This week Karen talks with Nick Laufer. Trombonist for Toby Keith, Co-Founder of the Maniacal Four Trombone Quartet, COO of CAS, and her husband!
As a touring and studio musician, Karen wants to pick Nick’s brain in regards to the life style and what it has taken to get this point.
As a country musician, Nick admits that he has never listened to Country music a day in his life, outside of the music that he performs. Growing up and throughout college, Nick played consistently with a number of Top 40 cover bands in addition to classical and chamber music ensembles at a high level. He says that playing in these sorts of environments are what prepared him for playing with Toby and his band with relative ease.
One of the major differences and learning curves for Nick was that he had to learn to play with inner ear monitors. Over the years he had become accustomed to “wedges” and floor monitors that usually resulted in him feeling the need to play louder to be heard over what was being played on the speakers. Playing in these situations would quickly cause his hearing and his “chops” to be negatively affected. With inner ear monitors, he is able to hear a mix of the band and himself at the level he needs to play at a normal volume with comfort. His one drawback is that by using the innner ear monitors, you lose any acoustic sounds, but he still wouldn’t have it any other way.
Karen then asks Nick about the more theatrical aspects of his performance as a musician in Toby’s band and how these differ from his background. As classical or jazz musicians, dancing or other theatrics is never considered because it is all about the music. For larger live crowds who are drinking and dancing, they want to see that the performers on stage are having just as much fun as they are. As a “non-dancer”, it took Nick some time to find his moves, but through following the other band members, he has found a way to fit the look. He adds that they are completely aware of how ridiculous they look.
Next, Karen addresses the idea of dealing with performance anxiety in such a high stakes environment. Nick talks about preparation being sure that he knows his part down cold so that no matter what happens, he knows that he will always be playing his part well and correctly. In addition, he makes sure that he knows everyone else’s parts and how everything is supposed to fit together.
Nick then goes on to discuss his personal training as a musician and how it was the ear training that he received in college that truly made a difference for him. When he was in school, st
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