Grammy Award-winning American saxophonist Kenny G visited Christian Brothers College High School in Town and Country on Wednesday, just ahead of a scheduled show in Chesterfield.
The longtime musician, whose last name is Gorelick, spent nearly an hour with a few dozen band students at the school, sharing advice on how to become an excellent musician. Kenny G has played the saxophone since the 1960s and has been professionally performing since the '70s. He's received over a dozen Grammy nominations and snagged a Grammy in 1994 for best instrumental composition for his song, "Forever in Love."
The CBC band played the classic Christmas song "Sleigh Ride" to welcome the saxophonist as he walked into the school's band hall.
"Do all of you know who I am and what I do?" Kenny G asked. A resounding "Yes!" filled the room.
"I'm not assuming that you do," Kenny G added. "And I have no ego about it if you don't, that's cool. But if you don't know who I am, I play sax, and I've been doing it since I've been in high school, and I'm pretty successful at it."
The students asked several questions, like: "How did you become successful?" … "Do you ever get nervous before playing?" … "How do you handle people not liking your music?"
Kenny G provided answers.
"Anybody can get really good at something, really smart at something, really strong at something, if you put the time in," he said. "Like I wasn't that talented when I was 16. But man, I worked my ass off, I worked harder than anybody. … What you want to do is experience the nervousness, but then just tell yourself, 'Somehow I'm nervous, but I'm still going to do what I know how to do.'"
He admitted that he gets a little nervous when out of his comfort zone. And he encouraged the students to be confident in their craft so that other people's opinions won't rattle them so much.
Kenny G autographed a saxophone that had been auctioned off earlier this week before leaving CBC on Wednesday. The auction is part of an annual event hosted by the high school, where various items are sold every day during the week leading up to the dinner auction.
This will be the 53rd year the fundraiser takes place, occurring on Dec. 6. It's the school's largest fundraiser, which aims to raise up to $1 million for student programming, teacher development and interactive learning spaces.
Christina Schellhardt, vice president of stewardship and constituent relations at CBC, said Kenny G's visit became possible through a former school board member who met the artist on a plane years ago and has remained friends with him ever since. Schellhardt's husband, Tim, actually won the auction bid for the Kenny G-signed saxophone, but she declined to share the amount the instrument ultimately sold for.
All proceeds are going to the school, she said.
"This year, our cause and our funding need is about accelerating the innovation and the academic progress that we make here," Schellhardt said. "We're actually preparing our students for jobs that don't exist, and it's so exciting and all the different things that we're creating interactively in our school system, in our classrooms."
Some of the students said they were impressed with how personable Kenny G was in person. Sixteen-year-old sophomore Duane Shoals plays the tenor saxophone.
"He's really nice," Shoals said. "My granny is a really big Kenny G fanatic. I've heard a couple of his songs, and he deserves the position he's in right now because he definitely does have that iconic sound, especially his circular breathing. Hearing that out of his mouth, that like, practice does make you better, it really does change things."
Band director Tom Broussard said he's always stressing that music is both a vocation and an avocation.
"I think Kenny G is the perfect example of that, because his actual degree is in accounting from the University of Washington, and he's a professional saxophonist, and we currently have students who are engineer majors and other majors (like) pre-med who are playing at their university bands right now, both jazz and non-jazz. So we're really excited to have him here," Broussard said.
In light of that, senior alto saxophone player Sal Baldanza said he aspires to flourish in his career and continue playing music.
"I hope to become a doctor of some sort, but I would absolutely love to keep playing casually," Baldanza said. "I love playing saxophone. (Kenny G) really reiterated that you just got to get out there, keep going and just really dedicate time to your craft."
Broussard noted that the school offers a unique rock band class with about 15 students currently enrolled. They learn how to navigate live sound and run soundboards.
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