what I’m into and that’s my style. They might, you know, they’ll like it or

they won’t. But I thought, “Oh, I’m there and it’s representing Australia.” So I

actually wrote a piece specifically for them called ‘Sounds from Bondi’ … I

based the ‘Sounds from Bondi’ [on] a lot of circular breathing, a lot of rippling,

classical passages ... they said that was their favourite piece in the program. They

knew about Bondi Beach, they knew that it was an iconic venue. (K. Beaugeais,

personal communication, Jul 11, 2013)

What this comment suggests is the continuing theme that repertoire choice can foster

positive relationships with audiences whilst simultaneously providing new and innovative

outlets for the performer’s musical expression. In Beaugeais’ case, this was through an

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opportunity to craft a new Australian CSM composition and premiere this work at a live

performance. This was approached from a different angle by Duke in his ensemble HD

Duo who used careful programming and theming to present new music in a way which

would be sympathetic to audiences unfamiliar with the repertoire:

[W] did a program and it was a long time - it was a full hour and a half with an

intermission - so it was a big concert. We split it up half French impressionist

music and the other half was Australian contemporary music that was written for

us … The nature of the pieces seemed to tie in really well. It meant that the

audiences obviously felt very at home with the French impressionist stuff, even if

it was composers they'd never heard of ... Then when we came to play Australian

stuff, they could hear the tie-ins and it just set it up for them to enjoy it. (M. Duke,

personal communication, Jun 14, 2012)

This particular method of presenting new music continues to illuminate a connection

between repertoire choice and expected audience at a live performance activity.

Some research participants, however, felt that the performance of new music is

accepted and appreciated by audiences and felt that including it in performance programs

is often acceptable. In these circumstances, the presentation of a new or newly composed

work is an interesting addition to the live performance.

I only really like listening to music as well that’s surprising, you know, I don’t

want any predictable chord structures or anything like that. I think that’s

something that audiences do appreciate anyway. Most of the time they will come

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away thinking, “Oh that was different, I didn’t expect to hear something like that.

(B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013)

This idea was also suggested by Latham and the Nexas Quartet who felt that new music

is appreciated by performers and audiences alike. Along with Styles, these three

participants also brought into the equation the involvement of local composers and the

benefits or working locally. Performing with composers who were also colleagues and

friends formed an early component of Nexas Quartet’s activities:

One of the things we did in our early years when we were at the conservatorium:

… quite a lot of our good friends are composers so they wanted to write for their

friends and we wanted to play our friends music so that kind of early stage, a lot

was premiering and workshopping heaps of [repertoire] and that was a massive

part of our early years. (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012)

This was reiterated by Styles who felt proximity to local, talented composers fostered the

creation of new Australian CSM repertoire.

The cool thing about that, of course especially in Australia, is the guy who wrote

[the piece] is probably 5 kilometres away and three coffees later there is a new

piece or there’s a section you’ve got some suggestions about and they’re really

happy to listen to that. (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012)

Ultimately, Continuum Sax presented the clearest and most straight forward analysis of

why these musicians are engaging with new repertoire within their live performance

activities: “I think it’s also important to keep pushing ahead as musicians … to work with

composers now and try to find new ground and find new worlds for the saxophone. I think

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that’s the way we keep ourselves relevant” (Continuum Sax, personal communication, May

16, 2012).

Some strong motivations were found in the participants responses that contributed

further to the understanding of repertoire choice. Two concepts – theming and program

building – were brought forth as motivating factors in the participants’ selection of

performance repertoire. These two concepts present an interesting developmental process

for these musicians as they engage in live performance activities. Theming, in this

instance refers to the development of concert programs which are all centred around a

specific theme or idea that binds each of the works together. Theming was presented by a

number of participants as a way of developing a suitable program for a live performance

which creates an interesting collection of music and provides the audience with a logical

flow through the music. An example of this was provided by Duke who described a

concert entitled The Fairer Sax which brought together music by different female

composers:

[The concert[ was all music of female composers; so that was the thread that tied

everything together. We had a commission in there that we did and then we

looked at repertoire and I pulled out different pieces that I'd played in the past and

we read through them and we pulled together a program that we thought would

hang together well in terms of, well not only fitting the concept, but also the

length of the pieces, the style of the pieces … You've got different set, different

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timbres, different styles, the lengths of the works and how they all fit together in

an order too. (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012)

The use of a theme in this instance provided the audience with a specific lens through

which to understand and receive the music. This “clever and thoughtful” (M. Duke,

personal communication, Jun 14, 2012) method of choosing repertoire is useful for

developing a stronger rapport with audiences and creating a positive environment for the

consumption of the music. Duke elaborates,

If you do a theme, you give the audience something to think about while you're

playing this music. You give them a context to listen to this music in. If you don't

give them a context then they don't know what they're listening to or how to listen

to it. (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012)

Theming therefore represents a method of framing each of the works presented in a live

performance for the audience, particularly those that may not be familiar with the music

or the performer. The use of theming by these artists helps with the specific repertoire

choices to be made.

The research participants did flag some issues in choosing repertoire for live

performance activities which suggest a level of complexity. These problems were

identified in the data analysis and whilst they were discussed by some participants, it

does not appear as a major theme across all the data collected. Three out of the nine

participants referenced a problem or problems within the area of repertoire choice such

as:

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A dislike for specific repertoire (including major works or regularly

performed works)

Performing for other saxophonists and the difficulty of programming

interesting and satisfying repertoire for this audience

Matching repertoire to venue and/or audiences (a difficulty to be discussed in

the next chapter)

With the comparative youth of the CSM genre compared to the full history of the

Western classical music tradition, musicians operating in this genre may find that the

bulk of their repertoire extends from the 20th century and is French in origin (Frigo,

2005). Continuum Sax highlighted that “most of it is just your Neo-Classical French stuff

it’s a music of a time and a place and it’s quite limited in what it is and there’s not that

much you can do with it” (Continuum Sax, personal communication, May 16, 2012). For

saxophonists working in 21st-century Australia, operating as independent artists, this

repertoire may not represent their own interests as musicians nor their environment. This

concept extends further to major works within the CSM canon which may be regularly

performed by students, at industry events, and have been recorded by saxophonists

around the world meaning that the repetition of the same works sees that artists engaging

with this music on a regular basis may not perform music with which they have a

connection or an “affinity” (Continuum Sax, personal communication, May 16, 2012).

With the strong tradition of saxophonists performing for other saxophonists at industry

events and through community support (Continuum Sax, personal communication, May

16, 2012), programming for specific audiences becomes an increasingly important issue.

A remedy for this, as suggested by Latham, was through effective advertising: “I will

market and advertise and invite people accordingly ... I might not be so broad with my

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advertising, I might be very specific” (B. Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct 19,

2012).

Marketing

A key factor in the successful management of a portfolio music career is the

ability to self-promote and engage networks as identified by a variety of sources in the

literature review (Bartleet et al., 2012; Beeching, 2005; Loveland, 2009). What is

unknown is how Australian classical saxophonists are promoting their live performance

activities and engaging with different marketing tools and techniques. It was

hypothesised that the participants would be utilising a range of different tools; however,

the broad range of tools across digital and other platforms was not anticipated. The wide

diversity in the approach to marketing suggests that the participants are focussing on

specific methods they feel garner the best results rather than selecting a broad range of

tools.

The research participants identified a number of tools which they use in the

marketing of a live performance activity and these are presented in the table below. The

tools are broken down into two categories: Non-Digital and Digital. A somewhat

surprising result from the analysis was that participants are engaging in more non-digital

methods of marketing in today’s increasingly technologically based world. The research

participants identified a large number of personal methods of marketing (such as business

cards, family recommendations, personal invitations, invitations to students, and word of

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mouth) as extremely useful in their marketing as comparable to social networking sites or

email mailing lists.

Each of the identified marketing tools will now be explored in further detail. The

following table presents each marketing tool identified by the research participants

accompanied by a brief description.

Tool Description

Non-Digital Marketing Tools

Business Cards Professional business cards created by the participant

and distributed to potential audience members and

interested members of the general public before,

during, or after performances

Family Using personal networks through family members to

distribute concert information. Connected to word of

mouth marketing.

Mail Outs Sending printed materials promoting the concert via

postal mail to potential audiences

Networking Personally connecting with other individuals in the

industry to promote performances

Pamphlets Printed flyers or booklets advertising a live

performance activity that are then distributed to

potential audiences

Personal Invitations An invitation from performer to potential audience

member to attend the live performance activity

Posters A printed poster which is displayed publically to

advertise the performance

Print Media Printed promotional materials either exclusive to the

performance (posters, flyers, booklets) or other,

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general forms of media (newspapers, magazines)

Record Label Promotion is conducted by the record label

representing the performer

Students Advertising the performance to current or former

students of the performer

Word of Mouth Communication between performer and audiences

and between audience members about an upcoming

performance and the quality of the performer

Networking Professional networking and forming connections to

boost exposure of a live performance activity

Digital Marketing Tools

Emails Sending out promotional materials and performance

information via email, often through a dedicated list

of recipients who have registered their interest

Facebook The creation of posts, events, and status updates

which present the performance information. Posts

can also be targeted to towards new contacts that may

be interested in attending

MySpace Similar to Facebook, posts, events, and status updates

are used to promote performances

Pozible Participants have used the crowd-funding platform

Pozible to source funding for projects and thereby

increase exposure of their activities

Press Kits The creation of a small package of digital files,

usually containing professional head shots and a

biography which are available online or distributed

before a live performance

Radio Interviews, broadcasts of recordings, and any public

promotion of a live performance on a relevant radio

station

Social Media The use of any social media platform to promote a

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live performance. In this research, Facebook, Twitter,

and Myspace have been reported highly

Twitter Similar to other forms of social media, updates and

tweets are used to promote the performance to a

wider network of people and often link back to

another social media site, such as Facebook

Table 7. Breakdown of Participant Marketing Methods

The following discussion will unpack each marketing tool presented by the

research participants and address how the participants are utilising the tool to their

benefit. Understanding each of these marketing methods and how the participants utilise

them is particularly important given the previous discussion surrounding funding and

tight budgets these musicians have to deal with. This requires the participants to have the

ability to maximise low or no cost forms of advertising. This particularly resonates with

early career musicians who are endeavouring to build a stronger profile within the

industry.

Networking refers to the relationships forged within the industry which push

forward the participants’ careers and there are several elements which relate to this

marketing tool. This was presented by Katia Beaugeais who stated:

I remember Matthew Hindson actually said to me in one of my composition

lessons … he was saying, you know, “Just take advantage ... as a composer,

you’ve got to take advantage of the people you know, the relationships. Try and

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establish relationships because they will really help you ... and then it’s just easier

[to receive] support. (K. Beaugeais, personal communication, Jul 11, 2013)

Further to this, Word of Mouth marketing is undoubtedly an important aspect given that

audiences will likely discuss positive or negative experiences following an event and this

has the potential to impact upon future audience numbers. This was considered “the most

important marketing [tool]” (J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12, 2012) by some

participants and an essential component of operating as a performing musician. Latham

emphasised that word of mouth marketing is about creating a positive experience for

audience members that they feel excited or compelled to share within their personal

networks.

So you have to create an experience for them where, like I said, they’ve

discovered something, they’ve found the familiar and they’ve had an experience

... and then they take that out and they share that… It might be the music, it might

be the personality of the people on stage, the confidence, the security, it might be

the venue, it might be some quirky or unusual little thing that ... it might be the

quality of the wine, but you need to give them something to make sure that they

remember that and they talk about it (J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12,

2012)

Family is connected to the use of word of mouth promotion. This was suggested as a

method of connecting with personal networks and building an audience base from a

personal level outwards. Royer stated: “I use my family as a huge way of promoting...

my Mum's friends and the other quartet members go through their parents' friends …

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that's our target audience really is the older generation” (E. Royer, personal

communication, Jun 25, 2013). An interesting proposal made by Erin Royer, the

marketing area labelled Students is the suggestion that a participants’ students may make

up a large selection of the potential audience for a live performance and therefore it is

important to promote live performance events to them. It was surprising that this was not

raised by other research participants given they are all active educators and would have a

student base that they may promote live performance activities to. Royer stated that “I

have a lot of students so I have a lot of young people that I can bring along to my

concerts; make it compulsory for them” (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25,

2013) and therefore find a strong potential pool of attendees including her students and

their friends and family. Personal Invitations, in a similar fashion to family or word of

mouth, is the personal actions of the performer in inviting specific audience members to

the live performance activity. This is clearly not a common method within the participant

pool, having only being discussed by one participant, Jabra Latham. In a very brief

sentence he described that he will invite “invite people personally” (J. Latham, personal

communication, Jul 12, 2012) to a live performance. Whilst this would undoubtedly be an

excellent way to connect personally with potential audience members, it is time

consuming and not practical on a large scale. This is where printed promotional material

can be of great benefit.

Print Media describes printed promotional materials either specific or non-

specific to the performance activity which are distributed to promote a live performance

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activity or the performers, more generally. Including the marketing tools of mail outs,

pamphlets, and posters, print media also covers the use of newspapers and magazines to

promote a live performance activity. This was particularly discussed by Jabra Latham and

Ben Price who, both being based in Tasmania, feel a great deal of support from local

publications in the promotion of their performances. Latham said: “the Mercury

newspaper in Hobart ... is great. They’ll either run a feature article or they’ll run a feature

article in their Pulse section, so that’s good” (J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12,

2012). Also based in Hobart, Price reiterated this:

As a young person in Hobart, you can just call up the Mercury, the main

newspaper in the city, and you can get a half-page article on a Thursday with a

photograph and everything about your upcoming concert. Because it’s such a

small community, they are very willing to support things (B. Price, personal

communication, Sep 1, 2013)

Alternatively, Business Cards help build relationships for further performances (E.

Royer, personal communication, Jun 25, 2013). By providing a professional token to

audiences engages them in conversation, building rapport, and provides musicians with

an opportunity to advertise future events. Royer particularly discussed this in regards to

post-performance networking:

If I can give them a business card or if I could tell them where we're playing next

… doing more gigs and stuff like that - just it's really popular, everyone loves it.

You can say at any concert, ‘we're playing here next’ and then they'll come along

and you start building that relationship … So I think just them getting to know

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you as well as what you're playing is really important. (E. Royer, personal

communication, Jun 25, 2013)

Further to this, Mail Outs can be helpful for distributing information about the

performance and give a physical product in the hands of potential audience members

rather than a digital notification which can more easily be ignored. This method does take

prior organisation and planning to be effective. Nexas Quartet described this in detail

outlining that the financial and time investment needed in engaging with this marketing

technique is paid off in the response received by audiences.

I do a lot of snail mail… printing stuff and mailing it to people… if I get stuff

printed and mail it to somebody or give it to them, they can put it on their fridge

and they wont forget. Whereas I’ve got twenty-eight events pending in my

Facebook and I couldn’t tell you what twenty-seven of them are… the best results

I’ve had for events has been printing and mailing and it’s a risk… You’ve got to

pay for the printing, you’ve got to pay for the postage. (Nexas Quartet, personal

communication, 2012)

Beaugeais also acknowledged the use of mail outs in her marketing and correlated the

need to invest in this method as she often will send a flyer to schools to advertise her

performance (K. Beaugeais, personal communication, Jul 11, 2013). Mail outs as a

marketing measure, therefore require both financial and time investment for a positive

return. This is similar to pamphlets where a physical advertising tool is printed and

distributed. Participants reported flyers and promotional booklets being distributed prior

to an event. Duke has had experience with advertising by the Sydney Conservatorium of

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Music who have “booklets that get mailed out to thousands of people” (M. Duke,

personal communication, Jun 14, 2012). Posters were discussed by four participants who,

interestingly, spoke hesitantly about them. Whilst Royer clearly stated that she feels

posters are “really good” (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25, 2013) for

marketing a live performance activity, three research participants (Duke, Styles, and

Latham) felt that posters were not as effective and required further promotional activities

to ensure the performance was effectively marketed.

I think [posters] need to be a follow up rather than your first port of call because

there’s so many posters now, you know what I mean? It looks like graffiti on a

wall, you see ‘oh there’s a nice colour, there’s a saxophone on the wall, that’s

lovely yes’ and you just keep walking on and you don’t really take in what it’s

saying. (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012)

Ultimately it appears that posters may not be a sufficient marketing method individually:

“I tend not to put up posters because I really don’t see the amount of work that the …

feedback is enough” (J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12, 2012).

Record Label was a marketing strategy only discussed by Michael Duke

regarding his work with HD Duo and the marketing undertaken by their label following

the release of a CD. Duke emphasised that “we're on a record label for this new CD that's

coming out they have marketing that they do. We will get help through them” (M. Duke,

personal communication, Jun 14, 2012). This assistance appears to extend only to the

dissemination of his CD rather than his live performance activities. Despite this, the

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creation of a digital product was identified as beneficial to his live performance activities

as ongoing promotion of himself as an artist and active industry member.

With the illumination of the broad spectrum of tools being utilised by the research

participants, it was a surprising discovery that the participants are engaging in more non-

digital means of promoting live performance activities. This was also highlighted in the

apparent distrust in digital methods such as Facebook for disseminating information on

live performances and motivating potential audiences members to attend an event. Based

on their responses, it seems that this distrust stems from the feeling of online saturation.

For the participants, including digital marketing tool in a suite of marketing tools is

important, but getting results from non-digital methods is just as important. Ultimately,

the methods which the participants discussed suggested a ‘tried and true’ approach where

they are engaging in different tools that they feel are providing the best results. In

combination with the previous performance factors which have highlighted the

independent, autonomous nature of these musicians, it is by no means shocking to find

that they are engineering marketing strategies to their best advantage. So how does this

relate to an overall strategy for the marketing of a live performance activity? When

speaking more broadly on the subject of marketing, it appeared that research participants

are attempting to target the promotion of their event to the most likely audience members

and are facing specific challenges in doing so.

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With each of the research participants maintaining active roles as performers

within their portfolio careers, it became apparent that building a loyal, interested audience

base that attends events regularly is vital to ongoing success. The participants are

experiencing success bringing new listeners into the fold and building a listener base

which will be interested in regularly attending live performances and maintaining an

engaged relationship with the performers. This process requires the musicians to push

outwards from their personal networks and begin to build relationships with interested

audiences, often being a challenge for independent artists without large marketing

budgets. An ongoing challenge faced by the participants is the ability to push through

“the six degrees of separation” (Continuum Sax, personal communication, May 16,

2012) as “it’s very hard to get beyond the first degree” (Continuum Sax, personal

communication, May 16, 2012). Whether operating in smaller areas such as Latham and

Price in Hobart or in larger cities such as Continuum Sax, Nexas Quartet, and Michael

Duke in Sydney, marketing tools are used “to get people happening” (B. Price, personal

communication, Sep 1, 2013) and over time, the participants have their audience (K.

Beaugeais, personal communication, Jul 11, 2013).

Furthermore, whilst there is a strong case made for building a loyal and engaged

audience base, the path to success in this endeavour can be challenging. Events promoted

through social media may fall victim to a saturation of events, advertisements, and

promotional materials. This point was raised by the Nexas Quartet members who felt that

they personally receive a large number of event invitations through media such as

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Facebook and subsequently felt that their own social media campaigns need to stand out

from the crowd. When these artists “get saturated by those Facebook ones and end up

stop paying attention to them” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012)

they find a talking point for their own marketing and promotional activities.

There is email lists though which is quite social media but you’re right it is so

easy just to click you know or ‘that looks interesting, delete’ you know. But if you

have that piece of paper that’s sitting around, if it doesn’t make it into the bin

straight away. (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012)

This suggestion from the Nexas Quartet, is to engage with a multifaceted marketing

strategy which allows social media strategies to shine through, supported by other print

and other strategies. This approach is individual to each performer and requires an

understanding of who is attending their live performances. By tailoring their marketing

strategy to their expected audience they are maximising the potential attendance.

With just these little things that you do yourself, you’re going, “I’m going to do a

recital,” or, “I’m going to do a little quartet project,” or, “We’re going to do an

ensemble thing,” or something. But now I’m sort of starting to … think

specifically about target market, you know, where are the people who you want to

attract? Who are the people ... and how do you get to them? How much money do

they have? How much time do they have? What venues do they go to? (J. Latham,

personal communication, Jul 12, 2012)

This approach, however, is dependant on the musician’s best judgement as “we’re not

marketing people” (J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12, 2012). It also requires an

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understanding of how the repertoire to be performed, the venue the performance will take

place in, and the audience expected to attend are connected. The triangle created by these

repertoire, venue, and audience is theorised in Chapter 6.

Educational Outcomes

The final point of discussion in this chapter is the role of educational outcomes

within the live performances of the participants. The literature suggests that audience

education may play a role in the better understanding and appreciation of the classical

music genre (Flowers & Murphy, 2001; Jacob, 1996) and it was hypothesised that

education would factor into the performances conducted by the participants. Exactly how

this would be achieved was unclear. The educational component could include promoting

the musical genre of the performance (CSM, Australian music, or classical music more

broadly) or a more general educational experience involving the instrument, music, or the

performers. It became apparent that the research participants, when engaged in individual

or collaborative performance contexts, do not generally approach a live performance

activity with any education-based goals in mind and it is the underlying purpose of the

performance that is dictating their approach. When considering educational performance

contexts, these performances call for the undivided focus of the performers in educational

goals, such as working with students in masterclasses or workshops. These performances,

by definition, include an educational component and a specific focus on education rather

presentation of repertoire. For the purposes of this discussion, the participants are

focussing on individual and collaborative performance contexts which do not necessarily

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require an educational focus. The discussions with participants therefore focussed on how

an educational outcome may or may not benefit a live performance activity in these

contexts.

