|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Faces of Culpeper- Doug Schmit
Doug Schmit works with computers for a living. But his real love is playing the saxophone, a passion that goes back to the jazz records he listened to as a child. And while he performs in Manassas and other venues, he’s most often seen playing Wednesday night at Tea, Lace and Roses.
"It was a sound, a music that really took me away. I think I fell in love with it. I borrowed a saxophone, I started playing a little, and I really loved the sound. From there I just kept playing.
I stopped playing for a little while. When I got out of college, I thought I should go off and be an adult and get a real job and all that. Focus on that. Forget about hobby kind of things. But eventually I came back to it, and I don’t regret coming back.
There’s something about being creative, there’s something about stepping into a discipline or an activity, or a learning program. The more you learn, the more there is. You can learn even more, you can express even more.
It’s a real powerful opportunity to express myself. Working in the arts, creating something…I think it’s nurturing in a lot of ways and freeing for my soul. And there’s something about doing what you love that rubs off on people. It’s a way that I can contribute.
The other thing I love about it is that other people get interested in taking on something like that for themselves. It’s not about music, it’s about people saying: “Hey he can do music, maybe I should take up golf again.” Kind of participate in life a little more.
If for some reason I was physically unable to play I would probably look for another way to coach others in what I’ve been doing so far. I’d come up with something. I think there’s a creative aspect to us, and I think we’re all better off if we’re expressing it. I just imagine someone going to a factory everyday, and going to work. A machine could do that.
For most of us, when we start doing anything in the musical realm, we’re going to sound terrible at first. I think the key is to sound terrible as long as it takes. It’s one of those things – you can’t go around, you have to go smack-dab through the middle of it.
Watch a little kid learn to walk – mine’s still young, so I remember that. The kid stands up, falls down. Stands up, falls down. The falling down isn’t the key, continuing to stand up is the key. It translates pretty directly to whatever else we would take on – if it didn’t go quite right, try it again.
I remember reading about a Jazz Night in the newspapers. They were doing recorded music (at Tea, Lace and Roses), so I came in and they were playing my favorites. So I said, “how would you like to see some live saxophone playing?” They were more than happy to hear me play a couple tunes. It kind of snowballed from there.
The best way I look at it is, be the conduit (for the music). Let it come through.
I would love to have a complete group. In the short-term, that’s what I’d like to see. In the long term, I would continue with the small group things. But I might as some point even put together a big band that played locally. There’s certainly enough talent down here to do something like that. There’s so many, very fine players. Vocalists, performers, actors…there’s so many."
You must be logged in to post a comment.