Bryant the Saxophonist

Cut one program and make room for another, separate lips from a mouthpiece like a baby from a mother. Forget being a mentor only worried about the tenure, remember the pupils are the center and this world is theirs to venture. Provide an outlet for the anger and pain, from Rollins to Coltrane After the Rain. Let the riffs and the licks wash sorrow away or the pressure within will drive them insane. Some work so hard to remove their patina, looking past avant-garde for a new meaning.

Bryant is a saxophonist that I watched perform by Grand Central Terminal. He demonstrated what can be accomplished with musical exposure at a young age. Along with the level of musical mastery that can be achieved when someone continues to practice outside of a classroom environment. He also stressed the importance of supporting creative school programs instead of constraining the direction of the up and coming youth.

Arpeggio is a broken chord, meaning the notes are played individually and in rapid succession rather than together in an ascending or descending order. Cutting programs in musical, performing, and visual arts is a result of the askew values and the monetary obsession of return on investment. The alternate rhymes mentor and tenure juxtapose center and venture, implying that teachers are more successful when they are less selfish with their time and energy. Sony Rollins and John Coltrane are both legendary jazz saxophonists and composers, and “After the Rain” was a song on his 1963 album Impressions. Riffs and licks are musical jargon, riffs meaning repeated chord progression during the main theme of a song, and lick meaning melodic lines that are played outside the main theme of the song. The emotions of anger, pain, sorrow, and insane associate to the melancholic nature of the Blues. Patina is the layer that forms on a material after long periods of time and oxidation like a thin layer of rust on a brass saxophone indicating frequent use and exposure. Avante-Garde means vanguard in French, this was an unorthodox experimental period that developed ideas outside of mainstream culture, looking past it means lead the vanguard in the future.