Education of the audience was considered a priority in performance by four of the

participants: Beaugeais, Continuum Sax, Royer, and Styles. They identified that

educational outcomes within a live performance have a reasonable purpose and can be

easily carried out. Within educational performance contexts, performers are able to focus

their attention and the structure of the performance appropriately. This was reinforced by

the suggestion that the participants often tailor the educational outcomes in a performance

to a younger audience in attendance. Duke discussed this in terms of his role as a

Lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music:

If I'm in an educational context, like the Conservatorium, I'll think about that.

Educationally, it would be really good for the students to hear [HD Duo] play the

Creston or the Heiden Sonata, or the Desenclos [Prelude, Cadence, and Finale], or

some of these pieces that they're always preparing and performing… definitely in

this context I think it's a good idea. (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14,

2012)

Styles reiterated this in regards to his role at the Western Australian Academy of

Performing Arts, in particular, that performing for his students provides an opportunity to

present an “academic exercise” (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012)

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which demonstrates many of the performing characteristics that he may want his students

to embody.

I used to create recitals that I thought would be good for me to play for my

students … it used to be very educational a lot of the time. I would realise, firstly,

that I didn’t really enjoy it and the audiences were very polite but they didn’t

always enjoy it that much. (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012)

This statement suggests that performing for purely an educational purpose may remove

some of the artistic creativity which drives the musicians in the first place. Whilst this is

not a binary for the participants in question, there is some difficulty for them to combine

artistic and educational motives in planning a performance. Styles’ use of the term

“academic exercise” (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012) implies that the

frame of mind and approach to performance for an educational performance context is

vastly different to that of any performance. In this sense, whilst providing an educational

focus in a live performance activity may benefit audiences, it may not always benefit the

performer. The use of term also highlights a disparity between the repertoire that

saxophone students are studying at university and the repertoire that their teachers find

creatively satisfying. As Styles feels that these performances are not always enjoyed by

the audiences in attendance, it suggests a disconnection between performer, student, and

audience. If a professional musician feels that the repertoire programmed into these

educational performances is not the repertoire that they would usually choose to engage

with, could it be anticipated that their students would enter the professional world with a

gap in their education? Further, would studying the repertoire that a professional classical

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saxophonist would engage with more regularly be of benefit to these students? My own

personal experiences suggest that this is the case; however, no other research participant

made reference to this particular discussion and more research would be required to

develop this thinking further.

Royer approached this from a different perspective by discussing the younger

audiences involved at educationally focussed performances she takes part in:

We've done some concerts for schools where we go around - for younger kids -

and then for those kinds of concerts we're showing this is a baritone saxophone,

this is an alto saxophone. We actually do little bits in between to promote the

instrument as well as telling them about what music we're playing so that they get

an idea of what we're doing. Then maybe hopefully they'll want to pursue it as

well. (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25, 2013)

As a final point, Beaugeais presents the case that audiences may be unfamiliar with the

saxophone, particularly in regards to contemporary techniques on the instrument. In these

cases, live performances provide an opportunity to explain different processes and provide

further insight into the work of the musicians:

I’m always sort of into showing audience about these extend techniques and when

I’m actually talking I always go into just very briefly what is an air sound.

Because you think it’s quite obvious to someone but ... they actually don’t really

know what an ... air sound is on sax and how to do it and how to produce it and

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they would find that interesting too. (K. Beaugeais, personal communication, Jul

11, 2013)

This suggests that performing can have educational aspects without an intended

educational focus.

From an alternative perspective, some performers felt that educational outcomes

should not be a priority within individual or collaborative performance contexts. If the

intention is to share the music and the repertoire or create an experience for the audience

then educational outcomes should not be considered a high priority. In this sense,

educational outcomes could not be considered a motivation behind conducting a live

performance activity. It was also presented as a choice to be made by participants as to

whether they engage in this sort of performance or not:

My answer to your question is no ... there’s moving people in that sort of kind of

emotional, melancholy way, then there is ... the adrenaline, joy, excitement,

response and then there is that intellectual engagement which is where I put, if

you’re doing that, then there’s the education thing… I, just for the moment, don’t

want to be involved in that and so that’s a choice. (J. Latham, personal

communication, Jul 12, 2012)

Latham went on to say articulate this further in his perspective as a performing musician

and industry member:

It’s something that I’ve read and then from talking in the interviews people will

either be like, you know, “We need to educate about classical music, we need to

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prove our worth, almost,” is kind of one viewpoint and then there’s another

viewpoint that says that, “Art speaks for itself”. (J. Latham, personal

communication, Jul 12, 2012)

Price continued on this line of thinking stating that he is not trying to educate his

audience, instead he is “performing a programme, it’s always something I just like to

play, or want people to hear” (B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013). He

continues:

I just think, this is cool and if you feel like it then we can share that, you can be

my audience and I’ll play it. But I don’t need to educate the audience, I don’t

think. If they want to talk about it after, then great, but that’s not why I’m there.

(B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013)

This continues with the suggestion that a performance does not need to have an

educational component. This suggests that participants are focussing in purpose and

intent of a live performance activity in order to determine its goals and shape the overall

structure. Educational outcomes are, therefore, not viewed as a key purpose for engaging

in a live performance activity with the only exception of specialised events. The

educational aspect is not viewed as a formalised component of the live performance

activity but instead can be a side effect of engaging with a genre not widely disseminated

amongst the population. The participants’ presented a separation between “being an

advocate for yourself and being an advocate for your music and being an educator”

(Continuum Sax, personal communication, May 16, 2012). For some, they “look at it

much more entertainment rather education as far as performance comes and if education

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slips in there, great” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012). In

summary, there is a dichotic approach to live performance activities where the

participants are either actively pursing an educational focus or not. The opportunity to

share information about the repertoire and the performer’s connection with it can be seen

as the most common educational component of the participants performances, as

described by Royer:

Depending on where we're playing … they want to know stuff about the pieces,

they want to hear where it's come from, who's written it and so it's really

important for us to research and find out about our pieces. For me I think it is

really important to say stuff about the music you're playing because then you get

to build that relationship with your audience as well by doing that. So I think it is

really important. (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25, 2013)

Instead of focussing on an outcome which may present an opportunity for the growth of

their audience base, these musicians are championing artistic outcomes over educational

ones.

Chapter 6 – Artistic Relationships

The previous chapter explored the practical considerations of staging a live

performance activity and, within this discussion, highlighted different elements such as

repertoire, venue choice, audiences that intersect. For these performers, the different

elements intersect past totally logistical choices and into much deeper levels of

consideration. From the analysis, I was able to identify two important artistic

relationships within the responses, these were: the VRA triangle (Venue - Repertoire -

Audience), and National Identity. Initially, the literature review provided evidence that

repertoire choice, place, national identity, and performer preference all play a crucial role

in audience development. When comparing this to the data, it was clear that the concept

of important artistically-based connections between the performer and the venue,

repertoire, audience, and their sense of identity were central to their live performance

activities.

The first section of this chapter titled ‘Venue – Repertoire – Audience’ theorises

the VRA triangle. This triangle explains the intricate relationship between three key

aspects of a live performance. The literature presented interesting data to suggest that

place and repertoire impact upon audiences of live performances, and the participants’

responses highlighted a complex triangle with which they regularly engage. Each side of

triangle represents a connection that needs to be negotiated for the ultimate success of the

performance. A balanced VRA triangle therefore represents a balance of differing

interests and attending to each side with equal care. The second section of the chapter

will unpack national identity within Australian CSM and how the participants relate to it.

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This will examine how the participants are connected to the repertoire they perform and

feel a sense of community with other saxophonists specialising in Australian CSM. The

repertoire forms a significant component of the participants identities and this will be

examined further.

Venue – Repertoire – Audience Triangle

The most intricate relationship that emerged in the data was the triangle formed

between venue, repertoire, and audience. The Venue – Repertoire – Audience triangle (or

VRA triangle, for short) is based on the understanding that the three elements of venue,

repertoire, and audience are strongly connected within the planning and management of a

live performance. This means that variables concerning one element can impact upon the

other two either positively or negatively. Decisions to be made regarding performances

therefore must take into consideration the impact it will have on the remainder of the

triangle. Examples of this include programming choices, venue choices, and the ongoing

development of an audience base. Beginning with the Audience – Repertoire line, the

discussion will then move around the triangle to address Audience – Repertoire,

Repertoire – Venue, and Venue – Audience respectively. The Audience-Repertoire line

has presented interesting areas of discussion including programming choices, audience

interests, and strategies in repertoire choice which was partly discussed in the previous

chapter. The Repertoire-Venue line has presented perspectives on the choice of repertoire

and how the venue can impact the choice and performance of the repertoire. Acoustical

considerations and presentation issues arise when performing repertoire in varying

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venues, particularly within different performance contexts or where the specific choice of

venue is not controlled by the performer. Finally, the Venue-Audience line focuses on the

role of place, as presented originally in the literature review, and how the choice of venue

may impact upon the intended or expected audience and their experience at the live

performance activity.

Audience and Repertoire

The discussion around Audience - Repertoire connection showed a significant

area of interest for the participants and is “something you’re always, always thinking

about” (Continuum Sax, personal communication, May 16, 2012) and recognised that

“there are a number of interesting … connections” (Continuum Sax, personal

communication, May 16, 2012) within this area. When examining Audience - Repertoire

relationships, it became apparent that repertoire choice is increasingly being linked to the

expected audience at a performance. With this information, it can be understood that

repertoire choice is a flow on effect from how a performer anticipates the audience to be

in attendance. Styles explains how repertoire choice becomes a balance between the

performer and audience:

Nowadays, I’m putting on recitals that I think play to my strengths. And like any

of us, if you play to your strengths the audience gets more from it and I’ve sort of

been talking to quite a lot of people and I’m starting to get the idea of what people

want to hear. (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012)

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Performing music purely for the satisfaction of the musicians may not be a successful

approach to the undertaking of live performance activities; instead, mindfulness and

consideration of what interests an audience base therefore becomes an important

component of an active performance career. Repertoire choice which is insensitive to

audience tastes may not be successfully received and “would go down like a lead balloon

in a lot of ways” (Continuum Sax, personal communication, May 16, 2012). The

participants addressed the need to actively consider the audience and that their repertoire

choice “depends on the audience” (K. Beaugeais, personal communication, Jul 11,

2013). For Cockcroft, “I’m pretty open to considering the audience always – if you play

the wrong music for the wrong people it’s a disaster” (B. Cockcroft, personal

communication, Oct 19, 2012). From this point of view, it is about addressing what

audiences will enjoy in a live performance and choosing repertoire accordingly. This

speaks to the performers underlying motivations in engaging in live performance

activities: are they performing for their own enjoyment, for the audience’s enjoyment, or

a combination of the two? Beaugeais described this process as taking the audience on a

journey and surprising them with the repertoire that she performs. For her: “[the] aim is,

to show them a little ... something a bit unusual but really pretty and really amazing” (K.

Beaugeais, personal communication, Jul 11, 2013). Price, who felt that repertoire choice

has the potential to inspire and interest his audiences, echoed this:

I only really like listening to music as well that’s surprising, you know, I don’t

want any predictable chord structures or anything like that. I think that’s

something that audiences do appreciate anyway. Most of the time they will come

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away thinking, “Oh that was different, I didn’t expect to hear something like that.

(B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013)

In performing to live audiences, it is important to ensure that repertoire choice does “not

alienate them in what you play and how long you play” (M. Styles, personal

communication, Jun 21, 2012). This creates an interesting balance between their interests

and dislikes: You don’t want to alienate your audience but at the same time you don’t

want to necessarily dumb things down for them … there’s certainly different choices of

repertoire for different concert venues and for different concert occasions” (Nexas

Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012).

This discussion of repertoire choice has so far focussed exclusively on choosing

repertoire for audiences and has yet to examine the role of performance context.

Cockcroft introduces this concept when he distinguished a difference in repertoire choice

for a collaborative performance context such as a conference and an individual

performance context compared to an independent recital. The nature of industry

conferences, such as the World Saxophone Congresses, suggests an audience base of

industry professionals, colleagues, fellow saxophonists, composers, and audience

members invested and interested in the CSM genre. With this in mind, repertoire choice

at these events is undoubtedly different to an individual performance context with a

broader audience.

One really common [scenario] with saxophone is the saxophone audience... you

play a concert and it’s only saxophone players and that’s common because there’s

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a strong conference system around the world of saxophone players... So you’ll

often find saxophone players playing for other saxophone players and that’s

where you’ll hear a lot of the pedagogical repertoire and things that saxophone

players might study they might then hear in the concert so in those settings,

generally speaking, saxophone players will play music that saxophone players are

familiar with or comfortable with but often the general public have no interest in

that (B. Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct 19, 2012)

A saxophonist performing for other saxophonists was an interesting point raised by

Cockcroft which emphasised the frequent conferences and festivals which these artists

are engaged in where they perform for other industry members.

Moreover, another element of the Audience – Repertoire connection is how the

time of the performance impacts upon the choice of repertoire. Royer provides a detailed

description of how timing impacts upon the repertoire choices of her saxophone quartet:

If it's a Sunday afternoon generally the crowd will be middle aged, older people

that want that old classics and stuff like that … we'd have a mix. We'd have

classical, we'd have a little bit of crossover jazz, we'd have a bit of popular tunes

… so everyone has something that they're looking for. But for an afternoon - a

night time concert you'd be a little bit more serious and it'd be more on the new

music and pick music from Perth and Australian composers and stuff like that

because it feels like it's a bit more formal. (E. Royer, personal communication,

Jun 25, 2013)

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This time-dependant decision making is particularly the case where the musicians may

wish to build a number of different audience bases or expand outside of their usual

performance activities. With Continuum Sax, they have tried to build “a new music

audience as well as a broader classical music audience” (Continuum Sax, personal

communication, May 16, 2012) it does take slightly varied programs at times”

(Continuum Sax, personal communication, May 16, 2012). Understanding repertoire

choice can now be considered from a broader perspective, within the VRA triangle, that

correlates the idea repertoire itself is a motivating factor for audiences to attend live

performances with the strategic planning of repertoire to further build an audience base.

With this acknowledged, musicians need to pay careful attention to how they negotiate

repertoire choice as a balancing act between their own artistic ambitions.

This line of the VRA triangle can be considered through the lens of my own

practice as an early career classical saxophonist. Between mid-2013 and late-2014,

Barega Saxophone Quartet partook in a wide variety of performances including recitals,

festivals, educational concerts, collaborative performances, and a multi-city tour. For the

live performances which were centred around Barega – such as the self-instigated recitals

and the multi-city tour – the ensemble chose repertoire which was increasingly “serious”

or more reflective of the artistic identity of the group. These performances, where the

audience is intending to hear and engage with Barega, were programmed with the

intention to present Barega’s interests and artistic goals. This repertoire included music

by tenor saxophonist and resident composer Andrew Ball as well as commissions and

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dedications from Australian composers. By comparison, educational performances

conducted including a workshop day at a Toowoomba school and headline performance

at the Queensland Clarinet and Saxophone Society ‘Super Saxophone Day’ presented

music which was more palatable to a younger, student-based audience. Repertoire which,

whilst still exemplary of the CSM genre, was lighter in the harmonic and rhythmic

language used. This stems from the idea that the ensemble “[wants] people to come back

and so [are] not going to play a whole bunch of pieces that are fantastic for the saxophone

world but rubbish for the audience” (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012).

One reflection on this from my reflexive journal was the discussion of repertoire choice

for a performance at Concordia Lutheran College in Toowoomba. After a day engaged in

masterclasses with the local students, Barega was asked to perform as the opening act of

the school’s gala music night. In this performance, “three pieces were chosen for their

audience appeal, suitability as an opening act for the music department concert (we were

to be followed by student ensembles), and their relationship to other repertoire we were

working on at the time” (Di Marco, 2015). This management of repertoire choice as a

negotiation of audience appeal and interest can also be attempted through theming of

differing programs, developing a context through which the music can be appreciated.

Theming can be considered a simple yet effective method of packaging repertoire

for live performance audiences and has already been raised earlier in the thesis as a

component of the participants’ repertoire choices in Chapter Five. Theming was also

actively observed in the performance observation of Michael Duke in early 2013. Duke,

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along with pianist David Howie, were performing in their HD Duo format at the

Queensland Conservatorium of Music. Presenting a featured recital to an audience of

Conservatorium students, saxophone music enthusiasts and local saxophonists they

presented a program which only featured the music of female composers. Closely tied to

their album under the same concept, it was the one thread which connected the repertoire

which was sonically very different. With this in mind, the audience was able to process

the music with the understanding of how the pieces of music had been selected and were

able to connect with the music further with the CD available for purchase post-

performance. This was discussed in my observational notes of the performance:

This theme provided the audience with a linear path through the music and whilst

the pieces weren’t always musically similar, with a variety of styles, harmonies,

and musical influences present, the connection between the composers was

evident. This was supplemented by talking from the performers - Michael mostly

- who discussed the pieces in some detail … providing a brief explanation of their

journey to learning the piece of music and the style and background to the pieces

which contextualised it further for the audience members. (Di Marco, 2013c)

Theming as a programming tool is clearly a high priority for Duke who actively

acknowledges the connection theming facilitates between audience and repertoire: “If you

do a theme, you give the audience something to think about while you're playing this

music. You give them a context to listen to this music in” (M. Duke, personal

communication, Jun 14, 2012). This sense of context can be seen as an educational

component, particularly if the audience is unfamiliar with classical saxophone music, or

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in the case of Duke’s program, classical saxophone music by female composers. Another

listening context described by the participants is the performance of local music to local

audiences. With all of the classical saxophonists in this study actively engaging with

Australian music, is important as “it going to grab your everyday audience people

because they're like oh wow, that's music from Perth or that's music from somewhere else

in Australia” (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25, 2013). This concept was

presented from a unique perspective by Michael Brogan in his work organising the XVI

WSC. He felt that acknowledging the Scottish orchestras involved and creating a

marketing strategy aimed at music lovers and the Scottish people, different audience

members would be engaged with WSC performances:

A WSC is always going to be principally aimed at saxophonists. Therefore, we

selected applications which would cover a broad range of

styles/influences/nationalities to ensure it was as inclusive an event as possible.

However, some events, such as performances featuring the Scottish Chamber

Orchestra or Scottish National Jazz Orchestra were also marketed to local town

members and music lovers across Scotland. We felt it would be a positive step to

create a festival atmosphere that didn’t purely cater for saxophonists, but would

also open up music to new audiences. (M. Brogan, personal communication,

2013)

The Audience – Repertoire line has so far presented a number of crucial points which

underpin the VRA triangle. Adding the venue into the discussion once again highlights

the important role the audience plays in the management of live performance activities

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and decisions made by these musicians are, sometimes unconsciously, based around the

concept of the VRA triangle.

Repertoire and Venue

Repertoire and venue maintain a strong connection with the acknowledgement

that “the choice of repertoire depends on the venue” (E. Royer, personal communication,

Jun 25, 2013). The exact implications of this include the audience expected at a particular

venue; performing in music-specific venues; and negotiating acoustical concerns in

known or unknown venues. Whilst the Audience – Repertoire line centred around the

audience reception of the repertoire chosen, the Repertoire – Venue line instead

negotiates the variables of venue choice, particularly in situations where the musicians

may have no control over the exact venue. Whilst in many cases the musicians will

“know [their] audience from what venue [they’re] going to have” (E. Royer, personal

communication, Jun 25, 2013), the exact venue will impact further including how the

music will be received acoustically and how the performer can conduct the live

performance activity. This is particularly the case where the performer may choose to

speak directly to the audience within the performance:

[Venue choice] affects how we're going to talk to the audience because obviously

sometimes when you're doing a full on, serious classical music concert the

audience wants to know a bit about the music you're playing so that if they don't

quite understand that genre that they then have something to grasp onto. So

usually for those kinds of concerts we'll prepare things to say about the works …

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so the venue does influence what we do - how we present our concert, what we

say, what we wear… it is all connected (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun

25, 2013)

Some of the research participants presented the case that they are actively performing

music in specifically designed venues which facilitate an appropriate atmosphere and

expectation for the music which they want to perform. Duke states that “most of the

venues that I play in as soloist are concert venues” (M. Duke, personal communication,

Jun 14, 2012) and therefore is choosing to maintain a connection between the repertoire

and venue which is reflective of the genre’s history and connection to Western Art music,

rather than presenting the music in unusual or atypical environments. Moreover, it must

be acknowledged that good programming of repertoire can make for an effective live

performance in any venue. The repertoire choice in more traditional performance spaces

instead becomes an exercise in programming effectively for the greatest audience and

performer satisfaction. Nexas Quartet has been working in a similar fashion, where the

venue does not impact upon the exact repertoire choice but instead may affect some

acoustical and musical decisions to present the repertoire in the best possible way. For

Nexas, they “don’t really think about [venue] though; I think we get to the venue and go

‘oh ok we’ll have to play this this particular way because of the venue’” (Nexas Quartet,

personal communication, Jun 15, 2012). Acoustical concerns were acknowledged by a

number of participants as one of the principal elements contributing to the Repertoire –

Venue relationship. This is due to the fact that “certain pieces don’t work in certain

venues” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012) depending on the

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musical requirements of the repertoire in question. Nexas Quartet provided an interesting

anecdote of one such situation:

It’s essentially a cathedral and we did the Greenbaum Five of One, Half a Dozen

of the Other and the third movement of that: bom (pause) bom... The first note

went boooooomm! … And we just went ‘right’. It was better when the audience

came in, but before the audience came in we were just kind of petrified by the fact

that it just rang off so much… And vice versa with concerts were we’ve gone in

and it’s been a completely dead acoustic and we’ve played like the Bozza

Andante or something and it’s awful. (Nexas Quartet, personal communication,

Jun 15, 2012)

Three other participants, Styles, Royer, and Cockcroft, brought forth the idea that

performing in a cathedral or similar space would provide additional challenges due to the

open and resonate nature of such a venue. In these cases, performers must think “what

can we do with the resonance here?” (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012).

