We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sam Chandler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sam thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I am happy as an artist, but it is a challenging career path for sure. For the longest time, I’ve known that playing piano and playing music is my calling. It awakens something in my soul that nothing else does. I have a deep connection with music and know that it expresses how and what I feel with more clarity than words. To show others that a deep connection with oneself is possible through performance or composition, and to show people the way to this self-knowledge through teaching is inspiring and uplifting to me, and I feel that this is the real reason why I am an artist.

Despite this, I have had significant doubts about my decision to pursue music, especially since graduating Berklee College of Music. I’m just learning that a player/composer/educator must have a “portfolio career” in order to make ends meet, meaning that I won’t ever clock in for a 9-5 and get a paycheck every 2 weeks, though part-time jobs with this description may be one of many I hold.

Keeping track of several schedules and responsibilities is tough, but it also encourages me to be pro-active in organizing my time and energy. You can’t wait for the phone to ring and for opportunities to fall into your lap. It’s up to you to make things happen, and while this has been difficult, it’s also been highly rewarding.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I began piano lessons when I was four years old with a wonderful Suzuki Method teacher, Denise Lindquist. Her patience and encouragement helped me develop a grounded connection with the instrument. The Suzuki Method is unique in that it gets kids to develop a kinesthetic sense for playing music first, rather than pushing music theory, although I did take music theory lesson growing up.

During my early teenage years, I was introduced to Jazz piano by Ryan Frane, the director of Jazz Studies at University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). He performed with a trio (piano, bass, drums) at the grand opening of Duluth Fine Pianos, a local piano store in Duluth, Minnesota. I was fascinated! Jazz piano was a whole new approach to music to me, and I was determined to learn how to express myself through improvisation. I was lucky to study with Ryan informally for four years throughout high school, and to this day he is my model for how I want to educate. His calm, knowledgable approach fostered confidence in my abilities, and I try to give back to my students in the same way.

It was these early positive experiences with great educators that helped me audition and attend Berklee College of Music, where I had equally inspired teachers and unparalleled performance, composition, and educating opportunities. My mentors at Berklee including Ayn Inserto, Billy Childs, Daniel Ian Smith, George Russell Jr., and Steven Feifke, among many others, saw my potential and took an active role in helping me reach it. I’ve had the pleasure and honor to play with, teach alongside, or learn from these wonderful people. They’ve given me the confidence to become who I am meant to become as a pianist, composer, and teacher.

I believe having learned from these musicians is what makes me unique. A big idea in Jazz is that it lives inside the practitioners and the only way the tradition survives and evolves is if it’s passed on to future generations. I feel it’s a great honor to be a torch-bearer, no matter how small, of specific approaches unique to the people I’ve studied with and with whom they’ve studied.

Though I am proud of my external accomplishments, including participating in programs like the Minnesota All-State Jazz Ensemble, Interlochen Center for the Arts’ Camps, the Ravinia Steans Music Institute’s Jazz Program, and graduating from Berklee College of Music having developed a portfolio and skillset both as a professional pianist and composer, I am most proud of my resilience in the face of obstacles. Persisting despite setbacks is a necessary skill as an artist, and recognizing and cultivating optimism and strength of spirit despite roadblocks is my greatest achievement.

If there’s anything I want people to take away from experiencing me as a pianist, composer, or teacher, it’s that there’s always beauty or meaning to be found in life and that the pursuit of it is always worth it.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think if people realize that art is a necessary part of their lives, and are willing to monetarily support that art, society can take good care of artists. Within music, the “ecosystem” has changed significantly because of streaming platforms. When albums were physical, and even when digital downloads were a thing, musicians had a tangible thing to sell. Nowadays, albums are just as expensive to record, but most people prefer to stream because they can just pay for a subscription each month and access millions of songs. Streaming doesn’t pay out very well, which makes it hard on artists who are not extremely famous.

Luckily there are things like Patreon and Bandcamp, great platforms making musicians’ journeys to making a living off of their work much easier. Being a DIY musician gives you the freedom to make all your own choices, but the challenge becomes how do you build your audience completely on your own? You have to wear many hats at once and can’t just lock yourself up in an ivory tower and only “do the art.” Your career becomes a portfolio career, where you have to be creative and think on your feet in many disciplines, not just your musical discipline.

With the freedom to chart your own course like this comes the responsibility to make things happen on your own, and the best way I’ve found to create opportunities is through relationships. Cultivating relationships, both by the artist with a community and by a community with an artist is what is going to give the artist purpose and direction, along with provide the audience with satisfying, inspired, and purposeful art.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, it’s the simultaneity of achieving goals and walking the path to them. If I’m only focused on the goal, practicing or composing, and even teaching feels like a means to an end (be able to play xyz, write this piece, have the student be able to do something, etc.). On the other hand, if I work something without giving it purpose, the result is usually incoherent. I really like to point a solo, a practice session, a lesson, or a composition in a certain direction, while at the same time enjoying the path that I take to get to the finished product. Having an open mind about the end result along the way means I can always pivot and take another direction, which I think is the most exciting part about creating.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.samchandlerjazzpianist.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samchandlermusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmABENOphtT13A8-c3tmhlA
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7t5vVkSQEFNcyqpIVxLYkk?si=R-kEUtKWQaupJo1Vop6Zng Bandcamp: https://beiramar.bandcamp.com/track/tempestade

Image Credits
Up North Album Cover: photo by Mason Eckman (B+W hands on piano): photo by Mark Fitzgibbons, Fitzphoto Inc.