{"id":48930,"date":"2017-11-08T10:30:51","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T15:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=48930"},"modified":"2022-09-28T11:11:21","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T15:11:21","slug":"saxophone-sages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2017\/11\/08\/saxophone-sages\/","title":{"rendered":"Saxophone sages"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Michael Sawzin, a 2009 Wright State graduate, playing with Wright State saxophone students during his quartet’s master class in Schuster Hall. (Photos by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n

It was a little like the Houston Astros giving tips on hitting and fielding to college players. In this case, it was acclaimed saxophone professionals sharing skills and insights with Wright State University music students<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Project Fusion, a young saxophone quartet described by one reviewer as a group that sparkles as much as the instruments in their hands, conducted a master class workshop for Wright State\u2019s saxophone students Oct. 30 on the stage of the university\u2019s Schuster Hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thrilled,” said Shelley Jagow, a music professor who teaches the Saxophone Studio course. \u201cI love the saxophone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jagow noted that Adolphe Sax, the Belgian musician who invented the saxophone in the early 1840s, had four goals for the instrument \u2014 that it have the power of brass, the agility of woodwinds, the sonority of strings and the flexibility of the human voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey really conquer all four of those goals,\u201d Jagow said of Project Fusion. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Formed in 2010 by four graduates of the Eastman School of Music, Project Fusion won the gold medal in the Senior Wind Division at the 40th Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in 2013. That same year they became the first saxophone quartet to earn the Grand Prize as well as the Hugo Vianello Audience Choice Award at the 6th Plowman International Chamber Music Competition.<\/p>\n

The group \u2014 Michael Sawzin, tenor saxophone; Dannel Espinoza, soprano saxophone; Matt Amedio, alto saxophone; and Matthew Evans, baritone saxophone \u2014 is devoted to music education as well as virtuoso performance. Playing entirely from memory, they stand out for \u201cabsolutely seamless ensemble work,\u201d according to one reviewer.<\/p>\n

For Sawzin, the master class workshop was a homecoming. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degrees in music education<\/a> and saxophone performance<\/a> from Wright State, graduating in 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found that I felt instantly comfortable here,\u201d Sawzin said of his days at Wright State. \u201cI actually didn\u2019t feel that freshman anxiety or feel out of place. I felt welcomed right away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Michael Sawzin and Project Fusion also performed in concert as part of the Chamber Music Yellow Springs concert series.<\/p><\/div>\n

Jagow said she is proud and excited to watch Sawzin\u2019s career blossom.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe like to think of Michael as a local boy who made it big \u2014 for sure,\u201d added Wright State music professor Christopher Chaffee, vice president of Chamber Music Yellow Springs.<\/p>\n

Chamber Music Yellow Springs is a highly successful nonprofit with a 30-plus year history of presenting high-end classical music in the community. It sponsored the Wright State workshop as well as an Oct. 29 concert in Yellow Springs. The group\u2019s president is Charles Taylor, dean emeritus of Wright State\u2019s College of Liberal Arts.<\/p>\n

The Yellow Springs concert featured a Bach chorale, Bart\u00f3k\u2019s \u201cSix Romanian Dances,\u201d \u201cTango Virtuoso\u201d by French contemporary composer Thierry Escaich, \u201cAndante et Scherzo\u201d by Eug\u00e8ne Bozza, Gershwin\u2019s \u201cRhapsody in Blue,\u201d Mark Mellits\u2019 jazz-influenced \u201cEx Machina\u201d and the late David Maslanka\u2019s emotional \u201cRecitation Book.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the master class workshop, Project Fusion listened to two Wright State saxophone quartets, offered feedback and answered questions.<\/p>\n

The Wright State quartets were told about effective warmup techniques and the importance of non-verbal communication while playing, learning the stories behind the songs and learning from failure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good for them to hear things I hope I have said, reinforced by someone else,\u201d said Jagow.<\/p>\n

The Project Fusion players told the students about their careers, from playing professionally to teaching K-12 and at college. The students were told to embrace music education as a degree because they will likely spend time teaching even if they are also performing.<\/p>\n

Sawzin, who is from Wilmington, works as the main administrator for OuterArts Maryland Inc., advising the nonprofit on curriculum and helping manage the group\u2019s two-week summer orchestra festival.<\/p>\n

Project Fusion also joined one of the Wright State quartets on stage and played with the students, putting on an impromptu concert that filled the hall with the rich tones of eight saxophonists.<\/p>\n

Sawzin called his return to Wright State \u201ca great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just makes me feel like things are going well here,\u201d he said. \u201cI am prouder than ever saying that I\u2019m from Wright State. It\u2019s very fun to come back here and hear how much the bar is raising.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During a master class, Project Fusion listened to Wright State saxophone quartets, offered feedback and answered questions, then performed an impromptu concert with students. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":48934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,733,729,2037,4859,725,747,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-around-campus","category-arts-scene","category-fine-and-performing-arts","category-home-news-sidebar","category-liberal-arts","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48930"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48938,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48930\/revisions\/48938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}