“Hopefully you’ll be playing in venues that are built for music and everyone can hear and

it works” (B. Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct 19, 2012)

What was of particular interest is that Royer was the only participant to speak of

using such a resonate and reverberant acoustic to her benefit. Whilst it could easily be

hypothesised that the other participants have used the acoustical elements of a venue to

their advantage when choosing repertoire, Royer provided an anecdote of when the

acoustics enhanced the live performance to a positive response from the audience.

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We did a recital with more of that Jan Garbarek stuff in a chapel and everyone

loved it because it was expected that we'd be doing that kind of really early music

that's not necessarily written for saxophone. But just the resonance in the room -

we wanted to play it because of the acoustics that we were going to be working

with. It sounded awesome because of it. (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun

25, 2013)

In situations where the venue is unknown to the performers, particularly in the case of a

third party instigated performance, repertoire choice may have been previously

confirmed. In these situations, “unless you've been to where you're going previously you

don't really know what it's like until you walk in. You're not very likely to be changing

repertoire the day that you're there” (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012).

The practicality of swapping or substituting repertoire on the day of a performance is

very low and as such, performers must maintain an awareness of how their repertoire

may be presented in a variety of different spaces and be able to adapt quickly and

appropriately. In these situations, the musicians must “pick a program and then we

discover the venue and then have to adjust the way in which we might perform that piece

but we generally stick to a program” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15,

2012). Styles describes, in great detail, how this may be negotiated in a variety of live

performance scenarios:

The minute you choose a venue or you’re offered a venue… you’ve got to make

sure that all the things we talked about before like your dress, like you know the

instruments you’re going to use and in particular the music that you’re going to

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play does … reflect the venue to a point but you’ve still got to be true to yourself,

that’s the hard part, and at the same time there’s nothing wrong with kind of

pushing, making, playing something that doesn’t seem to really fit in that venue. I

think that’s kind of ok as long as the whole recital isn’t like that and I think …

audiences are really changing now because they don’t necessarily just want to sit

down in the rows in front of you, they want to sit down or stand at the bar or at a

table and have a drink, you know, maybe I don’t mind if there’s a bit of a chat

here and there in some of the venues that are more suited for that. I think the

flexibility in the venue and then everything that comes around it, I don’t think the

venue determines what you play or the artistic choices but it’s definitely a factor

and the audiences themselves are really changing and we have to go with that. (M.

Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012)

Whilst acoustical considerations have already been addressed by the participants, venue

requirements were also addressed and will now be considered. The most highly discussed

venue requirement was the need for a piano (particularly the need for a grand piano,

rather than an upright) which was suitable for professional standard performances. The

need for a grand piano was raised by Duke stating that if the venue had an upright “we

would have to do something” (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012) but,

without this barrier, considering venue requirements is not a concern, particularly “not for

a soloist playing” (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012). The need for a

piano was even raised by one the quartets who engage with repertoire that calls for a

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piano – an interesting remark given the small amount of repertoire for saxophone quartet

and piano.

For the participants, understanding the requirements of their repertoire is an

underlying factor in the choice of a performance space as “playing solo I guess you can

do anywhere” (B. Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct 19, 2012). Summed up neatly

by Cockcroft, the availability of a good quality piano is an essential requirement:

I mean one of the things is you have to have a good piano if you are going to play

with piano. So if you are in a nice venue and it’s got a good piano, great, but if

you’re in a poor, a venue with a poor piano you’ve got to really think carefully

about using one or not using it at all. That’s always a dilemma. (B. Cockcroft,

personal communication, Oct 19, 2012)

Venue requirements can easily cover a number of different elements but the participants’

focus was firmly set on the availability of a piano. Venue requirements becomes a much

more pressing issue in the case of conferences and festivals. In these instances, the

availability of the organisers to provide certain requirements, the need for the performers

themselves to travel with any specific requirements, and the availability of suitable

venues can determine how performers program for such an event and whether the live

performance proposed will be accepted by the conference or festival organisers. Michael

Brogan, organiser of the XVI WSC laid these out, from his perspective in the

management of a large scale performance event

There were various considerations in this regard:

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1) Riders. We were occasionally limited by equipment available in each venue.

For example, any music featuring electronics or A/V equipment tended to be

scheduled in the Byre Theatre which is designed to host such events.

2) Programming. If a performer was chosen to perform some baroque music or

solo repertoire, we felt it would be appropriate to schedule their performance in a

church or more intimate venue. Acoustically, it suited the music much better, and

it also helped to establish an appropriate sense of mood or atmosphere.

3) Reputation. It is simple fact that some more established performers will draw a

large crowd. So, we made sure these performers were given an auditorium with a

larger audience capacity. (M. Brogan, personal communication, 2013)

This approach was echoed at the 2013 Australasian Saxophone and Clarinet Conference

where the allocation of venues to each performer was a challenge. In particular was the

concern that certain venues may elicit a different level of prestige by the performers or

conference attendees and this meant programming the vast majority of events within

similar spaces. Justin Ankus, conference organiser, elaborates:

Some venues were viewed by some participants as being less than other venues.

So there was certainly an element of that. There was an element of size of venue

in terms of audience capacity, so for example if we knew somebody was going to

attract a big crowd like the featured artists that we had the lunch time slots for

example, the recital halls were probably a little bit too small in fact for those …

But originally what I thought was well let’s not give anybody … the better hall,

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because that sends a message that…they’re perhaps more important than the

person in the recital hall. (J. Ankus, personal communication, Sep 11, 2014)

Concluding the discussion of the VRA triangle is the consideration of the Venue –

Audience line. Ankus (2014) has already presented the case that a specific venue may

impart different ideas or impressions upon the attendees and this may have unintended

consequences for the performance.

Venue and Audience

The specific choice of venue can determine the audience that is present at a live

performance activity. It was acknowledged that “venue makes a big difference because

venue also determines … the audience that is coming” (Continuum Sax, personal

communication, May 16, 2012). The “connection between audience and venue” is one

that can affect the actual reception of the music by the audience; unusual music in an

unexpected location could result in a negative outcome, despite a high performance

standard. Repertoire choice can and often is based on the expected audience and

balancing what they will appreciate with what the performer wants to present. With a

Venue – Audience relationship, the expected audience at a live performance can be

anticipated as “you can tell what type of people you're going to have just by that venue

generally” (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25, 2013) and this means the

performer can plan accordingly. By choosing a venue that is intentionally conducive to

the specific context of the performance a performer can successfully target and attract

both loyal fans and newly interested parties to the event. This means larger and more

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formal spaces for conferences, intimate spaces for solo recitals, among other possible

venue options. For Styles, he tries to “seek out venues that are going to attract as many

different types of people … playing a recital, part of it is really building an audience not

just doing the one off kind of thing” (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012).

Further to this, accessibility of a venue is both physical and perceived for

audiences. An interesting venue which provides more than just the facilitating of the live

performance activity is perceived as a positive; as Styles discusses:

You’ve got to be pretty commercial in what you think and people, you’ve got to

make it not only the music and the people but the venue I think can really make or

break it so if you make it an interesting venue then you only value earning to any

performance that you do. (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012)

Accessibility, within the literature, described physical accessibility as pre- and post-

performance considerations. Whilst it is without doubt that the participants want to “play

in places that people can access easily” (Continuum Sax, personal communication, May

16, 2012), performing in a venue which is conducive to a positive audience experience is

a priority too. This, however, begins to stray into the territory of logistical concerns

where finances come into play as “you’re providing a different experience with a

different venue… they usually cost a lot more so the ticket prices have to be more”

(Continuum Sax, personal communication, May 16, 2012). The popularity of crafting a

unique and enjoyable performance experience through venue choice extends further as

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Styles highlights the potential to turn non-musical spaces into an exciting performance

arena:

I think people want to come to something that’s interesting and if you’re playing

in an art gallery that’s interesting for example or even a shop that you can turn

into a gallery or a bar that lends itself to having a performance space and a fairly

decent acoustic, I think that actually can add to your performance. (M. Styles,

personal communication, Jun 21, 2012)

With reference to pre- and post- performance accessibility concerns, transport issues in

Sydney were raised as a possible stumbling block to venue choice. When considering

transport, Nexas Quartet felt that “a lot of our concerts are very central to the city because

sort of transport issues especially in Sydney are a nightmare” (Nexas Quartet, personal

communication, Jun 15, 2012) and therefore “making things as easy as you possibly can

for people to attend the concert” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012).

They elaborate:

If it means, you know, three forms of transport or something then … that’s going

to dramatically affect your audience and, of course, you’re always going to get a

really good support network from your following audience and from your friends

and from your colleagues and stuff but if you’re trying to approach a new

audience base then location, particularly due to like with transport … is

particularly essential. (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012)

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Ultimately the Venue - Audience connection suggests a need to consider venue choice

more broadly for both internal and external factors. The negotiation of such an

interconnected series of elements provides a starting point for early career musicians.

From the data presented by the research participants it can be understood that for

their self-instigated performances to be successful, the VRA triangle must be balanced.

Any decisions to be made must reflect how this would impact upon the other sides of the

triangle. With my own experience in the field, I would argue that whilst this is correct,

there is one element of the three that has a stronger influence: repertoire. The participants

and myself are very focussed on the presentation of new Australian music and, with this

in mind, specific venue choices will always be based on the repertoire to be performed

and artistic goals of the performer and very rarely the other way round. Whilst the data

has made a strong case for participants to tailor repertoire choice to the expected

audience, this choice must still be rooted within the artistic ideals of the performer for an

authentic and honest performance. Further, when participants are unable to determine

what their audience might be, for example when touring to a new city, repertoire choice

must come from the participants artistic goals. How this then impacts upon the rest of the

triangle depends on the specific performer. Personally, whilst I always aim to choose

repertoire which will resonate positively with the audience, I will always consider venues

which would enhance the presentation of the repertoire. Essentially, the repertoire is

central to these participants in their practice and any further discussions will always tie

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back to the music. Therefore, within this repertoire, the participants have found a sense of

community and this will be considered herein.

National Identity

The literature review presented a strong case for the presence of national identity

within classical music. Supplemented with my own experience in the Australian CSM

genre, it was anticipated that the research participants would suggest that they gain a

strong sense of national identity through their engagement with the Australian CSM

genre. This identity would result from the creation of new music through their

collaborations with Australian composers and the ongoing performances and recording

projects where they present this music. With the previous chapter exploring the logistical

and practical consideration of live performance, consideration must be given to the

connection these musicians maintain to the repertoire. This is particularly poignant given

the results found earlier where participants identified a strong connection with and desire

to perform Australian repertoire. Being leaders in the field, their views and experiences

prove particularly reflective of the industry as a whole and allow early career

saxophonists some insight into the field they may be preparing to enter. This discussion

will explore the concept of national identity within the Australian CSM community and

argue three key points: firstly, a case will be made in support of the hypothesis and the

sense of national identity amongst these musicians and their musical community;

secondly, the sense of identity as Australians is derived from the repertoire they engage

with; and finally, that the national identity contributes to a sense of community for the

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saxophonists and the composers they work with fostering further collaborations. The data

analysis revealed several ways in which national identity could be explored: working

with Australian composers; development of new repertoire; sense of identity, musical

language, Australian performer-composers, and the value and worth of Australian music.

In unpacking what constitutes national identity, the participants’ responses illuminated

several key ideas about how this takes place: firstly, the participants feel strong sense of

motivation from engaging with Australian repertoire and continuing the promotion of this

music through live performance. Furthermore, the participants are active in the creation

of the repertoire by working in collaboration with Australian composers or composing the

music themselves. This will be considered from the first development of an Australian

piece of CSM as the vast majority of repertoire these participants are engaging with is

newly composed, often which has been developed as a collaboration between performer

and composer.

The research participants reported differing methods for the creation of new

Australian CSM repertoire and I have previously published the classification and

definition of these terms. For Australian classical saxophonists, new Australian repertoire

stems from dedications, self-composed works, accessibility compositions, friendship-

based composition, and direct commissions (Di Marco, 2014a). To unpack these methods

further, dedication compositions are classified as “new works written specifically for, or

provided directly to, the performer… specifically for the performer/ saxophonist and their

musical and performance style” (Di Marco, 2014a). These compositions are therefore

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reflective of the performer’s abilities and balance the musical intentions of the composer

with the performance style of the saxophonist. These compositions also may include

collaborative workshopping of the score between the two parties which further

impregnates the music with both voices. Alternatively, self-composed works are

“compositions that have been written and consequently performed by the saxophonist

him/herself” (Di Marco, 2014a) and present an interesting point of view where both

composer and performer are the same person. Self-composed works are only engaged in

by a small number of the participant pool including Barry Cockcroft, Jabra Latham, and

Katia Beaugeais. Accessibility compositions are an interesting result of “access and

interaction between composer and performer on a regular or semi-regular basis” (Di

Marco, 2014a). Direct contact between the two parties – such as both parties being on

staff at the same institution – allows for professional relationships to grow and support a

stronger performer-composer relationship not possible with interaction with “connections

formed from professional proximity” (Di Marco, 2014a). Friendship-based compositions

are similar in nature to those of accessibility but stem from personal relationships, not

professional and express a “willingness to engage creatively” (Di Marco, 2014a). Finally,

direct commissions “involve saxophonists engaging composers to create new works for

either financial or in-kind compensation” (Di Marco, 2014a). These five methods of

instigating new CSM compositions are understood from the participants’ responses

around repertoire choice and each exemplify the point that the performers are involved

(directly or in-directly) in the compositional process. With the performance of Australian

CSM a strong motivating factor for engaging in live performance activities, it can be

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understood that their involvement in the compositional process reflects their interest and

engagement with the genre as important their work as musicians.

Once the work is crafted, the repertoire itself forms an integral part of the

repertory of Australian music. In particular, a new work of Australian CSM becomes

another stepping stone along the path of continuing development for this music. It is in

this sense that the engagement with new music and its ongoing development is a key

component of their identity as Australian CSM artists and classical musicians operating

in a contemporary context. As Duke highlighted, performing Australian music is more

central to their identity, being saxophonists, than arguably musicians in general: “as a

musician [Australian music] is just part of everything that's out there, but as a saxophone

player I think it's really important” (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012).

Andrew Smith from the Nexas Quartet elaborates on what constitutes this repertoire:

Personally the term ‘classical saxophone’ means music from the western tonal

tradition excluding jazz. The types of music this incorporates is rather large. From

the light romantic works of the instruments early history, through French music of

the 20th century to the avant-garde of today. Defining it is really difficult. Some

would say notated music, but there is a large place for improvised music (that is

separate to the jazz tradition) in contemporary music… To me classical

saxophone can mean transcriptions, original music composed for saxophone,

contemporary music. The key element I suppose is the basis in the western

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tradition/art music genre as opposed to jazz/pop/folk. (A. Smith, personal

communication, 2014)

This definition of the genre accurately reflects how the participants view the repertoire

they engage with. The diverse nature of the repertoire also explains the diversity in the

participants interests and approach to performance. With such a wide variety of styles all

under the CSM umbrella, it is reasonable to assume this would interest a wide variety of

musicians. With the performers able to be involved in the compositional process and

collaborate with composer, it is undeniable that Australian CSM repertoire has a certain

appeal.

Once the development and compositional process of the repertoire has been

considered, it can be witnessed that the participants are extracting their sense of identity

from the music and its dissemination through performance and recording practices.

Following the creation process, the practise and public performance of the work provides

a vehicle for the participants to express their identity as Australian classical saxophonists.

Repertoire choice for live performance activities is an important aspect which not only

reinforces bonds with audiences but provides an outlet for the performer’s personal

expression. This spawns a strong motivating factor in the participants to continue

working in the field and underpins the musical work they engage in. National identity

was illuminated by the participants in differing and very individual ways regarding their

personal interactions with Australian music but the underlying message behind their

discussions was that repertoire is the focal point for feelings of national identity. “Of the

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nine participants interviewed, seven stated that they are including Australian CSM into

their live performances on a regular basis, while the remaining two advised that it is often

included in their live performance” (Di Marco, 2014a, p. 29), supporting this idea. What

this presents is a case where Australian musicians are actively engaged with local music

and invested in the production of this music through collaborations with composers or

writing the music themselves. Continuum Sax felt that “playing Australian music is

central to what [the ensemble] is all about… the reason for the group in some ways”

(Continuum Sax, personal communication, May 16, 2012). When examining the

language used by participants concerning Australian CSM, they specifically used positive

terms which championed the genre such as “important” (Continuum Sax, personal

communication, May 16, 2012), “fantastic” (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21,

2012), and “unique” (K. Beaugeais, personal communication, Jul 11, 2013). Essentially,

this is repertoire that the participants are “always willing to play” (Nexas Quartet,

personal communication, Jun 15, 2012). The components of Australian CSM has

previously been discussed in this thesis from the perspective of defining the genre;

however, when viewed through the lens of national identity, it can be see that the music

being crafted by Australian composers is increasingly becoming reflective of the

Australian CSM perspective. For Styles:

We’re actually in a really cool era right now with music, I think we’re now

starting to find our voice, we’re starting to find our type of music… there’s a

language not necessarily that’s common but there’s a language that’s being

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developed … it’s becoming Australian. (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun

21, 2012)

The use of the term ‘language’ by some of the participants to describe Australian CSM

suggests that these leading artists are finding commonalities emerging in the genre that,

whilst not directly identifiable through analysis of musical elements, are found in their

overall exploration of the Australian CSM genre, arguably through the composers

collaborations with Australian saxophonists and their performance style. Ultimately, it

presents that the research participants engagement with Australian CSM and sense of

national identity is closely tied to their personal sense of identity as Australian musicians

and is closely tied to their professional practice in this way. By putting the creation,

performance, and promotion of Australian CSM at the core of their identity as performing

musicians, these saxophonists are able to fuel an active career through commissioning of

new works and live performance activities. Sentiments like “playing Australian music is

central to what Continuum is all about” (Continuum Sax, personal communication, May

16, 2012) and “a lot of the pieces I’ve played were Australian premieres that no-one’s

heard of. It’s just music I wanted to do” (B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013)

underpin this concept and help to illuminate the research participants’ feelings on that

matter.

From an industry perspective, Australian CSM forms an important link in the

chain of the greater CSM genre and is rapidly developing a stronger position within the

global community as a growing and interesting base of repertoire. Michael Brogan, a key

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organiser of the XVI WSC, felt that Australian CSM was an important contribution to the

only international and high profile industry CSM conference: “Yes, we were keen to

include performers and new music from Australia. We were aware that Australia is

becoming more and more ‘present’ on the classical saxophone scene, and wanted our

programme to reflect this” (M. Brogan, personal communication, 2013). The strong

professional and personal connections with the Australian CSM community (as observed

by myself as a colleague and friend within this community) form a solid foundation for

collaborations and career advancement particularly within performance endeavours. This

foundation also facilitates the ongoing development of the Australian CSM genre by

being a forum for collaboration between performers and composers as well as a

community actively interested in support growth, development, and innovation. The

strong conference system internationally with the World Saxophone Congresses, North

American Saxophone Alliance conferences, and Australasian events all held throughout

this research period reinforce the strong collegiality and collaborative efforts of these

musicians. With Australian CSM being a musical genre operating outside of mainstream

musical interests, continuing to develop strong relationships with audiences and

promoting the genre through innovative new projects is an important goal of the

practitioners in this field.

The Australasian Saxophone and Clarinet Conference held in Sydney, Australia

(July 11 – 13, 2013) serves as an example of the sense of community made possible by

shared interests. The conference hosted a selection of the leading figures in classical

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saxophone music, with conference participants engaged in performance and educational

activities and the development of professional networks. This activity is part of a

continuing trend amongst the Australian classical saxophone community to converge

physically and musically through conferences to foster and nurture the classical

saxophone genre. There is also a sense of the continuing growth of a national movement

of collaboration between saxophonists, including across genres with jazz and all styles of

clarinet playing also present.

