Becoming Less Envious of Jazz Professionals

Published on pages 16-19 of Five Cent Sound Spring ‘21 Issue, which can be found here.

I sat down at my desk at 10:00 a.m. EST, just a few minutes before Krishna Palanivel sat down at his at 9:00 a.m. CST. I sent him a Zoom link as he texted me, “Good morning! Making a cup of coffee, hopping on in 5,” to which I responded with a photo of my own steaming cup.

I went to high school at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with Krishna, and when I think of him as a trumpet player, I have two images in my head. One is of him walking into a room, frenzied, annoyed, and ready to rant about something that bothered him in rehearsal. The other is of him talking faster than normal, spewing about how much he loves playing trumpet, what it’s taught him, or how magical it feels to play. I’ve never seen Krishna neutral about playing music, or about anything else.

When I saw his face pop up on my screen, I smiled and couldn’t help but preface that, after the interview, we had to catch up on everything that had happened in the last few years. But before that, I wanted to hear about his relationship with playing trumpet and how that had changed. 

He originally got into playing the trumpet because it was the only instrument he could make a sound on at what he called the “instrument petting zoo” that his school held in third grade. Two years later, he started taking lessons with a trumpet player at the North Carolina Symphony and began playing in a youth orchestra. He did this for a few years before applying to the UNC School of the Arts, where he was accepted as a freshman and would attend for all four years of high school. During this time, his love for classical and orchestral music grew; he, “all in all got to really appreciate playing the trumpet in a different way.” After high school, he enrolled in Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, where they have an all-undergraduate music program and overall renowned academics. 

His first two years there were, “pretty normal and definitely missed—” music theory; musicianship and listening skills; keyboard harmony; music history including Music in the 20th and 21st Century, Music in Western Culture, Music in Eastern Culture, and Music in the Environment; and Brass. He is in the process of taking eight semesters of ensembles, about which he said, “I definitely didn't realize how nice it was to play in a group with so many people, and now that's gone.”

Now, his curriculum is hybrid — some classes are held in person, and some online. The classes in person, as you could assume, look very different. I was curious how this would work, because to play any wind instrument, you have to blow air into it; that air then disperses throughout the room, which does not seem very COVID-safe. But as Krishna told me, in a tone weighted with immense sarcasm, “apparently, being wind instrument players, we're not supposed to spray aerosols in our room for more than 30 minutes without taking a 15-minute break — as if the COVID is going to air out.” It seems that, along with masks for both their mouths — minus a small hole—and their instruments, there’s just a lot of waiting and airing out taking place. 

These measures have, obviously, dramatically changed how musicians are used to working, performing and practicing. Krishna explained that this has really made musicians assess exactly what they’re doing, what their goals are, and why. He said, “I’m becoming less and less envious of professional trumpet players,” and that, actually, “trumpet got really easy.” He suddenly wasn’t trying to figure out how to make a career out of,  “this seemingly impossible thing,” but instead just enjoying it for what it is. 

Krishna told me how important recording has become for musicians. They are utilizing recordings in rehearsals with more frequency — such is the case for his ensemble, which he said has become just, “recording projects…instead of playing as an ensemble and rehearsing together.” But recording music has also become a way for musicians to build their career and make money, especially with live gigs and orchestra work not happening during the pandemic. He said that recording is hard, though;it requires a lot of equipment and  time. He told me, “it's students like us in music conservatories going up against 14- to 18-year-olds on Soundcloud,” and, “it’s that simple because these kids are not doing this because they are in college and trying to academically create a profession for themselves. They are doing it because they love it so much; this is what they want to do when they get home.”

The focus moving forward needs to be on the individual and, “what an individual can create as a finished product.” Krishna told me, “I think that people that are in a school right now studying music really need to be considering how they can get themselves to that finished product and what that finished product is for them.” When I asked  what that finished product was for him, he said that he wanted to get a job elsewhere, start a business, establish a brand, record some music, play the trumpet, and let everything come together in ways that are beneficial to him. He said, “Don't chase money; don't chase anything but your vision, because there's not money to be chased.”

As if talking directly to other musicians, he encouraged questioning, “‘Is this really what you want to do?’ And if it is, make it happen! Because I'd love to see it. I'd love to see you make it happen. But, at the same time if it's not, get real with yourself and figure something else out.”