We were lucky to catch up with Sue Orfield recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sue, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
I do earn a full time living as a musician. I’m 56 years old and have been doing this since I was 23 years old! I started life after college (BA in Music and BA in Math from Lawrence University, 1990) in Seattle. With absolutely zero clue about how to make a living at music, I jumped in with both feet and starting going to jam sessions. I also auditioned for a band that ultimately I would record my first album with. The name of that group was Albert Figures. I began to meet people, and basically said “yes!” to every playing opportunity that came my way. Shortly after moving to Seattle I also started teaching private lessons, as a way to make ends meet. I very quickly learned that I loved teaching, and still love teaching today.
In the early days I took a few odd jobs, but decided to quit those and see if I could make it happen without them. I began playing in blues bands and original music groups, and after a few years had a good reputation, and was making a pretty good living as a freelancer. By the mid 90’s I was also starting to write music and form my own groups. It was a joyful ride! In fact it still is.
The first major milestone, I think, was my first group that I led, and wrote music for. We were called 4 Out Of 5 Doctors, and played all original instrumental music. I loved it and it made me realize how important playing my own music was. After that there were various other projects that I led, and I’m still leading a variety of groups today.
Another milestone was my first tour – I was the sax player in a blues band from Chicago, and we toured all over the U.S. and Canada in a very old bus. What an experience! And then a few years later I joined The Billy Tipton Memorial Sax Quartet, and went on my very first tour to Europe.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a professional musician living in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I play the tenor saxophone, and am a composer and educator. I started playing the piano when I was about 5 years old, and picked up the sax at 10 years of age. I was passionate about all things musical (read: nerd), but didn’t really consider music as a profession until I got to college. I went to Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, as a chemistry major at first. But I chose Lawrence because of it’s outstanding music program. About 2 months into my freshman year, I KNEW that my path was music. And that has never changed. I have pursued the joy that music brings me and my fans vigorously. In fact as I write this, I’m getting ready for an Album Release party in Minneapolis, for a new album (just released on July 26) called Splash. So I’m immersed in music regularly – I still freelance, and I also play with a variety of different kinds of musical situations. My latest passion, for the last 5 or so years has been bluegrass/celtic music, which is a little odd as a saxophonist – but not odd enough to keep me away!
I also play with jazz groups, and country groups, and rock and roll and everything in between. I’m an improviser at heart, so I’m most happy when the musical situation allows me the freedom to improvise! But I truly wouldn’t want to play only one style – I love it all!
I’m also very grateful to still be teaching music. I love teaching, and I love connecting with my students and helping them on their musical journey. Each student’s journey is different and each student is different, and getting to know them and what makes them tick brings is just so satisfying. I love it!
I have recorded on hundreds of albums over the years, with many of them featuring my original music.
Most recently I have started a local composer’s association in the area where I live – the idea is to connect and collaborate with other composers in the area, and also to collaborate with creatives from other artistic disciplines. The group is called ChiVaCA (Chippewa Valley Composers Association).
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Over the years I’ve learned that success cannot be measured by somebody else’s ruler. We must define that for ourselves, I think. For me I have learned that success is finding and keeping the joy in my creative life, which in turn means composing and improvising, and then sharing the results with audiences and musicians that ALSO get something out of it. The audiences don’t have to be big – or small for that matter – because the thing that makes me tick is the connection through the creation. I have at many times throughout my career struggled to keep the joy in sight, but by now I understand that even if right now it seems elusive, I just need to keep creating, and it will return! Then, of course, when everything is easy and flowing, it feels like it will never leave! Ha ha!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Maybe not one in particular, but a series. I have many times in my life quit musical situations that were not bringing as much joy as they used to, for whatever reason (and this is HARD for me, as I value these relationships so much!). And I have done so without knowing what comes next. So for those moments after quitting I was without a musical situationship (!), but I had some faith that something else would come along, and it always has. This is to say that I have learned to trust myself, which is no small feat! And for this reason music is still my passion and and work. How lucky am I?!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sueorfield.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sueorfield
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sueorfieldmusic
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/sueorfield
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sueorfield
- Other: www.chivaca.com
www.takethatbackjazz.com
https://sueorfield.bandcamp.com
Image Credits
photos by Teddy Snider