Chapter 7 – Digital Music-Making and Technological Engagement

The successful production of live performance activities remains the benchmark

by which classical musicians are judged by peers, critics, and audiences (Dogantan-Dack,

2012). Live performance activities also provide a platform by which a musician can

develop their personal identity as an artist and enhance the connection between

themselves and audiences. The literature review touched upon the changing nature of the

recording industry such as the widespread use of streaming services and the impact of

technology on the live experience (Cluley, 2009; Crappell, 2011; Holt, 2010; Marontate,

2005). As Dogantan-Dack elaborated, “performances recorded and edited in the studio

provide the context for an overwhelming majority of musical experiences” (Dogantan-

Dack, 2012, p. 36). Different forms of technology have infiltrated the live performance

experience, before, during, and after the event. Namely, the use of social media, AV and

in concert media, and recordings. This chapter will now delve into the realm of digital

music-making as it applies to the Australian CSM field. The participants identified a

number of ways upon which digital technologies impact pre-, during, and post-

performance and the analysis presented two areas of discussion: Digital Media and

Digital to Live Connection. These two areas illuminated a variety of different

perspectives by the participants and exemplified the diverse approach these artists take

during their careers. Within the Digital Media discussion, each of the different digital

products the participants use were discussed including CDs, Recordings, Soundcloud,

Websites, and YouTube. This area describes products that are separate from the live

performance and whilst viewed as a separate entity, digital media can and often do

influence performances. The participants reported vastly different approaches to the

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management of these and there was no clear consensus in how these are negotiated.

Taking the discussion to a deeper level, the Digital to Live Connection several areas of

thinking which examines how the participants digital products impact upon their live

performance activities. This chapter will breakdown the exact elements which fall under

the two streams of thinking and examine how these are perceived and negotiated by the

research participants.

Digital Media

‘Digital Media’ is identified as the digital products created and disseminated by

the research participants and this discussion is an exploration of the products they use. As

previously stated, this means that products falling under the digital media category are

exclusive from the live performance and may be seen as a required component of a music

career. The data analysis revealed five digital products within this category: CDs,

Recordings, Soundcloud, Websites, and YouTube. These digital products will now be

unpacked.

CDs: The Impact of Production and Dissemination

The classical music recording industry reports low sales across many countries

and by comparison to the popular music charts, classical music recordings are not as

popular as one could be lead to believe: “The dirty secret of the Billboard classical charts

is that album sales figures are so low, the charts are almost meaningless. Sales of 200 or

300 units are enough to land an album in the top 10” (Midgette, 2010, p. 1). This lack of

sales puts both the artists and recording companies in a difficult situation of having to

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balance the production costs against potential profit margins and, unfortunately, classical

music recordings may often fall short of expectations. "Most of the major classical record

labels have been money losers or, at best, break-even operations. They are typically

supported by the lucrative sales of popular releases on labels owned by the same parent

company” (Rolston et al., 2002, p. 25). Within the industry it is recognized that "of the

fifty-five hundred or so classical albums released each year, most will sell fewer than five

hundred units in the first year” (Rolston et al., 2002, p. 25) and “20, 000 copies is

regarded as a hit” (Kozinn, 2000, p. 1). Through this process musicians themselves are

taking control of the recording process and are allowing for the greater production and

availability of high quality classical music without the constant focus on profits and sales

numbers because "in classical music, every single album sale does make a difference”

(Midgette, 2010, p. 1).

When examining the data, it was evident that only a selection of the participants

have recorded a CD and released this publicly throughout the span of their careers to

date. These participants are: Continuum Sax (a number of CDs of Australian CSM over

the long history of the ensemble); Michael Duke (with pianist David Howie, released

under their duo name: HD Duo); Nexas Quartet (released early in their career); Jabra

Latham and Ben Price (a joint CD released with a collection of soprano saxophone duo

pieces); and Barry Cockcroft (Cockcroft has released a number of albums both as a

soloist and as part of his saxophone/piano group Rompduo). Further, some participants

are focussed on pursuing the production of a CD in the future such as Matthew Styles and

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Katia Beaugeais who stated that they are planning or currently preparing to release a CD

and demonstrated a strong interest in pursuing the medium. This broad engagement with

CD production across the participant pool presents an interesting trend. With a significant

number of participants engaged in recording activities, CDs represent an important

component of their careers. The research participants’ interviews presented three key

points within the discussion of CD production. Firstly, CDs were acknowledged as a

useful marketing tool for the participants; secondly, CDs can be an artistic expression on

an individual level or seen more broadly as a contribution to the CSM field; and finally,

CDs are a commercial product which can be sold at or outside of a live performance and

therefore worth pursuing their production for financial gain.

CD production is a useful method of engaging in cross-promotion and continuing

to build a profile is an important component of maintaining a portfolio career. Musicians

that are able to use every professional activity to their own benefit and supplement

advertising for one endeavour through another assists in the overall flow of their careers.

Duke has found a way to do this to his own benefit, as he describes:

[We] have a CD coming out for the [World Saxophone Congress] basically, it

should be ready by then and that factors in to what we're doing too. Are we going

to be promoting that and playing pieces of that CD or are we not going to do that?

... It's always good to have a product. People can feel that they can take a piece of

the concert home with them. So I imagine even though we're well past that

repertoire that we played last year in terms of what we're thinking about it goes

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into the canon of what we play in a sense… we don't want to fall into the habit of

rehashing stuff over and over again. But if the CD is just coming out it seems silly

to ignore the repertoire too. (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012)

As this example illuminates, Duke’s work in his ensemble HD Duo resulted in the

production of a CD; in this case, the CD then became an important component of his

work in 2012 and particularly within his involvement at the XVI WSC. By performing

pieces from the CD in live performance activities, he is advertising the CD product which

can be bought by audience members and assist in building a positive relationship with his

audiences.

The construct of marketing and cross-promotion from CDs, as discussed by Duke,

was presented from a different perspective by Barry Cockcroft. From Cockcroft’s point

of view, the use of CDs as a source of income has been vastly more effective in the past;

instead, he feels that the focus should be placed on finding revenue streams from other

sources. He elaborates:

Anything accessible for free is preferred over paying for something, you have to

make your money in other areas not through CD sales. And CD sales used to be a

really good source of income, particularly in pop music, and now bands are

finding that they need to perform live to create levels of income that are

sustainable and they can still sell things at the concert but the problem with the

concert is you can only do it once and then you have to do it again, and you have

to be there again but with a recording you only do it once but you can keep selling

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it forever but unfortunately that’s dried up so that’s one stream of income for

musicians, which used to be taking the edge off for a lot of people, has gone so

the only alternative is more playing and with audiences shrinking that’s

complicated. (B. Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct 19, 2012)

Cockcroft makes a valid point but it does raise the question, if CDs are not able to

produce results for the participants, why do they continue to produce them? It appears

that the overwhelming feeling amongst the participants is that CDs do provide a benefit

for promotional purposes and the attitude presented by Cockcroft instead can be

understood as the need to diversify musical outputs amongst live and recorded products

for financial gain.

Cross-promotion as a tool for further marketing is one that can easily be explored

by younger musicians too. These findings suggest that there is no uniform approach and

that while cross-promotion can be seen to have benefits for an early career musician, they

must explore the best possible avenues for themselves rather than basing their approach

directly on another musician. For example, in Duke’s case, he was observed advertising

his CD at a HD Duo recital performance by informing the audience about the CD, what

repertoire that was performed live was also available on the CD, and what further

recordings would be available in the future (Di Marco, 2013c). This encouraged the

audience to maintain an interest in his work and also keep an eye on his digital accounts

(such as his professional website) to find out more information about upcoming

recordings . In a discussion after the performance, Duke and Howie of the HD Duo both

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stressed that the recording process and production of CDs helps them to grow and evolve

as artists and to strive for perfection through the best possible performances in the studio

(Di Marco, 2013c).

Examining the second point raised by the research participants, CDs can be a

source of artistic expression and make a contribution to the CSM field by documenting

the current work of a particular saxophonist or a new composition. This was discussed by

the Tasmanian-based saxophonists Jabra Latham and Benjamin Price who performed on

an album of soprano saxophone duos together. For Latham, producing his CD was not

focussed on “making the money” (J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12, 2012) but

instead about “sharing the music … if I believe in a certain way of playing, or style of

playing, … those influences have come from other people that we’ve talked about earlier,

then I think it’s important to pass that on” (J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12,

2012). Latham went on to stress that he believes in the “obligation to share” (J. Latham,

personal communication, Jul 12, 2012) through CD production whereby he can make a

contribution to the CSM community, and in particular the Australian community, by

potentially providing inspiration for other musicians in return for the inspiration he has

received from other CDs. Latham’s focus is on the art itself instead of the marketing

aspect as he feels that the production of a CD is not “a self-promotion tool” (J. Latham,

personal communication, Jul 12, 2012) but instead “for me, I’ve noticed the music of this

particular composer and I want that to gain a momentum that goes beyond him and me”

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(J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12, 2012). This was elaborated on further by

Price who stated:

You know, a lot of people say, “You don’t need to listen to your own instrument,

listen to singers or strings players, or whatever,” which is good but I think you

need to have an awareness of what repertoire is out there and what people are

doing in America and in Europe, and ... in addition to Australia, where you’ve got

powerful quartets and ensembles there pumping out repertoire all the time and

commissioning new works as well… I think it’s less about performance and more

about awareness which can come from performance or a heap of different things.

But from listening to more CDs, I think, is the main thing… Without an

awareness of the different sounds out there, it’s hard for people to make their own

sound. (B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013)

This suggests that the further production of CDs of Australian CSM may be an important

way for the field to continue growing and disseminating amongst the greater classical

music industry. What this discussion so far has brought forth is the lack of consensus

regarding the production of CDs, perhaps symptomatic of the increasingly digital world

where mainstream consumption of music is changing. If sales of physical copies of CDs

are lower in more mainstream genres of music, can a genre of music like CSM really

require performers to produce these physical CDs? Or are there better modes of

dissemination for their recorded sounds? This will be discussed further throughout the

chapter and potentially calls for further research examining how CDs can potentially

impact upon classical music careers.

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Recordings

Distributing music online provides for “on demand” (B. Cockcroft, personal

communication, Oct 19, 2012) listening and alternate ways of audiences interacting with

the research participants. This concept, as alluded to earlier by Cockcroft, highlighted the

need to reframe thinking away from digital products as purely marketing and instead

acknowledge the differing way that audiences may choose to consume music:

You know it’s easier to watch a recording of something because you can do it

whenever you want, on the tram, whenever. So I think it’s not me personally, it’s

just the world has shifted a little bit and they’ve gone to more consuming things

after the fact, on demand but not live. It’s the same phenomenon. People’s way of

consuming music has just changed. (B. Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct

19, 2012)

This approach to distributing music and recordings online encourages a higher standard

of playing from the musicians, in a similar fashion to the production and distribution of

CD recordings:

It makes us want to play better because we know that we're recording it and that

we're going to be putting this out to people. We want it to be at that standard that

we can put it on the Internet and people can enjoy it. (Nexas Quartet, personal

communication, Jun 15, 2012)

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Recordings online by the participants include music samples on professional websites

which provided potential audience members and loyal followers a chance to engage with

these participants’ musical products at any time. In a practical sense:

People have to go to my website and then go to the shop and click the samples

and hear the pieces. And when people go on the website using Flash site, it

streams, people go to the homepage and you can actually hear the music

streaming of my compositions. (K. Beaugeais, personal communication, Jul 11,

2013)

This presents a shifting area of thinking, showing established artists beginning (or

continuing) to create their own space online where fans, audiences, and followers can

connect with their work and potentially feed this interest back into live performances or

create an ongoing relationship where audiences at live performance events can be

encouraged to continue consuming the music of these individuals in an online format.

The exact nature of these differing online products will now be broken down.

The participants preferred to use recordings of repertoire, particularly the

repertoire they are engaging with in live performances, to build an online presence.

Whilst the production of physical CDs does not appear to be of a high priority to all the

participants, many are engaging with the dissemination of their music in a digital form.

Making recordings available for consumption online also appears to be linked with a

digital marketing strategy where the performers are able to promote themselves with the

presentation of their work on the internet. Further to this, recording live performances

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also assists in the development of the musicians as they are able to listen to and analyse

their work after the event and publish the best recordings for general listening. The

benefits of a mixed approach to recorded activities allows for a fuller, more balanced

approach to saxophone playing by allowing the participants to develop their craft and

promote themselves online. Recordings used as a promotional tool has already been

established as a viable marketing method for musicians. Indeed with any musical genre,

harnessing the power of the Internet for dissemination of work is an increasingly more

important tool to be adopted. Recording a live performance is one of way of getting

multiple uses out of a single performance: while the audience at the time is able to engage

with the music presented, a live recording may also provide a suitable sound sample for a

professional website or Soundcloud account. Nexas Quartet felt this is solid approach to

online recordings stating that it is “great to record [live performances] too because you

never know if something is going to be on the money and that is a great one that you can

then throw on the website or then onto a grant application” (Nexas Quartet, personal

communication, Jun 15, 2012). For this ensemble, they felt that recording the vast

majority of their performance repertoire provided them useful publicity tools and will

help them access further funding through grant applications and that ensuring the musical

products that are distributing online are recent and not “quite old recordings” (Nexas

Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012). In essence, “it actually just promotes

[the musicians] more by having more recordings out there” (E. Royer, personal

communication, Jun 25, 2013).

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Whilst this discussion has focussed primarily on how recorded products can

benefit the performers from online distribution, it must also be acknowledged how the

recorded products also impact upon the performers development of their work.

Recording, as a professional development tool, becomes “the ultimate learning

experience” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012) whereby the

performers “become aware of what’s hot and what’s not when you’re listening back to

recordings of yourself” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012). Nexas

Quartet elaborated upon this idea further:

If it’s something like we recorded a concert … we like to listen and try and

analyse it and see where we can improve on in areas and things like that… The

last music club gig we recorded and even though it was all like light, bubbly

music and everything it was a really good exercise to sit there and listen to it and

sort of hear what we could fix, what we could change, the balance of the group

even like little things like the way we articulated a certain bar or things like that.

It’s great just for us because when we rehearse we’re focussing on our part and

trying to listen but we don’t really have that outside ear. (Nexas Quartet, personal

communication, Jun 15, 2012).

It is a safe assumption that any professional musician would want recorded material to

reflect their best possible practice and, as such, the analysis of recordings allows for the

improvement of their own practice.

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Royer also presented the perspective that by recording a live performance activity,

it provides an extra amount of pressure to the performance to play at the highest possible

standard. She elaborates:

It makes us want to play better because we know that we're recording it and that

we're going to be putting this out to people. We want it to be at that standard that

we can put it on the internet and … it'll be almost perfect. Every classical

musician wants it to be perfect. So I think it does affect - and I think it's a good

way to do it is to record everything that you do because it makes you play better

in a way… It's that extra audience member watching you that is more important.

(E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25, 2013)

This ‘extra audience member’ also helps to create an authentic recorded product that the

participants are proud of. As Price suggests, with a studio recording “there’s too much

pressure to perform accurately” (B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013) and

“live performances that we’ve had recorded are always the higher quality product... I’d be

much happier releasing something live than our studio recordings” (B. Price, personal

communication, Sep 1, 2013). What is an interesting result is the difference between how

the performers judge success in a live performance situation as compared to a successful,

useful recording. Again from the perspective of the Nexas Quartet:

You might do a concert and the audience might’ve loved it and it might’ve been

great and then you listen back to the recording and go ‘well I can’t really

necessarily use this’. While the energy and the vibe in the room might’ve been

great, it might be ‘oh look that note was really sharp, that part was not quite

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accurate, oh missed that note’. (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15,

2012)

Recordings therefore become, in the first instance, “a good reference tool” (Nexas

Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012) for the development of the musicians

and secondly, a product by which they can continue to promote both their live

performance activities and themselves as musicians.

Professional Websites

Looking at other digital products, creating and maintaining a professional website

is the second online product engaged in by the research participants. The use of

professional website is an excellent mode of distribution for digital recordings, if the

website has “a sound sample on it, it’s automatically more appealing than a website that

you cant hear anything for” (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012). This is

particularly the case, as these musicians need to provide examples of their work for the

maximum promotional effect. Beaugeais, in particular, spoke of how she utilised

recordings to play automatically upon visiting her website, creating a practical and simple

way of using her sound samples as effectively as possible .

From a personal perspective, I manage the professional websites for both myself

and the Barega Saxophone Quartet and have found a similar approach to the dissemination

of recordings and promotional materials as effective within a portfolio career. The website

for Barega Saxophone Quartet is managed as a hub for the ensemble’s digital presence

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with links to the Facebook page, Twitter page, YouTube clips, Soundcloud recordings, and

promotional photographs. With a detailed ‘About’ page providing biographies on each of

the individual members as well as the quartet as whole, the website is a polished

representation of the ensemble and allows users to explore the content presented. For my

personal website, I took a similar approach in the overall design and content but was able

to create a larger hub of material with a significant portion of the website dedicated to an

online curriculum vitae and a large number of recordings and videos presented throughout

the website through the embedding services of Soundcloud and YouTube. Of particular

interest is the ‘play count’ service available through Soundcloud. After regularly rotating

the recordings featured on the front of the website, it became apparent that there was large

jump in the number of plays when a recording was featured on the front of my page,

compared to an average week. This confirmed my suspicions that the traffic received on

my professional website was boosting the number of times my music was listened to. As

an independent, young artist, all dissemination of my music is crucial to my ongoing

success and continual building of my portfolio career. Whilst the dissemination of

recordings on professional websites and the creation of a permanent, online CV is not

unique to myself, my experience throughout this research is that they are valuable

components to my work and ongoing success in the field. Further research may yet examine

and quantify the impacts of these products on a much broader scale of early career

musicians, particularly within the industry as a whole. What can be taken away is the need

to for aspiring musicians to begin engaging with digital mediums such as professional

websites as early as possible in order to develop their own personal digital media strategy.

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Figure 15. Screenshot of www.emmadimarco.com (bottom half of the webpage) featuring

embedded Soundcloud files

Videos and YouTube

Video recordings of live performances appear to be the perfect material for the

creation of an active YouTube channel. Cockcroft describes how the changing musical

consumption to ‘on demand’ listening has stimulated audiences to observe live music in

recorded scenarios:

The trick is to embrace the shift and follow new directions. So if everyone’s going

on to listening to music afterwards then go with that and make it available

because, for example, the good thing about YouTube now is music has become

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live again, people are putting recordings on YouTube that are live … instead of

being a heavily edited studio recording where it’s perfect, you’ve suddenly gone

back full circle to where people, you can hear honestly what they’re doing. I think

that’s good, even though it’s not directly live … you’re listening to a human

recording. (B. Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct 19, 2012)

One participant who described live performance video recordings supplementing their

YouTube channel was Royer who elaborated that in working with her quartet, “every

concert we play out we record all our music and generally pick … the best [recordings]

from the concert and put them up on YouTube” (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun

25, 2013). By doing so, Royer’s ensemble is ensuring they maintain a number of live

performances memorialised online and allowing audiences who may not have been able

to attend to still consume the live product. This also ties back in to the already presented

concept that recordings of live performances may be utilised for several reasons. By

engaging with a medium such as YouTube, Royer is stating that “we're always trying to

put new stuff up there just to see what everyone - our followers I guess - so they can see

what we're doing that's different” (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25, 2013).

Even participants who do not currently have an active YouTube channel have

acknowledged the need to engage with the medium and are looking “to put a lot of things

on YouTube” (K. Beaugeais, personal communication, Jul 11, 2013). Royer summed up

the thinking in this area succinctly:

So I think for us - for Australian classical musicians - get stuff on YouTube and

record all your performances. Like you said it is important to record because then

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you'll play better and your audiences will follow you online. They'll be able to go

and say oh look, I saw this concert the other day; it's on the internet. Have a look;

better check it out. People are always recording on their iPhones these days in

concert. They'll be off showing people. So it's all - the technology of today … it

plays a huge part in spreading it around what we're doing because then everyone

can see it, everyone can access it through the internet. (E. Royer, personal

communication, Jun 25, 2013)

Royer’s suggestion is an interesting take on using digital products to boost a performer’s

profile whilst also using recordings to help improve herself as a saxophonist, combining

different ideas already presented throughout this discussion. Further, her suggestion that

audience members can record performances themselves and share the performer’s work

amongst their own circles is an interesting take on word of mouth marketing. Whilst

many of the participants in this study are choosing their own recordings to upload online

and share with audiences, Royer is the only one to suggest the prevalence of smart

phones at live performance may have positive impacts for classical saxophonists. Further,

the digital media discussed so far in the chapter all eludes to the impacts that may be

made on live performances. The focus of this chapter will now be shifted to how digital

products impact upon the live performances of the participants.

Digital to Live Connection

Examining the digital products has already begun unpacking the connection

between digital and live products. The data analysis in this area has yielded three clear

points of discussion: CDs and Live Performance; Impact of Technology; and Recording

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Performances. Unpacking these further, ‘CDs and Live Performance’ continues from the

earlier discussion on how recorded products assist in live performance. Secondly, ‘Impact

of Technology’ is by far the largest and most highly discussed by the participants with

considerable thinking developing in this area that highlights how the research participants

are putting the bulk of their efforts, energies, and resources into the inclusion of digital

technologies into the live performance area. Further analysis presented the following

seven themes as prevalent in the participants’ response:

1. Recording a live performance is a positive; helps to improve as a musician and

providing for further publicity, exposure and audience relations

2. Different digital elements are connected and used in connection with each other

3. Use of audio visuals in a performance can be very successful

4. Use of electronics and audio visuals should be related to musically-based outcomes to

ensure authenticity

5. Malfunctioning technology in the live performance can severely impact the success of

a performance

6. The variety of responses (both for and against) suggest that engagement with

technology is not a widely utilised component of live performance but has the

potential for further development

7. Digital engagement must have an artistic purpose or goal to garner respect and

present in a genuine fashion

The interesting development of each theme – from specific decisions and their reasoning

to more abstract concepts of digital integration – speaks to the point that the research

participants are theorising and developing their understanding of digital engagement.

