Making Noise Podcast

Adam Schumaker is a composer, educator, arts administrator, father, husband, and a generalist. He currently directs the education programs for The Gilmore and is a visiting professor of music theory & composition at Kalamazoo College, where he teaches music theory, composition, and arts administration. Schumaker has composed for film, theater, chamber ensembles, concert band, promotional video, electronic mediums, and an intensive care unit hospital bed. He has received numerous local grants and commissions.

The financial survey to promote financial transparency.

The album on Bandcamp.

Adam's New Music Box articles on musicians financial profiles:

Follow Adam Schumaker on Twitter! @SchumakerA, @oddpop1

Subscribe to the channel and follow the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and my website where you can listen to music, purchase scores, and learn how to commission a new piece for your ensemble.

Each episode description always begins with one quote from the guest. With Alan Theisen - composer, performer, educator, author, and fan of peaty scotch - I don't think even 100 quotes would cover the  intensity, depth, and all-around enjoyment of this conversation, but here are five: 1) "Follow dumb ideas." 2) “I think comfort is a value that our society has that often does more damage than it does good.” 3) “...and then he mouths, ‘WTF?!’” 4) “I stared at a candle for 45 minutes. It was incredible.” 5) “I think purpose is an extension of empathy. And I think people who are devoid of empathy have no purpose.” No stone was left unturned. We drank some scotch and traversed a myriad of topics in great depth. To quote Alan one last time, "you are in for the full 150-minute experience. Pull up a chair. Here we go." 

Please enjoy episode 8 of the Making Noise Podcast. 

Go to Alan's website to learn more about his work and multi-faceted career.

Check out his ensemble MIATp (with duo partner Megan Ihnen, the guest on Episode 6 of The Making Noise Podcast).

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There are a few people who knew me really well during graduate school. Both the good and the bad. Natalie is one of those people. We worked on a lot of projects together during that time, music and otherwise, and still do to this day. Most recently she put on a YouTube performance titled ...in all but name... where she performed my piece Approaching Cyrrhus written for her. I've always admired Natalie's endless support to those around her. She has a way of talking about something personal but spinning it as a way to provide support to others. This is one of the many reasons I am so excited to have her on the podcast. 

Some of the things we discuss: 

Natalie’s path to the Army “I grew up around the airforce”

The challenge of joining the military in your late 20’s when everyone else is just out of high school

Privileges that are granted as a soldier

The effectiveness of the Army teaching group responsibility

“Right in the first semester of my master's degree all of my life is exploding”

How Connor Nelson impacted Natalie and helped in making a big life decision

Shoutout to Troy Paolantonio 

Dating and ghosting

Shoutout to Rhy Burgess

The meditative quality of trigger therapy

Follow Natalie's media production company

Add her on Facebook!

Keep up with her work as a musician in the Army

This is officially the first episode of the podcast where I got to sit down and talk with someone I have not personally met! I discovered Robin through her YouTube page when I was searching for certain flute techniques while writing Approaching Cyrrhus. After subscribing to her channel, I started following her on other social media and saw the frequency with which she posts content. So much of what she does it dedicated and in service to composers, and I could not think of a better reason to have her on.

Some of the things we discuss:

Creating long-term music projects for YouTube.

52 Weeks of Flute and 365 Days of Flute as a resource for composers.

“The biggest thing composers don’t get is performer feedback...”

Ralph Lewis’s “YouTube piece that uses the algorithm”

Things composers need to stop doing.

“Contemporary techniques for Composers” and “Contemporary Techniques 101.”

How to reach out to Robin and what NOT to say.

The validity of having a career on the internet.

When it comes to improvisation, “practice being uncomfortable.”

Megan and I met at the 2017 New Music Gathering where she did a presentation on Placemaking in New Music. I was so taken by the concepts she outlined, I invited her to BGSU to present these topics to other students music students.

