The next euphonium player to be featured in this series is Andrea Hobson. She is an immensely multitalented musician, a performer and soloist but also conductor, composer and educator. Likewise, she is well experienced in the music industry and I know her advice is useful to us all.
Before reading her interview, you MUST listen to her playing! 🎵 Here is a recording of her playing 'Your Tiny Hand is Frozen' by Puccini
I hope you enjoy reading her interview!
Do you have a favourite composer or piece of classical or brass music?
Not really. I try to go through as much music as possible (similarly to literature). At the moment I have circled again to Antônio Jobim as well as Brenda Fassie.
Have you got any funny stories or unique experiences that you would like to share about any musical projects you have ever been involved in?
Wow. I have quite a few but I am not sure everyone will find them funny. I started sharing little stories on Facebook. Here is one story about a music parent that people find interesting (I think):
INT: South Africa 2016
Music teacher meets with a parent due the student not practising enough for their lessons. The meeting comes out of concern for the student because every teacher knows that catching up is worse than sticking to a routine. This conversation takes place roughly 45 minutes into the discussion.
Parent: Maybe it would help if the child gets to play the music they want?
Teacher: The student cannot play Star Wars yet. I am absolutely for the idea of playing music they love, but we need to get the basics right first. It will take time for them to play this piece as they can only play five notes on a good day. It is nothing against the student, it is part of the discipline.
P: I like how my child plays. I can’t see what your problem is. The child is a musical genius - your teaching is the problem.
T: Admittedly fuming, has the student written a symphony?
P: Uh…What is a symphony?
EXT. Take away? The parameters for genius is different for everyone.
(Stories from real experiences, shared with the greatest irony and only sometimes amusement)
What 3 songs do you love the most and why?
Gosh. Um. I guess for nostalgia sake: Bar in Amsterdam by Katzenjammer, Mahler V and Mannenberg by Abdullah Ibrahim.
Tell us about some of your achievements as a euphonium player and musician.
To be honest, I am kind of just grateful that I am still here. Coming from South Africa where I was very loudly belittled for playing the euphonium and wanting to compose for brass…I am happy I stuck it out. I am mostly happy that I have taken every opportunity that has come up, including moving across the world, and I have lived a very full musical life. I guess, the rest can be found in my bio.
What would you still like to achieve in your life, musical or not musical?
I would like to travel a bit more with my music. I would also like to continue to grow as a musician and just continue getting better at everything I am currently doing- this was the reason I chose a music career. It offered the ability for life long learning and I found this appealing. A simple goal I keep is to continue making my music relatable so people get to know me and my instrument. I would like to also keep this going.
How did you first get involved in music, and what was your early inspiration?
I started with piano and when I moved schools I wanted to join the band programme. I was tested for woodwind and when I said to the teacher that I didn’t want to play a “high instrument” they sent me to the brass teacher. He said I was too little to play trombone and tuba but my lips were too thick to play trumpet, so I ended up on the euphonium. I fell in love with it and stuck it out until today.
Do you have a website, business, or social media page you would like to promote? Please tell us all about it.
Yes, my website is www.africanaeuphonista.com and one can find my music and links to all my social media platforms there.
🎵 Andrea is a fantastic composer, check out this recording from a CD I recently reviewed featuring tenor horn soloist Anabel Voigt and Tredegar Band. ⭐
Do you agree there are challenges facing female musicians today? If so, what do you think are the biggest changes that need to be made to improve this?
Absolutely. Bias is something to be found in every person and if you find yourself “unaffected” by bias, I would really recommend to check it out again and question why this may be. I find it frustrating how often our community works in polarity. If you say women are affected by the toxic masculinity in our music world it seems to suggest all men are bad. No, this is not the case, it just means that some people in our community need to work harder to better the industry and make it more accessible for us too. I have so many stories as to why I was excluded from something and it almost never had to do with my playing/composition/education. It always had to do with being a woman and not part of the beer drinking squad (which is ridiculous as I do drink beer. I prefer wine but I am also not fussy). People can contact me if they want specific stories.
What piece of advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time?
I wouldn’t pay so much attention to other people’s opinions of my instrument or the music industry. There are a lot of bitter and insecure people out there and sometimes those people can be friends and family unfortunately.
What piece of advice would you give to young brass players (or any instrumentalists) to help them find success?
I would say what I say to all my students: Do not underestimate how you can positively impact where you are with your love for music. We are not all fortunate enough to be born into a thriving brass community but that doesn’t mean that we can’t introduce people to what makes our hearts sing. I always imagine a world where each person gets to follow their hearts/the thing that makes them feel alive: the world would be so wonderfully glowing in all corners.
A big THANK YOU to Andrea for being interviewed in this blog series!
I hope you enjoyed reading the interview, please share it, like and subscribe and look out for the next one very soon!
To return to the overview page to see who is next to be featured, just CLICK HERE!
Mark Glover
23/10/24
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