In any discussion of musical recordings, an important distinction must be made

between recordings of live performances and recordings made in a studio. This separation

is one that allows for a better understanding of exactly how the participants view their

recorded outputs. In the case of a studio-based recording, the performer is purposefully

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intending to create a recorded version of a musical work, of the highest possible standard,

both musically and acoustically, that presents a polished, professional image. This

process may involve recording sections of the work separately and splicing together a full

version in post-production, digital manipulation of the sound to correct any flaws or

performance errors, and many other specific alterations to create a recorded track which

is as close to perfection as possible. Alternatively, recordings made of live performances

are secondary to the performer’s original intention: performing music publicly to a live

and present audience. These recordings are often made with smaller, more portable

equipment which can be set up without disrupting the live performance and provide a

permanently documented version of the live event. As there is no opportunity for

performers to stop mid-performance and make alterations, it is an honest and revealing

snapshot of the performance. As this study was a targeted effort to unpack live

performance activities, the participants spoke in great detail about recordings made in this

second type of recording. The Australian classical saxophonists spoke about their

engagement with recording of live performances in both interviews and, in some

circumstances, were also observed recording a live performance. Of the nine participants,

six referenced that they record live performances or were observed recording a

performance in the concert observation during the research; these were Beaugeais, Duke,

Price, Royer, Styles and the Nexas Quartet. Overall, recording was addressed in many

different ways by the whole participant pool, reflective of the variety in the participants’

careers.

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A key point raised by tenor saxophone specialist and early career soloist Erin

Royer was the “extra audience member” (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25,

2013) or recording device which presented an extra challenge to ensure a well executed

performance. This statement highlights the permanent nature of making a recording and

the propensity for musicians to immortalise a high quality performance through the

presence of recording equipment at a live performance which is, by its very nature, a

once off occurrence. The recording device is like an “outside ear” (Nexas Quartet,

personal communication, Jun 15, 2012) which provides the musicians with an external

perspective on their own playing. This sentiment was continued by the Nexas Quartet

who stated that “you’ve got to press the red button and you’ve got to play it right and if

you make a slip you can’t you know say a funny line before the next piece and get the

audience back in line” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012)

A recorded performance also provides a vehicle for self-discovery and the

ongoing development of the musicians themselves. By examining and referencing the

recorded music, a performer is able to identify positive or negative elements in their

playing and nurture these accordingly. On this point, Matthew Styles empathised with my

own work as a performing musician and stated, “I’m sure with any recordings of recitals

you’ve done, I don’t know about you but I don’t want to hear it for a month” (M. Styles,

personal communication, Jun 21, 2012). However, despite any reservations about hearing

his own playing back, Styles continued to state that recording “a good reference tool… if

I have recorded it, I will try to reference it for ideas” (M. Styles, personal

communication, Jun 21, 2012). Nexas Quartet elaborated on this concept which presents

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an important learning point for younger musicians: recording their live performances is

an important part of the development process as a musician and provides an opportunity

for personal growth not available from practise or rehearsals. Price presented a different

perspective: whilst he has completed many studio recording sessions with a previous

saxophone quartet and found the benefits of recording through this process, he felt that

his live recordings had an intangible quality which made them an ultimately more

appealing product.

We’ve recorded – as a quartet – two whole albums, and we’ve been in the studio,

you know, probably five or six times, and heaps of radio broadcasts too, and I

think they always do shed some light on what we can do to make things sound

better… our live performances that we’ve had recorded are always the higher

quality product … I’d be much happier releasing something live than our studio

recordings, because they are always a bit more dull. There’s too much pressure to

perform accurately, I guess. (B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013)

A clear line of thinking that emerged in the data was that recordings of live performances

are useful for a variety of different promotional purposes. Nexas Quartet presented this

idea:

It’s also great to record them too because you never know if something is going to

be like on the money and that is a great one that you can then throw on the

website or then onto a grant application or that sort of thing. It’s important in that

regard. At the moment we don’t actually have any sound clips up on the website

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because we don’t have any (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15,

2012)

Studio recordings can be expensive, time-consuming, and different to organise.

Recording a live performance activity, particularly on portable or hand-held equipment,

provides performers with the opportunity to obtain reasonable quality recordings of their

playing suitable for use in promotional campaigns and providing examples of their work

to prospective audience members or loyal followers. For the participants, recording live

performances is an important way to maximise their work output and maintain an

authentic product.

Recordings of live performances also took place at larger events, such as the XVI

WSC in St Andrews, Scotland. Prominent industry website “AdolpheSax.com” were

present at the event and offered to film any and all performances provided they were

given a consent form from the performers to capture their work before the performance

took place. These recordings were audio and video and were uploaded to the

AdolpheSax.com YouTube channel and provided a permanent record of the event as well

as an opportunity for further promotion for each of the artists recorded (Adolphesax the

SAX WEB, 2015).

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Figure 16. Screenshot of Barega Saxophone Quartet featured on the AdolpheSax.com

YouTube channel

My own performance at this Congress with the Barega Saxophone Quartet was

recorded and subsequently posted online by AdolpheSax.com, as seen in the screenshot

above. This process was an important part of our development as an ensemble as it was a

permanent and public record of our first international performance. Barega’s performance

at the XVI WSC was the ensembles ‘break through’ performance where we were able to

cement a position as successful, industry-recognised performers for the first time outside

of Australia. The recording conducted by AdolpheSax.com has provided a continued

level of exposure and dissemination of our work as well as a chance to reflect on the

performance ourselves to understand our strengths and weaknesses as an ensemble

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performing at an international standard. AdolpheSax.com were also live streaming

performances of extremely high profile saxophonists for an international audience who

were not in attendance at the conference to watch. Live streaming appears to be an

interesting alternative to recording but was discussed by only one participant, a potential

area of expansion for saxophonists:

I like the idea of live streaming, in fact I wish I had of been able to live stream my

recital as I am studying in the UK now and it would have been nice for my friends

and family to be able to enjoy the recital from back in Australia. Sadly I couldn’t

get the permission from college to do this. (E. Royer, personal communication,

2014)

A recorded item may be made available online, video and audio recordings can be

disseminated in a variety of manners. The research participants implied that the creation

of recordings is useful in a number of different areas but principally in the promotion of

their work and themselves as performing musicians. A concept which became more

explicit in the data analysis stage was the connectivity between different digital elements

and how these musicians are utilising them for maximum effect.

The research participants discussed the use of recordings in different digital

media; namely, professional websites, YouTube, and Soundcloud. As evidenced earlier,

recordings (both audio and video) are increasingly being uploaded and presented on

websites for further promotion and dissemination of work. This area has been previously

addressed where the participants reported that recordings available online have the ability

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to be a permanent promotional tool for the participants. Given that each of these

musicians are engaging in performance activities, having samples of their work

accessible and readily available online provides a platform for audiences and interested

parties to engage with the musicians digitally. It is apparent that by not presenting sound

samples does these musicians a disservice in online dealings. Two services which are

used frequently by the participants to host recordings online are YouTube and

Soundcloud. The participants are using these digital mediums to promote themselves,

create a stronger online presence, and get more use out of their recordings. The

participants are able to cover multiple bases with one recording: a single sound clip can

be uploaded to a Soundcloud account for listening, embedded onto a professional website

to provide work samples, linked in a Facebook or Twitter post at a later date to create a

prominent social media presence as well as being submission material for grants,

conference applications, amongst a plethora or other uses. What this suggests is that the

saxophonists can and possibly should record live events as much as possible and use

these recordings again in the future. The responses from the participants suggests this is

already developing and younger musicians can stand to adopt these practices also for

their future benefit.

I personally had an experience at the North American Saxophone Alliance

Biennial Conference in March, 2014 where a classical saxophone ensemble I am familiar

with from online recordings was present at the conference. I attended their live

performance based principally on my recognition and admiration of their work having

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listened to them online several times. This ensemble – h2 Quartet – were exceptional

performers to witness live and without having recognised their name in the conference

program from their online presence, I would not have made the decision to attend their

performance. As I documented at the time:

I was excited to hear this ensemble perform as I have previously listened to their

recordings online and enjoyed their work. I was not disappointed by their

performance. I also enjoyed the fact that this entire session was comprised of new

or "almost" new music for saxophone quartet which is a rare occurrence back

home. This session highlighted the fact that our small CSM community in

Australia is doing as well as it can being so isolated from the rest of the CSM

world. Performances of this nature and repertoire like this cannot be found

anywhere else. That's why conferences such as these are so crucial to the

development of CSM. (Di Marco, 2014b)

It was interesting to see this theory in action, personally, and occurring coincidently

within the research period. It was not until I reflected after the conference that I made the

connection between my prior knowledge of h2 Quartet and my interest in attending this

performance. This suggests the implication that the effect may be greater internationally

rather than domestically.

Within live performances, participants such as Continuum Sax and Erin Royer

reported using audio visual effects and backings during live performance activities. This

included admissions of videos (Continuum Sax, personal communication, May 16, 2012)

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and audio backing tracks (E. Royer, personal communication, 2014). Royer, in particular,

emphasised the use of technology in her live performances: “I often use technology, I

have used backing tracks and loop pedals and although they can be a pain to set up, I find

the audience usually loves these pieces” (E. Royer, personal communication, 2014). This

is not to say that other participants are not including technologically inclined repertoire in

their live performance activities, only that they did not report it in their interviews.

Continuum Sax were one of only a handful of musicians engaging with audio-

visual stimuli in their performance… The integration with technology was

seamless in the performance and the ensemble members seemed very relieved by

this (their last conference performance in 2011 saw a technical failure ruin a video

that was to playback with their performance). The first piece had an audio track

and the second silent film footage of a Betty Boop cartoon, both of which were

executed very well. It was particularly interesting to hear a piece of music scored

to a cartoon, and a Betty Boop cartoon at that, which not only explored the

varying styles of saxophone quartet music but also, as an audience member, I

found it very entertaining, fresh, and unexpected.” (Di Marco, 2013b)

The following image is taken from the composer’s Vimeo page where the video and

music have been uploaded. The recording is of the exact work which was performed live

at the Australasian Saxophone and Clarinet Conference in Sydney, 2012.

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Figure 17. Screenshot of Vimeo from https://vimeo.com/76608277

The success of audio-visuals in a performance was actively observed throughout

the research process. What was also observed is that this success is linked almost

exclusively to the authenticity of their use. This is to say that without an express musical

purpose, audio-visuals lack depth within live performances. Therefore “if it’s warranted

by the music and it’s done in an integrated and tasteful way” (M. Duke, personal

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communication, Jul 16, 2014), audio-visuals can provide a further level to the music. As

Duke states:

I kind of look at it from the perspective of ... the performer themself needs to be

invested in it and excited about it and then it needs to be something for the

audience too. So if those two boxes are ticked then I’m sure it will keep

happening. (M. Duke, personal communication, Jul 16, 2014)

Following on from the observation presented earlier of Continuum Sax’s performance at

the Australasian Saxophone and Clarinet Conference, it can be seen that the artistic goals

of the composer to integrate new musical ideas through both pre-recorded and live,

acoustical sounds with the cartoon video provides a more dynamic effect for the audio

with differing media.

Ultimately, the success or interpretation of a digitally engaged performance can

be dependant on the successful execution of the digital elements. Malfunctioning

technology can severely impact the performance and as such, “integrating new

technologies of performance can present big challenges and can fail artistically, but such

challenges and failures become problems to be solved, not barriers to the future” (J.

Nightingale, personal communication, 2014). By developing skills as a digital artist and

ensuring adequate pre-performance preparation, technological malfunctions can often be

avoided in most live performance situations. This was particularly evident at the North

American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference in 2014 where special segments of

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the conference were organised to present music for the saxophone which combined with

audio-visual presentations.

Some participants, however, did not indicate their involvement with digital media

or spoke of their personal preference to avoid these types of performances. This variety in

responses suggests that digital engagement is not a widely adopted trend, being a

personal preference whether or not to engage with digital mediums. From a broader

industry perspective, an observation I made at the Australasian Saxophone and Clarinet

Conference in 2013 highlights this point:

[Digital engagement] was notably absent from the performance. The conference

itself did not have a major online presence during the three days (unlike the World

Saxophone Congresses in St Andrews and Strasbourg) and the performers did not

engage with any forms of digital music-making pre-, during, or post-

performance. This did not detract from the performance in any way and allowed

for a more “in the moment” attitude by the audience members; however, I did

wonder several times how the event might benefit from an increased connection

between the live events and the online world. (Di Marco, 2013d)

The ASCC in 2013 was the largest and only CSM industry event held in Australia during

the period of research and therefore is the perfect observation ground for uncovering the

interests and focus points of Australian classical saxophonists. That the performers at this

event felt no need or pressure to engage with digital music-making and instead focus on

their own projects further exemplifies the personal decision these artists are making.

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Additionally, the performers that did choose to engage with this form of music-making –

such as using audio-visuals during the performance or connecting with social media

before their conference engagements - were able to do so in a supportive industry

environment.

There have been some strong cases made by the participants for the further

interaction of digital technologies within the live performance arena. This is due, in part,

to the fact that “new technology spawns new ideas” (N. Russoniello, personal

communication, 2014) and what these collaborations may look like would be “between

DJs and orchestras, more multi-media art and online collaborations” (N. Russoniello,

personal communication, 2014). This was reiterated by Duke from a more collaborative

perspective, focussing his thinking on a broader perspective:

We’re only limited by our imaginations and I suppose if we’re wanting to connect

with our audiences and to communicate with them we’ve got to keep looking for

different ways of doing it and it could take the form of integrating with other

artists such as visual artists or, you know, sound artists or light artists and that

kind of collaboration side of things and then I mean there are plenty of performers

that are integrating technology directly with their playing. (M. Duke, personal

communication, Jul 16, 2014)

And while a number of other participants including Royer, Latham, and the Nexas

Quartet felt that technology will be an increasing component of their live performance

activities, it is unclear exactly how this will progress and, as Royer felt, “I couldn’t say

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what it would look like, but I imagine these things may take a while (like most new

things) to catch on and be accepted into the norm of live performance” (E. Royer,

personal communication, 2014). In this sense, “the integration of technology into

performance is a logical progression in the evolution of live music” (A. Smith, personal

communication, 2014). This can be put in line with the question of relevance and how the

music these artists are engaging with maintains a relevance to today’s society and general

musical interests, the use of technology in live performance acknowledges that

“musicians need to keep up with the rest of the world if we want to be relevant” (N.

Russoniello, personal communication, 2014).

On a whole I am quite positive about using technology but it really depends on

what style of recital I am giving. For example if I was playing French classical

music, I probably wouldn’t program a piece with electronics as it is too far out of

context to what the audience is expecting, however if I was doing a contemporary/

cross-genre recital I would be happy using electronics within my recital. (E.

Royer, personal communication, 2014)

In concluding this discussion, it must be acknowledged that the participants feel any

technological developments in live performance must be rooted in musical or artistic

goals. This is a key concern in maintaining authenticity and avoiding the use of digital

effects purely for show and creating a superficial impression in performance. The use of

digital technologies in performance may be “most effective in collaborations” (M. Kay,

personal communication, 2014) and most successful when engaged by “masters of

technologies who have musical visions and the musical sensitivity for interaction” (M.

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Kay, personal communication, 2014). This was reiterated from a compositional

perspective by Latham who felt that “when you’ve actually got the digital sounds

interacting with the music ... it’s done more in a textural environmental way… I respect it

and I like it and I like the compositions that are happening” (J. Latham, personal

communication, Jul 16, 2014). In order to do so, certain logistical considerations take

precedent and in planning live performance events, for example a WSC, Brogan

describes that “as we processed the applications, I was also cross referencing what was

available in terms of room/space/equipment/A/V, and approving/dismissing

(unfortunately!) applications accordingly” (M. Brogan, personal communication, 2013).

James Nightingale, from Continuum Sax, elaborated on this further:

Technology has added much to classical music and classical saxophone is no

different… Technology opens new sound sources and modes of composition and

presentation. Of course, integrating new technologies of performance can present

big challenges and can fail artistically, but such challenges and failures become

problems to be solved, not barriers to the future… How long is a piece of string?

People will always come up with new ways of doing things. I anticipate more

remote concerts with audiences in both real time and asynchronous consumption.

The challenge will remain getting people into the concert hall, especially when

the concert hall is so remote from where people spend their lives (i.e. increasingly

on screen and online). Composers will continue to find new ways of utilizing

technology to create new sounds and to integrate live and recorded and reactive

technologies together. (J. Nightingale, personal communication, 2014)

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These interesting developments in technology suggest a varied and personal future for

how these musicians engaging with technology, but “to my mind this can really enhance

the concert experience for the audience and is a nice addition to a traditional concert” (A.

Smith, personal communication, 2014). In essence, the future of digital technologies

within live performance activities is bright with active practitioners already thinking

about this future and attempting to develop this within their own artistic practice. For

Australian classical saxophonists, “does it have a future? I think, totally” (J. Latham,

personal communication, Jul 16, 2014).

Chapter 8 – Performer Satisfaction

In concluding the presentation of data, this chapter will develop an understanding

of how the participants determine a successful performance and then examine the

satisfaction the research participants have gained through live performance activities. The

discussion in the thesis to date has been unpacking the conditions surrounding live

performance activities and how these are negotiated by leaders in the Australian CSM

field; this will now move into more intrinsic considerations and how these activities

impact the research participants’ judgement of their performance success and the

satisfaction they take from engaging in live performance activities. The literature

illuminated a number of pertinent points in this area including – in particular – that

musicians identified that a major motivating factor in their careers is the love of the art, in

the first instance. This strong dedication to a field which provides numerous logistical

and day-to-day challenges highlights the passion and creativity of the artists involved.

This is clearly evident in the CSM industry where the participants are maintaining diverse

portfolio careers and are pursuing performance activities around other educational,

research, and administrative roles. Further, the literature suggests that motivation plays a

significant role in performer satisfaction (Parasuraman et al., 2000; Steiner et al., 2013)

and with this noted, it becomes more relevant to understand how the participants gain

satisfaction from engaging in live performance activities and what is motivating them to

continue their work. As a member of this musical community and currently being in the

early stages of my career, I find it particularly relevant to unpack the participants’

responses regarding satisfaction, given the impact this could have on my own reflections

and motivations. Another area of questioning in this discussion is the definition of

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success these participants apply to their performances. For the purposes of this

discussion, this chapter makes a clear distinction between performance success and

performer satisfaction in order to more accurately assess each of the two elements and

craft a holistic view of how live performance activities impact upon the participants. It is

understood that performance success, while a separate area to be focussed on, does

contribute both positively and negatively on the performers and once a full understanding

of the different types of performance success is developed, the reader will be better

equipped to understand the complex nature of defining the terms ‘success’ and

‘satisfaction’.

Understanding Performance Success

The term success is challenging to define within this context. In order to do so,

the participants were asked directly to define their own version of success within live

performance activities. The understanding of what constitutes a successful performance

plays into the how and why musicians do what they do. Unpacking how performers

quantify their success also directly relates to how they glean satisfaction from the live

performance activities they undertake. This discussion will now examine the exact

methods the participants use to assess the success of their performances. From an early

career perspective, younger or more inexperienced musicians may not understand how to

judge their performances and this information from experienced professionals may

provide a rubric through which they can learn and develop their craft. The previous

chapters have illuminated the diversity in approaches by each of the research participants

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and therefore it could be expected that they were also have a diversity in their

measurement of performance success also.

The literature around job satisfaction and motivations, whilst not directly

exploring the field of CSM, suggests that motivations other than financial gain are behind

musicians’ work. This was supported by the research participants who identified five

specific measurements of performance success: Artistic, Response, Financial, Personal,

and Understanding. Each of the different measurements identified were related to the

feelings and experiences of the participants with the exception of the Financial

measurement. This suggests that how a performing musician views and experiences the

performance is the fundamental basis for their judgement of its success primarily. It also

became apparent that the four measurements of success are not exclusive of each other, a

performance can be deemed successful if only one of these measurements is fulfilled and

the others are not or if several of the measurements are fulfilled. Success, in this context,

is defined by the satisfaction of a minimum of one measurement.