Megan has this amazing ability to make you feel important. Like what you're doing matters. I think this comes across clearly from the start of our discussion. With a multi-faceted and diverse career, from her performance as a mezzo-soprano to business coaching to running a podcast and blog, I don't think there is anything she can't do.

Some of the things we discuss:

Understanding the financial "numbers you need to have in your life to feel like it’s sustainable."

Creating systems that serve your needs as a professional and the needs of your clients and collaborators.

Develop the skills to recognize when you're in a spiral, and "then talk to yourself like you love yourself”

“so much of being a musician teaches us the craft of being a person”

“I believe deeply in the power of storytelling, and there is nothing more special to me than being able to share that with each other”

Communicating your craft to an audience in a way that draws them in

How Megan and Alan Thiesen (saxophonist partner of MIATp) conceptualized the programmatic design of Black Meridian

“Whatever keeps you committed to making music going forward - during the time of COVID - is the right thing”

Megan’s final statement: new album coming out very soon (www.meganihnen.com); before January 2021, she is running a coaching/consulting special: 3 sessions over the course of 5 months as low as $48 a month.

Erin and I met while in graduate school at Bowling Green State University. We collaborated together to create Spate, a piece for bass clarinet which disconnects the actions of the embouchure and the fingers using tablature notation.

Erin recently became a full-time professor at Arkansas State University, which she talks in length about in this episode.

Some of the things discussed:

“Wherever you live, you’re always an active participant in creating the culture there”

“This is going to be a controversial statement: I don’t think it’s a bad time to be in school”

Focusing on the present and immediate things you can control

Pissing some guy off at Grounds for Thought because Erin and I were too loud

The line between being a music student and becoming a music professor is very blurry.

The differing generational experience of female teachers in academia

Andrew and I met in 2017 at the Valencia International Performance Academy & Festival (VIPA) in Valencia, Spain. We were both participants at the conference - taking part in workshops, lectures, performances, lessons - but made it a point to explore the city, hang out on the beach, and drink plenty of fresh aqua de Valencia.

After several years of living, working, and gigging in NYC, Andrew provides great insight for anyone who is considering the musician experience of the Big Apple.

Some of the things discussed:

“There is nothing that can encapsulate the experience of living in NYC until you’re there”

The benefits of composing and doing work in the morning

“The time I spent outside of music, when I come back to it it’s just totally refreshing”

Shout out to Ben Damann

The Social Dilemma

Stephen King's On Writing

How do you deal with separating the energy you put into creating a proposal and the desired outcome?

“my band performed on a trailer that pulled us around the city of Lancaster”

Shout out to Andrzej Karałow

Texting with flip phones and purple potatoes

Jonathan and I met during our time in graduate school at Bowling Green State University. He was a member of the Segetem Saxophone quartet, who performed my piece Haumea. Later, Jonathan commissioned me to write I am… for his saxophone and trombone duo, Wind Collision.

Some of the things we discuss in this podcast:

Reminding yourself to be active and go outside during COVID-19.

How COVID-19 has altered the college experience as a doctoral student.

Issues most saxophone students experience.

Balancing different schools of thought for practice.

How we met.

The challenges of putting together Haumea.

Building your CV to be more marketable.

“If all you’re doing is going to school and coasting, I don’t think that is a good idea.”

The schedule of a doctoral student pursuing saxophone performance.

Sax Reel Podcast.

James Besaw is a saxophonist and instructor living in Saginaw, MI. We met over 5 years ago and have been collaborating ever since. Some of the things we discuss in this podcast:

Our experience at the 2015 Nief-Norf Summer Music Festival.

“What was one thing from your experience at Nief-Norf that made you the performer you are today?”

“It doesn’t have to be perfect/perfection is not the thing to strive for”

Rehearsing, performing, and the use of tablature notation for Initial Contact

“…you have to beat your previous self.”

Self-imposed expectations of music students.

Reminding yourself why you’re a musician and harnessing the joy you get from it.