#1. What inspired you to play saxophone professionally?
When I was younger, I played piano for a while. We lived in Iowa, we moved to Omaha, and I still wanted to do something musical. And in junior high– sixth grade was a part of junior high [back] then– they had a day that was set aside [where] the local music company came and set up instruments for display. And then we all came in and picked the instrument [we wanted]. So as far as inspiration, I wanted to do something musical. And as far as saxophone, it’s a pretty shallow answer: I thought it looked cool. And really, no one was choosing it. So I chose it. But so that’s how. I wanted to do something musical so… saxophones!
#2. What are your duties as a Papio South employee?
In in-school-suspension, I oversee the students who are in here as a result, or for some form of consequence. But my real role is to be someone who kind of handles communication between teachers and students so they can send classwork and make it a productive workday, instead of some sort of prison sentence or, you know, that kind of thing. It’s, you know, the things I do.
#3. How has your current job, and any previous job, affected your ability to schedule with your bandmates?
I’ve always had flexibility; I was a pastor for 20 years. So within that, I always got to continue to play music. And that was something that was fairly flexible. And it was kind of expected or understood that I play music. Here, it’s very easy to do that, because I’m off in the early afternoon. And most things I do don’t happen until after that. And so it’s been very easy for a very long time to kind of have those work together.
#4. What advice would you give your past self as an aspiring performer?
I would say to try to remain patient and consistent in developing your abilities, and getting more clarity about the vision for what you’re going to do with your musical abilities, because it’s very much a long-term journey and it can be very slow and steady. So I would say to be more focused on small pieces that are disciplined and be patient with the process.
#5. What do you do in your free time that isn’t work-related?
I would say I love spending time with my wife and family. I like to do that all the time. Listening to music constantly– It’s what I do, It’s a leisure activity, It’s a hobby outside of things, and listening to as much music as possible. All of it finds its way into your playing, regardless of what style it is, especially jazz. I mean, you can be listening to rock, classical, country, [or] r&b, in one way or another. It all finds its way in and it affects not just how you sound and the ideas you have but, in some ways, how to move forward in your musical journey.
For information on upcoming performance dates, visit https://www.chadstoner.com/