Success Definition 1: Artistic

This was the most discussed measurement of performance success by the research

participants. It also can be understood as the measure of success most valued by the

research participants through their considerable discussion and unpacking of its goals and

aims. The definition of artistic success is based on the participant’s feelings and

perception of the performance and unpacks their definition of success as achieving

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artistic goals through performing. Artistic success was described through the research

participants’ feelings around the energy and atmosphere of the performance as well as

execution of the musical works. Terms like “engaged” and “excitement” are common

within this discussion. It appears that the execution of the music alongside the energy and

connection this elicited with the audience was the key concept underpinning the Artistic

Success measurement. It was also made clear that artistic success is considered separate

to financial success: performances which are artistically satisfying for the musicians may

not reap the highest financial rewards and in reverse, financially successful performances

may not contribute to the artistic satisfaction of the musicians involved. This was

proposed by Continuum Sax: “So I suppose artistic success is that you’ve convinced the

audience of what you’re doing and whether that comes hand in hand with financial

success, sometimes matters and sometimes doesn’t” (Continuum Sax, personal

communication, May 16, 2012). The members of Continuum Sax were clear in their

statement that artistic and financial success are considered disconnected in their

approach. This suggests that the underlying motivations between the two are

incompatible in the eyes of the participants. This was elaborated on further:

Sometimes the gigs that we do that we have a set fee you kind of go ‘oh yeah,

that was an alright gig’ and then there might be another where there is no set fee

but you just think ‘man that was a good gig, just really dug that gig’… So I don’t

think that artistic and financial is in anyway connected. (Continuum Sax,

personal communication, May 16, 2012)

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For many musicians, “the object for everybody is to play as many right notes in the right

place as you can” (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012) but instead, artistic

success focuses on how the music is received and the engagement made between

performer and audience. This can be seen by assessing a number of different questions,

such as “did we draw them through each piece, through every aspect of it?” (M. Duke,

personal communication, Jun 14, 2012) and looking at the experience created for the

audience such as whether “the audiences were engaged, they sit back and they say well,

the way that the program was done it meant that it was a real journey through the

program too” (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012). Artistic success is also

centred in the approach the performers take to the repertoire and the fact that they are

“playing it for them and I'm enjoying doing it” (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun

14, 2012) whilst also ensuring “good execution of the music” (J. Latham, personal

communication, Jul 12, 2012). Styles described this process in great detail:

I want to come out knowing that the amount of preparation that I’ve done was

enough to achieve a good musical performance and I’ve had moments in there

where I’ve haven’t had to worry or hopefully a lot of moments where I haven’t

had to worry about is this reed working? You know, how is my intonation? ... not

that we can gauge our entire lives by everything an audience wants to see, it is

bloody important, you know, what they reckon and their feedback. Most of them

are going to be really polite about it and that’s really lovely … I think the

outcome is a long term outcome that they turn up to the next one, you know,

because we are in the business of music and playing it but also I think we have at

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least partly of building the audience too. (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun

21, 2012)

Artistic success appears to be a point between the performer’s own interpretation of their

performance, together with a positive audience response, and the successful

representation of the music and the genre as a whole. The variety of ways a performance

could be determined artistically successful is strongly linked to the individuality of the

performers.

Further to this, an underlying current in all the participant responses in this area

suggests that the crafting of an authentic performance which is reflective of the

performers intentions is a key and essential component. Cockcroft stated that for a

performance to be successful, “the music needs to be played effectively … in the way

that the performer intends, if they can surpass their own expectations, fantastic” (B.

Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct 19, 2012). The repetition of this idea was

presented by the Nexas Quartet who felt that creating a unique and individual

performance experience was validating for them as an ensemble:

You spend a lot of time as a group, not only putting the piece together but honing

an interpretation of this piece, whether it’s an old piece, new piece, a transcription

or whatever and again the sum of four ideas and peoples backgrounds and what

they bring to the music … so for me a successful performance is if we’ve felt like

we’ve been able to present as good as we can on the day and … nobody’s going

to play it like we play it because nobody’s us so that’s a successful performance

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and what makes it the ultimate success if they enjoy it because then it’s a

validation, it feels like a validation of the thing that you’ve crafted. (Nexas

Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012)

As an audience member himself, rather than a performer, Cockcroft describes that “at a

recital if, as a listener you know you’re really taken away with... captivated by the music,

by the performance I think that’s amazing” (B. Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct

19, 2012). This is just one reference to the meeting point of elements that constitute

artistic success. Leading into the next area of performance success, a positive response

from the audience can be an integral part of what constitutes audience success with the

performers wanting the audience to “have a good clap and to enjoy it” (E. Royer,

personal communication, Jun 25, 2013). Nexas Quartet reference the role of audience

response in the discussion of their self-instigated concert series in 2014:

Creating an artistic vision and realising this for an appreciative audience is very

satisfying… creating these interesting events it has opened up numerous doors for

us as a quartet and helped to raise our profile. The more you perform, the more

you get asked to perform and out of all my personally performance activities

quartet is definitely a favourite as the intimacy and bond of that ensemble is hard

to recreate. I prefer performing with others as opposed to solo … the close bond

of quartet is hard to match. (A. Smith, personal communication, 2014)

From the performance observations undertaken in the research, it was noted in the

researcher’s note that expression and successful execution of the music was a high

priority to HD Duo; in this it was noted that “[Duke] mentioned particularly that he

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enjoyed his performance and was interested in the new characters and expression that

was brought forth in this performance” (Di Marco, 2013c). Another example of artistic

success is taken from my observational notes of the Australasian Saxophone and Clarinet

Conference performance by Price where his incredible expression and musical sensitivity

was a stand out of the performance: “[Price’s] performance of the work was beautiful,

sensitive, and overall very well performed. His tonal colours on the instrument were

incredible and I found myself thoroughly enjoying the sounds he created” (Di Marco,

2013a). Price’s performance of the work – particularly given his personal connection for

the composer – crafted a moving and emotional experience for the audience members,

which at the event consisted primarily of saxophonists and industry professionals.

Ultimately, artistic success is a melting pot of ideas surrounding the positive and

successful execution of music which is deeply rooted in how the performers judge their

own authentic representation of the music. This was the most highly discussed type of

performance success by the participants, perhaps due to the fact that many of these

participants are “quite driven by [CSM] being a bit of a unique niche and not many

people doing it and there not being much available to it” (E. Royer, personal

communication, Jun 25, 2013). Royer describes how her judgement of artistic success is

closely linked to her preferred performance context: she states that she enjoys engaging

in recitals (individual performance contexts) “to promote the instrument as well as -

classical saxophone is so uncommon. It's getting more common but it's a good way -

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recitals are a good way to show people what classical saxophone is all about” (E. Royer,

personal communication, Jun 25, 2013).

Success Definition 2: Response

Response-based success, within this study, is defined as the judgement of a

successful live performance activity by the performer based upon the audience’s reaction

and reception of the performance. This definition is an extension of the previous area but

focuses exclusively on the response of the audience. Unlike the other areas of

performance success defined in this research, response-based success is centred on the

audience, rather than the participant, in judging success. Any measure of performance

success is subjective by nature and this is particularly the case with response success. For

some participants, they felt that “reaction is very important” (Nexas Quartet, personal

communication, Jun 15, 2012) with a strong focus on positive feedback from their

audiences; whilst for others, response success was presented as secondary to artistic

based success and the execution of the music and not a “very important part of what we

do” (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012). What was universally presented

was that audience reaction is often clear in a number of ways: applause, body language,

or post-performance conversations were all discussed.

People usually offer up whether they like the concert unsolicited or they will keep

quiet. If they don't like the concert they are not likely to come up to you and say I

didn't really like that, it was boring. You had me on this piece, but you lost me on

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here. Sometimes people say ‘Oh I really like this piece, I didn't care much for

that.’ (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012)

This interesting notion of post-performance conversation was raised by other participants

such as Continuum Sax and Nexas Quartet and suggests a strong familiarity with their

audiences and rapport building after the live performance event. And while during the

performance “you can tell as you're going along whether you're winning the audience

over” (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012), this post-performance feedback

provides an extra level of satisfaction for the musicians. For the performers, “having

people come up to and just saying thank you … really means a lot to us” (Nexas Quartet,

personal communication, Jun 15, 2012) and in live performance activities, “I want people

to be moved, I want people to be excited” (J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12,

2012). Additionally, participant focus around this area of performance success looked at

non-musical elements:

Getting a compliment from things that aren’t just about the music I think is good

as well. Like, it’s a well organised concert but it’s also important and you want …

everything to be really easy for your audience, you want them just to be able to

walk in and now what’s going to happen and enjoy it … you want the whole

transaction of you and the person to be as smooth as possible and when all that

sort of stuff comes together I think that really helps the feeling after the

performance as well aside from the music. (Nexas Quartet, personal

communication, Jun 15, 2012)

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Response success was surmised by Cockcroft who stated: “[If] the majority of the

audience walk away having had some positive experience or even … if everyone can go

away with something positive, I think that’s successful” (B. Cockcroft, personal

communication, Oct 19, 2012).

Success Definition 3: Professional

Professional success, as defined by the participants, is the success gained from

live performances by promoting themselves and the genre of CSM, networking with

industry officials, building new audiences, and gaining the support of other arts

professionals including players and composers. This type of success can therefore be

understood through the lens of furthering ones career and the ability for one live

performance to lead to more musical work. Professional success was discussed in the

most detail by the two youngest research participants: Erin Royer and Ben Price and there

are many different facets which fall under this category, ranging from smaller audience

interactions which build a potential listening base to larger, more quantifiable results. For

Price, he found that some successful live performance activities can be related to the

promotion of himself and his instrument and, in this sense, he is hoping to achieve “an

awareness of what kind of music is out there and … what the instrument is capable of”

(B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013). A strongly artistic endeavour, the

promotion of the instrument can be seen as helping Price to expand his audience base by

increasing awareness of the musical capabilities of the saxophonist. Royer echoed this

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sentiment and felt that even on a small scale, finding a personal connection with her

audiences that leads to further concert attendance was an important mark of success:

If people will come up to after and they'll be like ‘I love that music’ ... they'll

want to come along to your next one and they'll sign up to your emailing list … I

find that successful; even if you get another two or three people per performance

you're always building your network of people. (E. Royer, personal

communication, Jun 25, 2013)

An alternative and more industry centred perspective was provided by Royer who

presented the musical collaborations between performer and composer as one area of

performance success. She stated: “I like playing new music for that fact because then

you've just helped kick start your friend's career, as well, as a composer” (E. Royer,

personal communication, Jun 25, 2013). With the strong personal and professional

connections between performers and composers in this field already unpacked in the

thesis, it is not a surprising result that the saxophonists would find an element of success

in the performance of new works and the promotion of a close contact.

Success Definition 4: Financial

Financial success is perhaps the clearest measurement of success to understand.

The participants suggested that financial success was disconnected from the other

measurements of success and, in some cases, as the opposite of artistically based success

measures. Between all the measurements discussed by the participants, financial success

was acknowledged as important – particularly with reference to sustainability of

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performance activities – but was not given as high a priority. This was a surprising result

given the need to support a career and personal life through these activities. With a strong

focus on artistic success first, followed by financial, the participants clearly articulated

that “artistic and financial is not in anyway connected” (Continuum Sax, personal

communication, May 16, 2012). Financial success was not determined by the participants

in term of specific amounts but instead presented the argument that a performance that

financially breaks even or makes a profit can be determined as financially successful.

I think it’s important that it’s not based on the financial success of the concert.

You know, every concert we’ve done, we’ve broken even or made a profit, but

that wasn’t obviously the reason why we were putting it on. (B. Price, personal

communication, Sep 1, 2013)

With different expenses involved in live performances such as venue hire or “paying an

accompanist” (B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013), financial success can be

difficult to achieve. This is also relevant with the consideration that “people can’t make a

loss indefinitely unless they’re subsidised” (B. Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct

19, 2012); for Cockcroft, he felt that “in a practical sense, if the event can make a profit

… that’s an incentive to do it again” (B. Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct 19,

2012). A common sense statement but one which appears to be a lower priority for the

participants than artistic success. This result that financial success is an important but

lowly regarded form of success by the research participants is an interesting but not

entirely unexpected result. Given the high priority the participants place upon their

repertoire and their ongoing commitment to the Australian CSM genre already identified

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and explored in this document, finding that their judgement of performance success is

rooted in the execution of their artistic goals is in alignment. With this in mind, Price

states:

[With] all the hours of rehearsal and hours of research into the piece and personal

practice, then of course we’re not making anywhere near a decent profit. It’s just

about, I think, playing the piece as well as you wanted to play it, and doing a

service to the composer and, you know, to the music and to the instrument as

well. (B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013)

With a strong focus on success through artistic means, the research participants have

clearly exemplified their interest in crafting a unique musical experience as the ultimate

goal. With further discussion in this chapter to examine differing forms of performer

satisfaction, it can be seen that financial motivations are not underpinning their

engagement in live performance activities. By acknowledging this, it can be surmised that

early career musicians entering the CSM industry may need to assess and understand

their own motivations in pursuing a performance career and be realistic about financial

gain through their live performance activities.

Success Definition 5: Understanding (or Alternative Perspectives on Success)

Not all facets of a performance will be successful and therefore this requires the

participants to find a way to negotiate and acknowledge the positives of a live

performance, where they occur. The case was presented that “I don’t think any concert

has been completely successful from every single aspect” (Nexas Quartet, personal

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communication, Jun 15, 2012) and this brings into question how the performers judge a

performance which may have less than satisfactory performance elements within it. The

understanding of success as judged by the participants also reflects the audiences

opinions and understanding: “There’s the audience perspective and our personal,

analysing what you’ve done, how you’ve executed it, they’re two very separate things at

times” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012). This suggests that the

participants are aware of their own personal definition of a successful performance being

varied from how an audience member will view a live performance. Whilst audiences

may be aware of technical failings in the music, it appears that the participants may be

more focussed on the audiences overall enjoyment with the performance activity as a

whole. Royer elaborates:

Best outcome I think is the music is well played; that people listening to the music

– in a classical saxophone sense – appreciate it … that everyone is sort of at ease

with the performance, the listening; and that the appreciation of ‘I wouldn’t of

done it that way but I like it anyway’, I think that’s a good thing and I think that

can make a good recital. (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25, 2013)

Different participants view unsuccessfulness in different manners; such as Beaugeais who

suggested: “I think it’s … [a] bad outcome if people just walk out of the hall and don’t

even come up to you and talk to you” (K. Beaugeais, personal communication, Jul 11,

2013). Here Beaugeais is clearly aligning her concept of performance success with that of

response and deliverance of artistic goals which would lead to a post-performance

interaction with the audience. This connects directly with the concept of audience

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development and the need to foster positive relationships with audiences through shared

musical appreciation.

I mean we like to get as many people to our concerts as we can, I mean it doesn’t

always happen and it’s pretty disappointing when that doesn’t happen but on the

other hand you have to, the people that have turned out to a concert … you have

to really give a lot for them because they’re your special supporters, they’re the

ones that have shown up when nobody else will. (Continuum Sax, personal

communication, May 16, 2012)

Understanding Performer Satisfaction

With the previous discussion unpacking the nature of performance success, it can

be seen that artistic integrity is a vital component of these participants’ live performance

activities. Subsequently, the personal feelings of success gleaned through engaging in

live performances are a motivation for engaging in continuing work in the CSM field.

This suggests there may be a strong connection between how the participants view their

successes and the satisfaction they glean from live performance activities. This

connection may be the underlying reason that the research participants are continuing the

work within their portfolio careers and will now be considered. To further investigate

this, the research participants were asked directly to identify the factors that contribute to

their satisfaction from live performance activities and how their engagement in different

performance contexts aids in their satisfaction. The data analysis has yielded several

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definitions that illuminate the participants’ satisfaction through live performance

activities. These appear to be connected with the concepts presented earlier in the chapter

and are connected with the audience, the repertoire presented, and the personal goals of

the participants. The table below illustrates the areas of personal satisfaction as identified

by the research participants:

Definition Description

Audience Response Strongly connected to “Audience

Response” in Performance Success

discussion. Satisfaction is derived from

audience enjoyment and feedback during

and post-performance.

Development and Growth The technical abilities required to engage

in professional performance activities and

the ongoing development of the performers

as musicians and saxophonists.

Personal and Emotional The enjoyment and satisfaction from the

conditions of live performance. From the

experience only possible from these

situations. The personal feelings of

enjoyment from performing.

Collaboration and Career Development The ability for performances to incite

further performances and pursuing new

career opportunities being proactive.

Working with colleagues and friends

creating a shared sense of enjoyment by

sharing the performance experience.

Satisfaction from Specific Performance

Contexts

The satisfaction taken from engaging in a

specific type of performance context or the

preferred performance context of the

participant.

Table 8. Participant responses regarding satisfaction

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Satisfaction Area 1: Audience Response

For the participants, when asked to discuss performance satisfaction audience

response was again presented as a highly contributing factor. This suggests a strong

connection between these performers and their audiences which is also a highly important

factor in their continuing engagement with live performance activities. Based on the

discussion by the participants, it can be seen that audience enjoyment is closely linked

with the performers enjoyment of the event. In this sense, it is the positive feedback from

the audience that drives them, continually building a connection between the two parties.

So it's the collaboration of creating music together and … telling the story of the

piece and trying to get that across to your audience so that when people come

back they're blown away or they're really excited about a certain piece. (M. Duke,

personal communication, Jun 14, 2012)

The ongoing motivation provided by loyal and positive audiences is highlighted

repeatedly by the participants’ responses: “I think a successful concert is one where you

actually sort of feel like you’ve … managed to get the audience to go with you and live

every breath of the music with you” (Continuum Sax, personal communication, May 16,

2012). This point was continued by Duke, Nexas Quartet, Royer, Price, and Latham who

all emphasised their satisfaction from audience engagement and positivity within live

performance situations. Latham saw this interaction as being both direct – with

communication and discussion with the audience – and indirect such as viewing audience

body language:

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I enjoy when you see people sort of tilt their head to the side and, you know,

either during the performance or after, and kind of smile and come ... and talk

about the music … that’s what I like, that interaction with the audience. (J.

Latham, personal communication, Jul 12, 2012)

Latham continued this discussion by highlighting the audience’s enjoyment as respective

to their want to hear the music again – either through recordings or attending subsequent

performances. He states, “I’m not interested in having people come and say, “Oh, really

well done!” you know... What I want to hear people say is, “Oh, ... I enjoyed that. Do you

have a recording? I want to hear that again” (J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 16,

2014).

The underlying concept of audience response-based satisfaction, is the feedback

these performers receive from their audiences. This feedback may be verbal

communication, in concert feedback such as applause, or – as illustrated by Latham – the

ongoing relationship built between the parties. Communication between themselves and

the audience is therefore important and valued by the research participants.

I think that you get a lot of satisfaction from people enjoying the concert. It’s not

always that people thank you after a concert but a lot of the times people do and

that’s always really nice… being a performer you feel like you’re giving a lot and

you are but … you’re also receiving. (Sax, 2012)

This engagement between repertoire, audience, and performer was first highlighted

earlier in the thesis and presents an interesting signpost. The thinking behind the

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participants’ responses is strongly connected by the same ideals of promoting the

repertoire and building a loyal audience base. The central focus of audience response and

its impact on success was highlighted succinctly by Duke:

I think one of the best compliments you can get as a performer is, at least I had

somebody come up to me once, actually it was a teacher of mine and he said I

really didn't like that piece that much. But now that I've heard you play it I think I

get it, I understand it, I'm going to check it out. That for me is yeah, I've shown

them a way of thinking about this piece, or experiencing it that excites them, that

makes them interested in it. (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012)

This focus on the audience is centred in the enjoyment and positivity perceived to be

experienced by the audience members. This suggests that the link between their artistic

goals as musicians and intended audience response is a strong and important element of

their live performances. With this in mind, it can be seen that the participants are

focussed on performance which would facilitate this, such as the concert series Nexas

Quartet curated in 2014 or, taken from my own practice, the four city ‘East Coast Tour’ I

conducted in 2014 to showcase new Australian music.

This line of thinking also suggests that the participants are performing for the

audience first, and for themselves second, an interesting perspective which was not

hypothesised. If the leaders in the Australian CSM field have a strong connection to

audience and focus on their enjoyment, younger artists may need to cultivate a similar

approach to achieve similar results. Furthermore, with performer satisfaction an

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important component of creating a successful and sustainable career, young musicians

may need to explore and develop the relationship with their audiences for future success.

It’s really good to communicate and connect with the people who have bothered

to come along to some ridiculous concert this saxophone player wants to put on,

you know, I kind of love that and I want to really respect the fact that they have

and hang out with them. (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012)

This can also be seen as a type of audience development whereby positive performer-

audience relationships create an ongoing connection between the two parties. For the

participants, a best possible outcome of a live performance would be “that [the audience]

felt engaged by the music and that they felt that we held their attention through the whole

concert and not just parts of the concert” (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14,

2012).

In furthering this discussion, communication between performer and audience

member can be seen as a vital component of performer satisfaction. Communication, as

an seen through the lens of performer satisfaction, presents the idea that the participants

are gaining satisfaction from performance by presenting themselves as artists and, in

particular, connecting as performers with their audiences. Furthermore, their personal

identity as a performing musician is presented to the audience in live performance

activities thereby getting a sense of satisfaction. This communication was described by

the participants in both verbal and non-verbal ways within a variety of different

performance contexts. To begin with, Duke discussed the use of non-verbal

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communication when performing as a soloist with an orchestra. In these performance

contexts, the ritual of the performance prevents any direct discussion between

saxophonist and audience and therefore, he feels that non-verbal communication is an

important component of a satisfying and engaging event.

