I recently listened to some recordings I made earlier this year, and was reminded of the importance of finding, cultivating, and establishing one’s own voice. This is something I’ve worked towards for years, but feel like I’ve only recently made progress (despite the compliments of others). I, somewhat passively, listened to these recordings after having shelved them for a couple months following the initial, critical listen. I quickly realized that once I (mostly) turned off my analytical ears and simply used my aesthetic ones, I enjoyed what I heard. I had stopped trying to compare myself to my saxophonic idols and simply asked the question: do I enjoy this? The answer: actually, I do!

Without getting too descriptive or jargon-intensive, not only did I like what I heard, but I felt like I was finally starting to really play the ideas I’ve been hearing in my mind all these years, and in turn starting to sound like Mike Teager. Though committed musicians and athletes have much in common, music is not quite the sport we (myself included) often make it out to be. Instead of simply striving to be the best ______ (bebop, avant garde, hard bop, classical, etc.) saxophonist in existence, my primary focus should be cultivating Mike Teager’s approach to the instrument (which includes learning absorbing all of those relating styles, without being limited to them). As my mentor and former professor John Nichol says: “Make your own market.”