We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Paul Klemperer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Paul below.
Hi Paul, thanks for joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?
As a performer and educator I’ve had the opportunity to work with people in widely different venues all around the world. I measure my success by the breadth of experience my career has given me. There’s a saying in the entertainment business: “You’re only as good as your last gig.” The way I’ve experienced that truth is positive, in that you never know what tomorrow will bring. I’ve literally played in front of 20,000 people at Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and the next night in front of a hundred drunks in a dive bar. One night you’re staying at a 4-star hotel and wearing fluffy terry cloth robes; the next night you’re lucky to find a Motel 6 at 4:00 in the morning.
The money ebbs and flows. Some people at the top of the pyramid make bank, as they say, while the rest of us just make a living. But if you keep going, keep learning and deepening your lived knowledge, there is an undeniable success in the experience you bring to your community. You become a more valuable person for yourself and for others. It can become rather zen, in that each moment is as deep as your ability to perceive it.
Here’s a simple yet vivid example: I play music regularly at senior facilities, particularly memory care units. I stand there playing and singing my little melodies, aware that I am staring into my future. The fear, love, doubt, and everything else I am feeling comes through my music, and I glimpse a connection in my audience. Years ago I wasn’t attuned to the small details, the lips silently mouthing the song lyrics, the feet below the wheelchair barely tapping, the gnarled hands clapping in something approximating a musical rhythm. Now I see that stuff very clearly, and I appreciate it. All the years of playing help me make each performance a success in some small way.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
As a musician, teacher and writer, I tend to combine entertainment and education (edutainment, as they say), whether it’s playing in a bar or teaching in a classroom. My parents were scientists and they instilled (or distilled) in me a desire to explore, understand, and communicate. My studies included not only music but sociology and eventually ethnomusicology. This helps me to explore the power and meaning of music in our lives, from sociological issues like cultural appropriation and commodification, to psychological issues like music therapy in treating dementia.
I’ve performed professionally for over 40 years, mainly in popular music styles such as jazz, blues, soul, salsa and world music. I’ve taught private lessons and group classes, working with elementary, high school and college students, and retired seniors as well. In all of these contexts I apply the philosophy that “music is for everyone.” My specialty is an adaptive pedagogical approach, blending western classical, jazz, and world music learning techniques. My goal is always to help students express themselves through music; this is a dialectical and nuanced experience because we are all unique in the way we learn. That’s what makes it fun.
My business model evolved over the past 20 years to include event production and working with various nonprofits and cultural organizations to create multi-media projects. My brand is “Building Community Through Music.” This helped me link my various projects, which include music performances, classes and workshops, songwriting and recording, fiction and essays, podcasting, and more.
A good example is my monthly Community Jazz Jam, which began in 2011 (with a hiatus 2020-2022 due to Covid). The CJJ invites musicians of all levels, styles and ages to participate. I purposely bring together professional musicians, students, and amateurs to explore all aspects of the expansive jazz tradition, which includes spoken word, dancing, and audience sing along, not just modern jazz improvisation. It’s a beautiful shared experience, and truly represents building community through music.
The Community Jazz Jam and other community projects are now sponsored by my nonprofit CreativeSEA.org, which focuses on multicultural and multigenerational activities. We are seeking funding to expand our programming to include multi-media activities such as songwriting, poetry and fiction workshops, live music and yoga classes, and more. The mission is “creative social engagement through the arts.”
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
As an artist and educator I was never attracted to the business paradigm, with its emphasis on branding, marketing and “ABC” (always be closing) sales mentality. It seemed contradictory to what art is all about. But I could have utilized the tools of business better if I hadn’t been such a purist. I made a strategic breakthrough about 10 years ago when I changed my focus from promoting myself as a creative artist to being a cultural activist. Music is a tool for building community. The more I have embraced that view, the more my “brand” has solidified and grown my base of support.
With this shift in focus I discovered business models that fit with my community-oriented approach. Donald Miller’s “Building A StoryBrand” is a good example of this more progressive business model. It starts with asking yourself how your art/product/service helps others. How is your work part of their story? I find this approach refreshing because I don’t like pumping myself up on social media, posting pics of me in exotic locales, humble bragging about my achievements. Yes, we live in a celebrity-obsessed culture and the masses tend to gravitate toward shiny, successful stars. But meaningful community building is incremental, and particularly for artists it requires asking yourself “How does my art help others?”
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My creative journey has always been a balancing act, finding a way to move forward while dealing with contradictory forces. Some of this is a mental game, balancing opposing philosophical premises. Some of this is very pragmatic, balancing difficult choices, time and resource management, work and private life, etc. The biggest challenge has been translating my creative work, which is very personal and ego-driven, with the need for a team to actualize that work in the world. It’s easy to work alone, writing a song or a story, practicing my instrument or researching a topic. Of course it’s hard to stay disciplined, focused and inspired when you work alone, but it only requires yourself. When you commit to creating an event or a material product, you need people, money, resources, organization, and that has always seemed more complicated for me.
I’ve had some successes in creating public projects, working with a team to achieve something I couldn’t do on my own. But it has never been easy, and I’m still struggling to create a template, a system, which works and is sustainable. I’ve had some insights along the way, and one of them is that “the team is the project.” If the particular creative project is clearly defined and if the people who agree to work on it clearly understand what their stake in it is, how it benefits them, the project is more likely to be successful.
I’m now exploring how to make my events more creative on all levels, so that the production of the event (making the sausage, as they say) is as much a creative act of social engagement as the performance/event itself. This also helps me balance my personal creative approach with my role as team leader.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pksax.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paulklemperermusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAUQr4NzZdp98pT08-gmGKQ
- Other: https://patreon.com/pksax
Image Credits
Kim Yarbrough