[I]f I'm doing a concerto with an orchestra it's highly unlikely that I'm going to

start talking to the audience before I start playing. It's more likely that you get

introduced, you walk on stage, you bow and then you perform. So any

communication at that point is all non-verbal and it's all musical and from that

perspective... Whether it's the beauty of sound or it's trying to communicate a

concept and an idea in a musical language that is foreign to an audience so that

they can understand it. That's a big challenge. Or music that they're very familiar

with and not boring them. You can play the Debussy Rhapsody and bore them to

tears. Or you can play it beautifully and bring them to tears. There's different

ways of approaching [this]. (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012)

The use of musical expression as a communication tool to the audience suggests that the

saxophonists are presenting stories and ideas behind the music to the audience to craft an

interesting and engaging presentation. This can be a challenge for participants and

incorporates the individuality of the performer by ”putting your own stamp on a piece of

music and trying to communicate what you think that piece is about to the audience” (M.

Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012). This appears to be most common within

individual performance contexts, such as recitals, where the performer is able to foster a

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strong connection with audiences. Styles suggests this may be due to the intimacy of the

medium:

There’s something about, I think I like the intimacy of a recital. I like the fact that

it’s not them and me but it’s me with them … I like the fact that it’s like having a

chat but through my instrument to them, it’s why I love chatting to them. (M.

Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012)

This sense of intimacy can be extended further when the consideration of repertoire is

brought forth as the musician is “trying to communicate with the audience something

that's in the piece of music” (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14, 2012). Latham

describes this as a “physical, collaborative experience” (J. Latham, personal

communication, Jul 12, 2012) and it is clear that this area draws the most interest for

participants when engaging in live performance activities. While other areas of

satisfaction will now be explored, audience response is the strongest and most highly

discussed area identified in the participants’ responses.

Satisfaction Area 2: Development and Growth

Development and Growth refers specifically to the enjoyment the participants

receive from the mastery of their instrument and displaying their technical and musical

abilities. Compared to other forms of satisfaction, this area is decidedly intrinsic and

focussed on the performers sense of self. This type of satisfaction is a development of the

discipline needed to succeed as a professional performing musician and the presentation

of this work to a public audience being an extremely positive experience for the

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participants. For Continuum Sax, satisfaction is taken “from just meeting the challenge of

the music and always challenging each to do it better… everybody wants to do the best

that they can for everyone else” (Continuum Sax, personal communication, May 16,

2012). For this ensemble, the friendship fostered over many years of performing together

has brought each of the players closer and seen a strong musical appreciation grow. As

each member of Continuum Sax has “known each other for a very long time … [it] really

is thoroughly enjoyable to see everyone in the group continue to improve and play even

better than they did in the past … that’s always really satisfying” (Continuum Sax,

personal communication, May 16, 2012). Styles echoed this with the concept that once

educational performances (such as performance exams or tertiary study examinations) are

left behind, striving to improve one’s craft through live performance is an important goal.

He stated: “I like the discipline that I’ve had to go through to get to the audience, to get to

the recital … it’s really important to keep yourself motivated … give yourself those

milestones” (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012). This was furthered by

Royer who emphasised the drive to perform at her best:

I really enjoy recitals, I love being on stage and playing music to people, I also

thoroughly enjoy playing in conferences. I like presenting new music and

showing other colleagues what I am all about, and I also find it quite stressful

playing to other saxophonists but it really pushes me and makes me want to show

everyone my best playing. (E. Royer, personal communication, 2014)

This enjoyment taken from the performance experience can also be understood through

the ‘in the moment’ nature of live activities. As Duke states, “you can practice, practice,

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practice, but it's that being in the moment … When it's all happening and you're really

going for it, it can be really exhilarating” (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14,

2012). In continuing this discussion, Cockcroft raised the idea that live performance is

inherently in the present and this leads to a specific feeling within performance situations.

He elaborates that “you can’t get much more present then playing music; there’s always a

note you’re playing and the other notes have passed, the other notes are still coming so

you’re really much in the present, I really like that” (B. Cockcroft, personal

communication, Oct 19, 2012). The ability to craft and shape the music in the moment

appears to facilitate a positive environment and contribute greatly to his sense of

satisfaction. He continues:

I really love standing on stage, I really love playing music, it’s very spontaneous

even though often you’re playing notes that you have to play at a certain time it is

spontaneous in that things go right, things go wrong, things go better, things

surpass your expectations, that’s a wonderful place to be. (B. Cockcroft, personal

communication, Oct 19, 2012)

With the audience focussed on the music as well as “what you've done to get here and

what you sound like” (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25, 2013), performers are

acutely aware of the technical nature of their playing. As Latham states, “I like to move

and I like to be engaged” (J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12, 2012) suggesting

a strong preference for performances which challenge, progress, and develop himself as a

saxophonist. The need to perform accurately and expressively in performance presents a

challenge which is relished by the participants.

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Satisfaction Area 3: Personal and Emotional

With the execution of artistic goals already identified as a strong motivating factor

for the participants to engage in live performance, this area of discussion acknowledges

that the participants “like presenting new music to people and showing people what I do”

(E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25, 2013). This was particularly identified

within individual performance contexts where a recital situation allows the performers to

explore their personal sense of expression and enjoy the focus on themselves alone. As

Royer elaborates “in a recital, it's all about you so they're really focusing on what you've

done to get here and what you sound like” (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25,

2013). Further analysis revealed that the sense personal satisfaction is closely aligned

with the presentation of new music and the fact that Australian CSM is “a unique niche”

(E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25, 2013) and that “recitals are a good way to

show people what classical saxophone is all about” (E. Royer, personal communication,

Jun 25, 2013). This was also presented by Price as connected to the presentation of new

music rather than time-honoured standards. He felt that at this point he does not “feel any

creative kind of attachment to those older pieces, as beautiful as they may be” (B. Price,

personal communication, Sep 1, 2013). Essentially, the area of personal satisfaction

acknowledges the “adrenaline rush that comes from performing” however for many

participants, “it’s normally just playing something new and exciting that [they] personally

like” (B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013).

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Satisfaction Area 4: Collaboration and Career Development

Satisfaction is also drawn from the potential for live performance activities to

incite further performances and professional work. The satisfaction itself may be derived

from continuing momentum in a performer’s career by being proactive and using each

performance to bolster the artistic reputation of the musician. This appears to be

particularly prevalent in the participants’ relationship with audiences where they can

create meaningful connections and foster their ongoing audience base. As Styles

illustrates:

It’s really good to communicate and connect with the people who have bothered

to come along to some ridiculous concert this saxophone player wants to put on,

you know, I kind of love that and I want to really respect the fact that they have

and hang out with them. (M. Styles, personal communication, Jun 21, 2012)

Similar to previous forms of performer satisfaction, Styles is highlighting the need to

engage and connect with loyal audience members and foster their involvement in future

performances. In this sense, the satisfaction for the performers is derived from both

positive feedback on the current performance experience and the new opportunities that

arise as a direct result of a live performance. This concept was articulated by Nexas

Quartet member, Andrew Smith, who described the ensembles self-instigated concert

series in 2014 as an important launching point for other projects and collaborations.

The positive feedback from this years series has been terrific and by creating

these interesting events it has opened up numerous doors for us as a quartet and

helped to raise our profile. The more you perform, the more you get asked to

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perform and out of all my personally performance activities quartet is definitely a

favourite as the intimacy and bond of that ensemble is hard to recreate. (A. Smith,

personal communication, 2014)

It can be seen that the sense of enjoyment is not only experienced live by the participants

but reverberates further within their careers. Using live performance activities as a vessel

for developing and building a larger industry profile, satisfaction can easily be found.

This understanding of performer satisfaction can be taken a step further with the

examination of collaborations within live performance activities. This understanding of

performer satisfaction can be seen through working with colleagues and friends in live

performance activities and the shared sense of enjoyment taken from the collaborative

practice. For many of these participants, performing as a truly solo saxophonist is not a

common activity and “it's not very often if ever that we do a solo saxophone recitals, it's

usually with piano or with something else” (M. Duke, personal communication, Jun 14,

2012). This collaborative experience, particularly within the chamber music ensembles

involved in the study, suggests that whilst enjoyment can be taken from the potential for

future activities, collaborative efforts can also perpetuate the performer’s satisfaction.

This is also particularly relevant where collaboration may lead to a long term relationship

and continuing future projects. From a chamber music perspective, Nexas Quartet

identified that satisfaction is taken from the collegiality of the ensemble and, as one

member stated, “I always feel like I’m completely comfortable when I’m playing in

quartet on stage because I’m up there with a group of friends” (Nexas Quartet, personal

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communication, Jun 15, 2012). This was even reiterated by soloists in the study, such as

Price, who felt that “it’s always more comfortable with ensemble stuff … any kind of

chamber ensemble” (B. Price, personal communication, Sep 1, 2013). This was followed

by a strong theme of friendship amongst the participants as a source of satisfaction. For

some participants, they suggested that “with the quartet I just love playing with my

friends and the stuff that we play is really enjoyable… I really enjoy playing with other

people” (E. Royer, personal communication, Jun 25, 2013). This was also discussed by

Latham who felt “I like to be in a chamber ensemble, like a team thing because it takes it

off me and ... often an individual on stage looks odd to me for some reason … I like an

ensemble” (J. Latham, personal communication, Jul 12, 2012). The personal connections

within live performance activities appear as a strong area of satisfaction for the

participants.

We’re such great mates … priority number one is the mateship and the next

priority is the music of course and it’s always a high priority but you know for me

it’s great to have a rehearsal on a Friday afternoon because then you know we go

and have a drink afterwards and you know get to hang out with each other and I

think that really happens on stage as well you know (Nexas Quartet, personal

communication, Jun 15, 2012)

From this perspective, collaboration and collegiality are strong areas of satisfaction as

“everybody gets together in the moment and then it’s something better than it would be

as individuals” (Nexas Quartet, personal communication, Jun 15, 2012).

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Satisfaction from Specific Performance Contexts

With the understanding that there are a variety of different performance contexts

that these musicians engage in, it was pertinent to the discussion to uncover which

performance contexts the participants gain the most satisfaction from. Whilst the types of

satisfaction in the participants’ work has already been identified, how this may relate

back to their preferred performance contexts remains unclear. This question was asked of

the participants in the second interview and as not all participants were available to

complete one, a limited number of responses were collected. The participants that were

able to answer were Continuum Sax, Michael Duke, Nexas Quartet, Jabra Latham, Erin

Royer, and Ben Price. Noteworthy in the responses, there was the lack of a clear majority

in the most preferred performance context but instead, the participants presented a broad

array of preferences across individual and collaborative performance contexts as well as

some who felt they had no clear preference. Additionally, whilst not a specific context,

several participants identified chamber music arose as an area of preference, an

unexpected result given the larger number of soloists involved in the study.

To examine these results further, the broad array of preferences could be seen

most clearly in Continuum Sax. Three members of the quartet responded with three very

different answers: for Martin Kay, individual performance contexts were preferred; for

Nicholas Russoniello, collaborative performance contexts; and finally, for James

Nightingale, he responded with no specific preference. Elaborating on this point,

Nightingale emphasised that each different performance context is unique and therefore it

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is “very difficult to say that I have a preference or find one or another more satisfying.

All [performance contexts] present different challenges and can be rewarding when

approached with the right frame of mind” (J. Nightingale, personal communication,

2014). And whilst they presented different viewpoints, both Kay and Russoniello

responses indicated an enjoyment of “chamber music concerts” (M. Kay, personal

communication, 2014). This was echoed by Latham who, whilst not specifying a

preferred performance context, finds “quartet performance very satisfying” (J. Latham,

personal communication, Jul 16, 2014) and stated “I love chamber music, I've always

loved chamber music. I love the communication” (J. Latham, personal communication,

Jul 16, 2014). Andrew Smith from Nexas Quartet also felt that performances with the

quartet were some of the most satisfying. Speaking of behalf of the group, Smith said that

“from a quartet perspective our group would certainly say it is our own recitals that are

the most satisfying to undertake” (A. Smith, personal communication, 2014).

Further, Russoniello introduced audience development into the discussion as, for

him, “I find music festivals the most satisfying as its a platform to share your music with

new audiences and, hopefully, grow your audience base… At festivals you can get your

work to new people” (N. Russoniello, personal communication, 2014). And whilst over

participants such as Price also highlighted the satisfaction in audience development, it

was notable that he felt this was possible in a completely different performance context.

For Price, he preferred individual performance contexts such as “recitals … Presenting

music to an engaged audience without any academic focus that is often present at

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conferences and even music festivals” (B. Price, personal communication, 2014). The

analysis of performer satisfaction throughout the chapter has illuminated an

overwhelming focus on response and communication with their audiences as crucial.

What has become apparent is that this audience development is not context-specific and,

in line with earlier findings, showcases that some participants favour a broad approach to

their careers. As Duke illustrates, “I don’t know if there’s one [context] that I prefer more

than the other, I just like to be playing and performing. I like the fact that there is variety”

(M. Duke, personal communication, Jul 16, 2014).

I really enjoy recitals, I love being on stage and playing music to people, I also

thoroughly enjoy playing in conferences. I like presenting new music and

showing other colleagues what I am all about, and I also find it quite stressful

playing to other saxophonists but it really pushes me and makes me want to show

everyone my best playing, so I really enjoy it for that fact. I would like to be apart

of more music festivals as I also find them extremely rewarding for the

atmosphere in particular. (E. Royer, personal communication, 2014)

In summarising this discussion, what was not apparent in the data was the

possibility of a single performance context as being specifically conducive to these types

of satisfaction. There is no clear outstanding context from the participants’ responses

above and this suggests that the strong theme of individuality that has pervaded the

research investigation continues here. There are certainly similar themes pervading the

participants’ responses with a focus on artistic outcomes and, particularly, a need for

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sharing and presenting their music. The individuality of the participants and the separate

paths each has taken can be witnessed in their differing preferences for the performance

contexts. The fact that no participant identified educational performance contexts as their

preferred context was also a noteworthy development. The reason for this may be the

lack of artistic control possible in an educational performance context as compared to an

individual or collaborative performance context. The participants have repeatedly

emphasised their continued efforts to engage with and promote Australian CSM and

garner the biggest amount of success from this process. With this in mind, it can be

understood that the participants would have a stronger affinity for the two performance

contexts that would allow them to do this. Along this line of reasoning, it can also be

assumed that young musicians entering the industry must identify their purpose for

engaging in performances to better understand their satisfaction. Looking at how a

musician gleans success from performance activities would hopefully lead to a longer,

more satisfying career.

Chapter 9 - Conclusion

This investigation of the four different streams of live performance has sought to

provide ground-breaking insight into the performance practices of the Australian CSM

community. Having developed them from the literature, the data collection consolidated

the conceptual framework and provided further insights. Ultimately, this exploration has

demonstrated the different areas addressed by the participants in their live performance

activities and highlighted the vast number of decisions they face on a regular basis.

Furthermore, the interconnectedness of each different decision and the potential to affect

one area of the performance with a seemingly unrelated choice was clearly demonstrated.

For these participants, live performance is about more than just planning but instead

involves the management of their musical skills to design an interesting and satisfying

show. Moreover, there are deeper relationships to be found in this field with the

participants’ sense of community and national identity derived from a shared passion for

Australian repertoire.

Understanding Australian CSM

This thesis has aimed to address a gap in the literature by examining the CSM

genre, and more specifically, the Australian CSM community. The literature currently

available has been acknowledged (Ashton, 1998; Frigo, 2005; Hemke, 1975; Koval,

1999; Liley, 1998b; Rubinoff, 2007) and, more specifically, there is only a small amount

of literature which attempts to define the term ‘classical saxophone’ (Di Marco, 2014a;

Frigo, 2005; Rubinoff, 2007). To this end, the participant responses discussing the exact

make up of CSM and what the specific term refers to has been touched upon earlier in the

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document. CSM, therefore, can be defined as Western art music written for the

saxophone; providing a generic description which aims to adequately cover the wide

range of music which practitioners in the field engage with. For Continuum Sax, CSM

can be defined in the following way:

[CSM is] performance of music composed for saxophone (i.e. notated) and

performed with an aesthetic that reflects the tradition of woodwind performance

that comes from the orchestral woodwinds. The aesthetic of classical saxophone is

one that for me reflects a living tradition which is continually being added to by

contemporary (i.e. of today) musicians who share the philosophy of classical

music as an ongoing tradition. (J. Nightingale, personal communication, 2014)

Nightingale confirms CSM is a genre which combines the tradition of Western art music

including notated music and familiar harmonic structures. This means that definitions of

CSM can include descriptions of sound, approach to performance, technique, and

repertoire. Whilst responses surrounding CSM definitions presented the genre in a

slightly different light, some key themes can be seen emerging between the participants

and reflect the description provided by Continuum Sax. There is also an

acknowledgement amongst research participants that the use of term classical, when the

saxophone was not present during that period, may misrepresent the music within the

genre. Further, as Nicholas Russoniello – a member of Continuum Sax – stressed:

“‘Classical saxophone’ is an oxymoron as there was no saxophone in music from the

classical period and little saxophone in what most people think of as classical music” (N.

Russoniello, personal communication, 2014). Therefore, the practitioners in this field are

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engaging with music that is reflective of tradition yet constantly evolving and combining

different musical influences. This is particularly the case as the performing musicians,

such as the participants, work with composers and aim to build a strong Australian school

of classical saxophone. For the participants, there is no cohesive definition of the genre

aside from the relevance of its history. Full responses from the participants in discussing

the CSM genre are found in the Appendix.

The literature review, together with the participants’ response, presented clear

cases for the strong emergence of French and American schools of saxophone playing

and the ongoing development of an Australian school. These developments have been

based primarily on the creation of a specific sound and approach to saxophone

performance within the French and American schools where accepted modes of

performance and approach to repertoire are currently dominant. However, this research

investigation suggests that other national schools emerging include Australia, UK, and

the Netherlands where a sense of national identity or camaraderie between performers is

spawning the national school. This means that instead of crafting a collective approach,

saxophonists from these countries may have vastly different approaches to tone,

technique, and CSM performance but share a bond over repertoire from their specific

country of origin. This is particularly the case in Australia, as evidenced by the nine case

studies involved in this project whose differences (such as tone, gear choice, articulation,

and so on) outweigh their similarities, the strong sense of community and collaboration

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with Australian CSM repertoire creates a school of musicians bound together by their

shared sense of Australian identity.

Performance Management and Logistical Considerations

In examining the data, there was a significant proportion of discussion within the

Performance Management and Logistical Considerations chapter which emphasised the

participants pre- and post- performance activities to successfully manage live

performances as independent artists. This chapter, therefore, illuminated the large amount

of organisation required to conduct a live performance and the level of detail which must

be considered. The elements which fall into this planning were identified as: Instigation,

Finances, Visual Aesthetics, Venue Choice, Repertoire, Marketing, and Educational

Outcomes. The participants identified that many of the choices to be made, such as venue

or repertoire choice, are dependant on how the performance is instigated and the funding

available. Further to this, it was expressed that each of these planning elements can be

very personal in nature, with each participant finding a way to shape the performances to

their own artistic goals. Hints at artistic relationships, definitions of performance success,

and performer satisfaction were also found in the data whereby the participants eluded

that they are making planning decisions influenced by concepts of audience satisfaction,

performer satisfaction, and the overlap point between the two. The ability of the

participants to negotiate this challenging planning demonstrates their leadership in the

field and presents a strong example to early career musicians.

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In summation, the participants reported that there are two methods of instigation

for their performance activities, self-instigated performances and invitations of third

parties, with the former accounting for the majority of their performances. This data

presented an emphasis by the participants on creating new opportunities for them to

engage in live performance and subsequently building their profile through new

engagements with live audiences. Self-instigated performances were the key to this as

they demonstrate the participants’ determination to present the repertoire to their

audiences. They also are a reality of the portfolio career model. In my own practice, self-

instigated performances are some of the most challenging to co-ordinate but also the most

rewarding. Not having had any formal training in event management or performance

planning, I had to learn how to plan a live performance from my mentors and through on-

the-job experiences. These skills are now increasingly being taught in tertiary music

curriculums (Bartleet et al., 2012; Tolmie, 2013). The control the participants are able to

cast over self-instigated projects allows them freedom of choice concerning venue,

repertoire, visual aesthetics, marketing, and so on. The prevalence of self-instigated

performances for independent musicians signifies a level of independence and business-

mindedness and, further, gives the participants a sense of artistic control which they

overwhelmingly prefer.

The challenging factor for self-instigated performances is the management of

finances. Funding for live performance activities was varied amongst the participants but

the strong theme of self-investment emerged. The use of personal funds for initial outlay

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costs are returned at a later date and the overarching theme was the participants aiming to

break even rather than focussed on making a profit from live performance. This is

undoubtedly made possible by their current portfolio career paths that sees stable income

provided through other means (for example, teaching) and provides the affordability to

finance performance activities at little to no profit. This suggests that independent, and

particularly early career musicians, may need to be investors in their own performance

activities as much as possible – a sentiment many active performance musicians may

relate to. This can and often will need to be supplemented with other funding means to

ensure sustainability, as Cockcroft suggests “people can’t make a loss indefinitely” (B.

Cockcroft, personal communication, Oct 19, 2012). An important lesson to learn,

emerging saxophonists clearly need to be aware of the financial challenges faced by the

leading artists and they too may need to investigate how a well-structured portfolio career

will benefit their live performance activities. Far away from being seen as a negative, the

participants appear to be satisfied with the current structure of their careers and have set

strategies in place, such as self-funding, which assists in their performance activities in

order to ensure that the portfolio career model works for them.

Moreover, another element of this discussion which raised interesting questions

was visual presentation; a vital yet often overlooked element for these participants.

Whilst the saxophonists stated that they are focussed on the organisation and preparation

of artistic elements such as repertoire choice and the presentation of the music, attention

to detail in visual presentation was reported as something they wished they paid more

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attention to. Given the high number of self-produced performances these participants

engage in, visual aesthetics is one planning element which may need to be emphasised

more in the training of younger musicians. This analysis of the data revealed two clear

areas of discussion for the participants and the management of both leads to visually

satisfying and well considered performance for audiences. In the data, the discussion

focussed on clothing choice and presented a variety of differing opinions amongst the

participants and the discussion can be summarised into two key themes: professionalism

and individuality. For the participants there was a further need to connect clothing choice

with the venue, the repertoire, and the performance context to ensure an appropriate and

well-considered choice.

Finally, the data presented the surprising result that including educational

outcomes within live performance was not a significant focus. Whilst some specific

performance contexts – such as masterclasses and workshops – call for an educationally-

centred performance, the participants are not looking to incorporate any type of

educational outcome into any of their live performance activities, and in particular, their

individual performance contexts. The exception to this, was that industry conferences

were acknowledged as an interesting hybrid of performance activity and educational

events in which the participants enjoy participating. This suggests a separation of

educational activities (such as teaching, workshops, and masterclasses) and performance

activities (such as recitals and festivals) in the participants’ practise. The crucial point in

this discussion is that given the extensive amount of consideration each planning element

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receives, the participants do not feel the need to provide their audiences with an

educational focus. Given the short history of the genre and the current developments in

Australian CSM, not including an educational focus in their performances seems

contradictory to their reported artistic goal to promote new Australian music. This

suggests an area of growth for the community to make a conscious effort to include an

educational component for their audiences. Building exposure, understanding, and insight

into Australian CSM which has such passionate and dedicated musicians may benefit

their careers moving forward. With this in mind, it must be acknowledged that live

performance is still a form of entertainment and, as with any of the other planning

elements discussed in this chapter, the participants must ensure that an educational focus

does not detract from the enjoyment and satisfaction of both performers and audiences.

Further to this argument, it could be seen that by engaging in live performances of a

genre which is not well-known, they are unconsciously educating audiences about the

genre, about themselves, and about the community of Australian CSM. Perhaps by

switching the focus from the unconscious to the conscious, a more forward effort can be

taken to increase the listenership of Australian CSM and help these musicians to continue

to build their audience base. The potential to tie this area back in with marketing

strategies and clever choice of venues demonstrates an interesting area of development

for the community as a whole and a possible future research project.

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Artistic Relationships

The data in the Performance Management and Logistical Considerations chapter

exemplified how different aspects of a live performance can significantly impact upon

each other. What the discussion then moved on to was a deeper level of understanding of

how different elements interact in the Artistic Relationships Chapter. In this sense, the

participant responses regarding the VRA triangle and national identity suggest a higher

level of thinking surrounding their performance activities which transcends the

practicalities of engaging in live performance and explores their ideology as practising

artists.

The VRA triangle is a theoretical model which acknowledges the

interconnectedness of venue, repertoire, and audience; representing an important step in

understanding how classical saxophonists think about, discuss, and negotiate key

relationships within live performance activities. In essence, the VRA triangle is both a

description of the complicated planning process undertaken by the participants and a

deeper explanation of how musicians need to address pre-performance decision-making.

The triangle can be understood by two choices (Venue and Repertoire) and one

assumption (Audience). In examining this, the Audience-Repertoire line explored how

the expected audience at a performance influences repertoire choice and the participants

felt that careful consideration must be taken to balance the artistic wants of the performer

with the potential satisfaction of the audience. Choosing a balance of styles and

influences, scheduling music which is neither too long or too short, and taking the

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audience on a musical journey were all important points in this area. Secondly, the

Repertoire – Venue line discussed how repertoire choice can be influenced by the

specific venue. This includes the obvious acoustical considerations where a piece may

not work effectively in a specific acoustical environment but also more broadly to how a

style of music may suit (or purposely contradict) the space in which it is being performed.

This suggests a need to further balance repertoire choice between the audiences interests,

with the physicality of the space and how the presentation of such music may or may not

work in a chosen venue. Finally, the Venue – Audience line continues the earlier

discussion of accessibility and how a specific venue may influence the audience attending

a live performance. This connected approach to decision-making suggests that, perhaps

unconsciously, the participants are exploring the deeper relationships in their

performance management with a specific focus on how one decision can create a ripple

effect onto others. Ultimately, the significance of the VRA triangle is twofold. Firstly, it

exemplifies that the decisions to be made in planning need to be made in an extremely

careful and conscious process, with consideration for the ripple effect around the triangle.

Secondly, the VRA triangle represents a targeted strategy for performance planning.

Deciding how one point of the triangle will be, for example choosing a specific venue,

shows what decisions need to be made at the other two points of the triangle. This means

that the development of the VRA triangle in this research has created a preliminary rubric

for the unpacking of artistic relationships in these musicians’ professional practice.

Future research could now be conducted to unpack how this triangle may apply to the

classical music industry or other musical genres.

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Complimentary to this, the participants explored national identity within the

Australian CSM community and the role of repertoire in this. The sense of identity these

participants are feeling is derived directly from the performance of Australian repertoire

and the shared sense of community spirit they feel is directly connected to the fact that

each of these leading Australian musicians are performing and sharing Australian music.

The emerging themes of identity, collaboration, and community which arose from the

data suggested a more complex relationship in place in the practice of these musicians.

Not just choosing repertoire aimlessly, the empowerment felt by the Australian

participants performing new Australian music was clearly evidenced. Whilst the

participants did not identify specific musical elements which lead to an Australian sound,

they did feel that their ongoing commissioning, performing, recording, and dissemination

of Australian music provides a sense of community with other saxophonists engaging in

the same activities. With CSM found all over the world and different national traditions

present globally, Australian CSM is developing a strong and vibrant tradition which these

participants are sharing with the world. With the participants representing Australia

internationally at World Saxophone Congresses and other international stages, the sense

of Australian identity is further solidified.

Additionally, the participants’ ongoing work in the Australian CSM community

domestically and abroad suggests a continuing dedication to the music which connects

with their performance activities and allows them the freedom to express themselves as

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individuals and as Australian musicians. This research has exemplified the unity of the

Australian CSM community and the connection these participants feel to each other and

their repertoire. With this in mind, it could be deduced that there is an Australian school

of classical saxophone playing developing. This school appears to be centred around the

performance of specific repertoire and is in its early years of development. What

Australian CSM and a Australian school of saxophone playing might look like in the

future is yet to be determined but these participants will be at the forefront.

Digital Music-Making and Technological Engagement

The ‘Digital Music-Making and Technological Engagement’ chapter explored the

use of technology and digital media pre-, during, and post- live performance for these

musicians and how they perceive this impacting upon their activities and greater careers.

The participants’ responses in this chapter have illustrated the different avenues currently

available for exploring the use of digital media and the variety of online and offline

alternatives. With a strong emphasis on presenting recorded products in either streaming

or CD formats, the participants are disseminating their musical products through differing

digital formats. There were several types of digital media referenced by the participants

and, as with other areas of discussion, showed that each participant was taking a very

personal approach to technological engagement. Whilst there was no consistent approach

by all the research participants, the varying responses suggested that some participants

appear to be more digitally active than others. All of the forms of digital media discussed

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were centred on promotion. These were either in the promotion of the musicians more

generally or narrowing in to promote recordings, the musical products of the participants.

The participants appear to be engaged in live performance activities first and

digital mediums second, using their digital products to promote their live practices. The

literature suggests that there is a need to build an online presence using recordings and

social media to engage with current and new audiences; however, this is not broadly

accepted by the participants as they have varying degrees of online presence. Altogether

it seems like it is an open slather of opportunities and avenues to pursue for the

participants and that there is further engagement with digital media to be undertaken in

the future.

There are several key points to be understood from this area for performing

musicians at all stages of their career. Firstly, the research participants are utilising digital

technologies both during and around their live performance activities and this suggests

that technological engagement is no longer optional for independent classical musicians.

Creating online profiles and avenues for audiences to connect both pre- and post-

performance is important for ongoing marketing as well as for early career musicians

looking to build a loyal audience base and increase their profile. In my own practice,

maintaining an active online presence has been crucial to building a loyal audience base

in my own city and across the country. Whilst there is considerable differences of

opinions between participants as to how these digital technologies should be used, there

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is evidence that they are becoming an increasingly more relevant component of a music

performance career and therefore should be explored on an individual basis. This

suggests that it is not a specific combination of digital products which will lead to more

successful performances, but instead how each musician can develop a digital presence

that is authentic and reflective of themselves in the physical world. The work and

engagement with digital technologies presented here by the research participants

highlights a plethora of ideas for early career musicians to undertake and expand upon in

their own careers. When examining the data presented by the research participants with

my own engagement with technology in live performance activities, I have been

engaging with digital technologies in a similar fashion to the participants. The use of a

variety of differing digital products and the strong focus on the presentation of recorded

products is reflected in my own work. This has provided me with success in building an

audience base and furthering the recognition of my work. I would therefore argue based

on my own experience and the participants’ responses that a diversified digital strategy is

becoming increasingly more useful for early career musicians. What was particularly

evident throughout this chapter was the potential for all research participants, including

myself, to expand upon their current interaction with digital technologies. A diverse

digital strategy is important but must be fostered through an increase in the ongoing

creation of recordings, CDs, online presence, websites, social networking, and electronic

based music. It appears that independent musicians must continue developing and

engaging with the digital world.

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Performer Satisfaction

Finally, the chapter of ‘Performer Satisfaction’ has developed two frameworks for

defining performance success and performer satisfaction. With several definitions of

success identified and discussed by the participants, the execution of artistic goals is

undoubtedly the most highly regarded by the saxophonists. Closely followed by the

response they receive from audiences and their own personal feelings, performance

success is clearly an important and well considered component of the research

participants’ motivations in engaging in live performance activities. The findings also

suggest a framework of success evident in the data by developing categorisations of

performance success. With this in mind, it allows the performers to better analyse their

work and can help to develop with live performance means to them. It may not be

possible to truly quantify performance success but this research has provided ways for

performers to define it. Moreover, when relating this to performer satisfaction, a

framework of language was also developed from the participants which categorises why

they engage in live performance activities. In this area, audience response was identified

in the data as the most widely considered area of performer satisfaction. For these

saxophonists, the response, the development of themselves as musicians, and community

collaborations were all identified as areas of performer satisfaction.

The data analysis clearly revealed four areas of performance success within the

participants’ responses as well as a further strand of discussion regarding how they deal

with a non-successful performance. A significant number of responses presented artistic

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success as the most highly regarded definition of a successful live performance activity.

This study has already identified the close bond these saxophonists share with the

repertoire and, therefore, it follows that their understanding of performance success

would be tied to positive musical outcomes. It can be seen that the overwhelming focus

on artistic goals when defining performance success extends further into the performers’

sense of satisfaction. Satisfying outcomes for a live performance activity also pertain to

the audience response at a live performance and the feedback the musicians receive is a

central point in their understanding of satisfaction. Performer satisfaction can therefore be

understood as a deeply personal and reflective element of the live performance

experience. What was particularly interesting was that no areas of dissatisfaction were

raised by the participants, suggesting an overall air of positivity and enjoyment for their

live performance activities. This is not to say that they are never dissatisfied with a live

performance but instead that their other attitudes of growth and development influence

their understanding of success. With the vast majority of their performance reported as

self-instigated, it can be thought of that more control of the artistic and logistical

elements of the performance can lead to further satisfaction. There were strong themes of

promoting the CSM genre and developing friendships and collegial relationships

throughout this chapter which is indicative of the cohesive and interconnected nature of

the Australian CSM community. Finally, understanding that performer satisfaction is

taken from the successful execution of artistic endeavours allows early career musicians

to explore their own feelings and goals within the live performance arena for continued

success. With the definitions of performance success and performer satisfaction

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established in this research, further work is now needed to explore how these definitions

pertain to the greater classical music industry.

Future Directions in Research

This thesis has explored one facet of the classical music industry which has

largely been left unexplored in greater academic literature: Australian CSM. While the

limitations of the doctoral study required narrowing the scope to discuss only Australia,

CSM as a larger, international genre is making strides in developing as an integral and

greater appreciated genre of music in many countries. With this study focussed on the

live performance practices of leaders in the Australian CSM field, many important

lessons have been highlighted for early career musicians. These lessons have emphasised

the need for independence and career-drive as two valuable and increasingly necessary

characteristics for young musicians, complimentary to current discussion in the literature.

The research investigation has undoubtedly left new questions to explore and further

investigation is now needed to explore how the management strategies shown by the

participants can be studied and used by other musicians; how the VRA triangle model

holds up in other genres of music and the implications this theory may have for future

music-making; what digital music-making may look like in the future and how can

classical saxophonists maximise their engagement; and finally, what can specialised

study of career satisfaction in solo and chamber musicians tell us about the industry.

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Lessons to be learnt from this research suggest that young saxophonists require

the ability to instigate, organise, and execute a live performance activity. This vital skill

for early career classical saxophonists is now especially relevant, not only because there

are suggestions to its importance in the literature, but because leaders in the field are

currently engaging in this and have emphasised planning and management skills as

pertinent to building a successful career. Further research could be conducted to unpack

the significance of this data as compared to other classical musicians outside of the CSM

field. Furthermore, the relationships identified in the data, such as the VRA triangle and

national identity, exemplify the deeper level of thinking by these participants which

facilitates a more artistically satisfying performance. With the acknowledgment that the

repertoire Australian classical saxophonists are performing is pivotal to their sense of

community and shared experience in the industry, further analysis is now needed to

address how the music itself bears a sense of ‘Australian-ness’ and what the exact

musical language underpinning this is. Clearly, for the participants the sense of

community comes from Australian musicians working with Australian composers, it is

unknown whether there are specific musical elements common in Australian CSM which

connects the music.

Continuing with this sense of community, such a small and interconnected

network of musicians in the Australian CSM community means that for early career

saxophonists, forging their own place within the industry is possible by performing and

collaborating with Australian CSM repertoire and sharing in the work of the other

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musicians in this field. This is also made possible by early career saxophonists

developing their own strategies for the promotion and dissemination of their work online.

This is a valuable method for young musicians to emulate given the low cost nature of

social media and website creation. By building an online presence, live performance

activities can be supported and managed by building a significant profile of the

participant and helping to build an audience base which constitutes a loyal following. The

next level of investigation would require further examination of each different type of

digital media that Australian classical saxophonists are engaging with and a quantitative

study of they impact upon audience numbers at live performances.

In my own practice, undertaking this research has irreversibly shaped and guided

me as I continue to build my own career as a specialist of Australian CSM. My work as a

soloist and as a member of the Barega Saxophone Quartet already lead me to explore the

planning of live performance activities and management of a portfolio career. Being able

to gain a further understanding of how the participants approach their live performance

activities has enabled me to improve my skills in the production of a live performance as

well as renewed my appreciation for Australian CSM. Understanding that I am part of a

community of musicians, all working towards the same goal of commissioning and

promoting Australian music has been an inspiring realisation. Furthermore, being able to

examine the variety of viewpoints and differing career paths each participant has taken

has allowed me the freedom to pursue my own path, guided by the experience and

knowledge of the leaders in my field.

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Appendix: Full Participant Responses in Defining Australian CSM

Participant Responses

Katia Beaugeais “And I’m always now doing Australian music. I just keep

plugging it. It’s my thing. I really want ... and as a composer

I want to support other ... composers because I know what it’s

... like.”

“Yeah, just that I think that ... I think Australian music, in

general, is just ... going overseas and the comments I receive

from them in my concerts, they find it really unique.”

Barry Cockcroft “In the past it’s been very, very important because I’ve

wanted to encourage composers to write more music”

“of course I’m playing my own music so that’s Australian and

I’ve done that for a long time”

“I always encourage Australian’s to play Australian music but

I’ve been encouraging people other countries to play

Australian music as well but you can’t play music from every

country”

Michael Duke “When I first got here in the middle of 2008, one of the first

classes that I took was a master class. I sat everybody down

and said what is Australian saxophone playing? Nobody had

any answers. A couple said oh well there's this piece and that

piece. I said well what's French saxophone playing? Bang

bang bang. What's Dutch saxophone playing? What's

American? There was no sense of identity. So we did a project

based around that and all that stuff.”

“So yeah I think particularly in my position here at the

conservatorium it's important that I'm engaged with

Australian music. Not just for Australians, but for when I take

it overseas and go elsewhere that we draw a spotlight on

Australian saxophone playing through the music. So crucial I

suppose”

Jabra Latham “So, I think it’s ... it is important to do Australian stuff. I also

think for community purposes it is important to have ... and

this is what I think when I work with composers whose music

I ... doesn’t necessarily move me. I might enjoy playing as a

saxophone player but ... and ... but it’s about a conversation

293

and it’s about creating links, cultural, artistic links across your

community. So I think that is an important thing to do and I

think we have a responsibility to do that”

Ben Price “a lot of the pieces I’ve played were Australian premieres that

no-one’s heard of. It’s just music I wanted to do.”

“Plus, you know, it’s easier to connect with the music and

then I can have good ... you know, the composer can come

and listen and talk to us. And especially for chamber music he

can work with that. As far as, like, Australian music goes, I

only really like to play it if I know the composer or it’s a really

cool piece”

Erin Royer “for me as a solo performer, all my repertoire choices are on

performing new music and new Australian compositions.

That's like my biggest thing recently, in the last three years,

has been just to get new works commissioned. When I do a

recital it's to present these new pieces.”

“Yeah I think it's highly important because not only is it going

to grab your everyday audience people because they're like oh

wow, that's music from Perth or that's music from somewhere

else in Australia, but it's just important because I think

Australian music is probably on the lower scale. If you

compare America and England they've got so much music

written for saxophone that we're a little bit behind so the more

music that we're getting written for saxophone especially,

because we're just so young, the more people we're going to

attract as well because it's something that is new and no one

really is familiar with it as well.”

“Yeah so I think it plays a massive role in what we do,

especially as saxophone players because we don't have much

music out there to play. If we want to be doing new stuff you

may as well get music written from your local composers -

help them out as well.”

“Yeah I reckon the biggest thing is just to be getting more

music written from Australia”

Matthew Styles “We’re actually in a really cool era right now with music, I

think we’re now starting to find our voice, we’re starting to

find our type of music”

294

“when we’re playing and to have composers like that put it

down and present us with this stuff is just sensational and of

course there is varying degrees of how hard they are, how

accessible they are and some of them are good, some of them

are not good, you know of course there’s a whole gamete like

you have in every composition.”

“I think the language of Australian music is at a, such a

fantastic and possible critical point right now because we have

to get it out there and I’m any ticket a day, tick of the clock,

however the phrase goes I am happy to play anything that

Australian composers want to put out there because I think

it’s so important.”

“I think Australian composers have this level of complexity

that you’re not seeing in other composers for saxophone

sometimes.”

“So I think we’re at a really exciting juncture to include that

stuff where composers are writing good stuff but they’re also

willing to help and so I think to not put that in any recital I

kind of think we’re doing a disservice to Australian music if

we don’t, in my opinion”

Continuum Sax “Well it expresses our identity in a way; it also sort of is

what’s in, it’s what’s unique about us in a way. That we have,

that we perform this stuff, it’s like you know we perform our,

the stuff that Martin plays and almost nobody else does. You

know it’s like Barega presenting is it Andrew’s music?”

“I mean Australian music, if you’re going to work with living

composers, they’re the ones that we have access to and so we

work with them and they’re the ones we can share ideas,

they’re the ones that funding bodies will know and understand

and be open to assisting us to work with.”

“I think playing Australian music is central to what

Continuum is all about; it’s almost the core, the reason for the

group in some ways. A lot of programs feature Australian

works just because we, I think we or that the group feels that

it’s important to kind of keep developing Australia’s

saxophone repertoire and keep the language of Australian

music alive and evolving and try involve the saxophone in this

295

kind of evolving music.”

“for many, many years you know the classical saxophone

wasn’t really part of the Australian music scene and we were

desperate for it to be part of it and you know we’re all working

towards that, Barry Cockcroft especially is doing that and I

think that you guys in Queensland and particularly the

ensemble stuff that you guys are playing I think that there’s a,

I think that’s really, really important”

“I think we always go out there to advocate for classical

saxophone, we always go out there to advocate that new

music is interesting and we always go out there to advocate

that what we’re doing is interesting and worth supporting, that

people should come again”

“what we do is not traditional so to try to be a part of the stifled

classical, traditional world which I mean to be honest they’re

not even doing it anymore but for us to do it would be

ridiculous”

Nexas Quartet “I think we hold [Australian music] high in the importance of

the group”

“obviously we have high esteem, like we value the new music,

the Australian music and everything like that and we’re

always willing to play it”

296

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