A Career In The Music Industry

A Career in the Music Industry
6-15-09
Mike Zucek-Regional Sales Manager
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Like many of you, I once dreamed of playing my instrument for a living, but reality set-in after I left college and realized the tremendously competitive nature of such a proposition. Fortunately, in addition to my love of music, I also had a keen interest in what we made music with; in other words, the instruments and related equipment of our art.

So one day I walked into a small band instrument repair shop and talked the two proprietors into hiring me as an apprentice repair tech. At that moment, my life’s direction changed, although I hadn’t yet realized it. I abandoned the thought of becoming a professional horn player, as well as a band director (my “backup” career choice) and embarked on a successful life-long career in the music products industry.

The experience I gained learning to repair musical instruments at that little shop led to a position with a larger company. When an opportunity opened up in the sales dept, I took it. When I had an offer from a downstate music store that would double my meager salary, I took that. The experience I gained there led to an offer from a major west coast company, Rico, which just happened to be the world’s largest maker of woodwind reeds, among other things, so I took that. After 21 great years there (and an MBA with Rico’s help) my wife and I moved back home to the Mid-west and I worked as a District Manager for Yamaha for nine years. This, in turn, led to my current position at D’Addario, when they decided to purchase…. Rico!!

So what’s the point of all this? Simply that one can have a great career in Music without playing for a living. Did I play at all? You bet! For most of my career I played in a great variety of local orchestras, opera companies, church groups and bands. Along the way “rubbing shoulders” with some pretty well known artists and continuing to enjoy the thrill of making music. And if I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Looking for the perfect reed…

With the new Reserve baritone, Rico is completing this month the launch of the whole Reserve line particularly dedicated to classical saxophonists (of course, it doesn’t mean that other players cannot use it. Just try it!).
After my experience of 10 years working for Henri Selmer Paris and now 3 years as Market Development manager for Rico / D’Addario, I had the opportunity to meet and collaborate with many key classical saxophonists.
But what means being a classical saxophonist? Do they have specific “needs” in terms of reed set-up?

All is about looking for the perfect reed… for the «magical» reed with the perfect sound «ready to play”!
· A warm and full sound with a lot of resonance,
· A good articulation on the whole range of dynamics and for all styles and techniques,
· Longevity as being sure that the selected reed will go thru the all concert is an imperative.

But let’s never forget that weather conditions and human factor could change so many things!
Therefore, despite the high quality of reeds, musicians have no choice but learning about how to select the real good reeds that will give them comfort in each different situations.

Some musicians may advice to constantly listen to your “voice”… The sound that is in your ears and one good reed will indeed help you to find your sound. It is a very challenging balance to find but feeling comfortable remains the most important. The reed is therefore a kind of “second nature” for classical saxophonists.
The Rico « Reserve » saxophone reed line really helps the musician to find a great sound quality.
Great cane selection, specific design for classical repertoires, strength consistency especially if you protect your reed with ReedVitalizer tools.
Then, be confident in your reed to build Your sound!

Festival de l'anche

10 years ago when organizers announced that a music festival celebrating the use of reed cane, known locally as "canne de Provence" would be held in the small Mediteranean town of Hyeres, everyone said it couldn't be done. However the Festival de l'anche (Cane Festival) did happen and has grown considerably from its humble beginnings to a lively and exciting event.

This year will mark the 10th anniversary of the Festival de l'anche and Rico is proud to once again be a sponsor of the events. The 3-day festival takes place May 29th through May 31st in Hyeres, France (about 140km west of Nice).

Concerts are held at several concert venues including the Casino de Hyeres, the Théâtre Denis, the Olbia Archeological Site, and Rico's own Roso France plantation. Featured guest artists include top name acts like The Benny Golson Quartet, Manu Dibango, and many other exciting concerts. The final concert on Sunday evening is held outdoors in Rico's cane fields and is a beautiful setting to hear one jazz music's greats - Benny Golson.

An exhibt of woodwind and reed companies is complemented by workshops and other displays of crafts and products that make use of cane. These include calligraphy, paper making, and even the manufacture of the calameau, a wind instrument made from cane!

A highlight of the festival is the weekend tours of Roso France, Rico's cane plantations. These tours are guided by Mr. Jean Francois Rico who helped build Rico's plantations starting in the mid 1970s. Tours take place Saturday and Sunday morning and a free shuttle leaves from the Casino to Roso France.

Applications For Rico Plasticover

Applications for Rico Plasticover

By Mike Zucek-North Central Regional Sales Manager

My blog this month gets away from packaging and instead presents the Rico Plasticover reed and its uses.

Plasticover has been around for decades, having been developed by a Hollywood musician named Herman Hansen, as early as the mid-to-late 1930’s. Herman was experiencing the usual problem for “doublers” in that the reed on his alto sax tended to dry out and wrinkle while he was playing his clarinet. As a result, it was not ready to play when he needed to switch back. He gave lots of thought to this problem and came up with the idea of spraying a very thin coat of a safe-to-use “plastic” on a natural cane reed. This tended to keep the reed “wet” while it was not being played; thus ready to play no matter how long his double instruments sat on their stands. This coating worked so well that the “plasticover “application was adopted by Rico, who quickly brought the Rico Plasticover to the market, and also provided a full time job for Herman at the Rico factory until his retirement in the late 80’s!

But Plasticover benefits more than just the woodwind “doubler”. The same properties that keep Plasticover ready to play also make it less susceptible to changes in humidity and temperature, making it a terrific outdoors reed and perfect for concerts in the park. And because the Plasticover coating provides greater projection, it’s a miracle worker for the marching band director who needs to help the woodwinds balance the brass! This same projection has also endeared Plasticover to many Jazz saxophonists; just ask Dave Koz!

Remember that the Plasticover reed is a real cane reed that plays with the response and sound that you’d expect from cane. You owe it to yourself to give Plasticover a try.

Reedvitalizer Break-In

Break-in Procedures Using the Reed-Vitalizer System

In my last installment I talked about the importance of the humidification of reeds. In this blog I would like to discuss how to use the Reedvitalizer system to help speed up the process.

A typical break-in can take a very extended amount of time, but using the Reedvitalizer system can help speed up the process.

Here is a suggested setup for the efficient break-in of brand new reeds.

1. Take a brand new box of reeds and put the reeds in their reed holders in to a 73% Reedvitalizer bag for 12 hours.

2. Play your reeds for 30 seconds to 1 minute then wipe the extra moisture with your fingers, put them back into the Reedvitalizer bag.

3. Repeat twice.

4. At this point, it is a good idea to move the reeds in to the Rico Reed Case. The reed case is air-tight and humidity controlled with our 2 way patented humidity control system.

Your reeds should be very consistent and have better longevity!

C Melody Sax reeds

A frequent question we get at Rico from players relates to what type of reed to use on C Melody Sax. As many of you know, the C Melody sax is pitched in C instead of Bb for Tenor or Eb for Alto. While there is limited ensemble use for C Melody Sax (wind and military band), the fact that it doesn't transpose makes it a versitle horn for reading music written for C instruments.

The C Melody sax is larger than the alto sax and smaller than the tenor sax. With regards to mouthpieces, a true C Melody mouthpiece is similar to a tenor sax mouthpiece. With this type of C Melody Sax mouthpiece, bass clarinet like Rico Royal or Grand Concert Select reeds work well.

However many people simply use an alto sax mouthpiece on C Melody Sax. If you are using an alto sax mouthpiece then alto sax reeds should be used such as Rico Royal or Rico reeds. You can also try the Reserve Alto or Reserve Tenor reeds.

Special Reed Boxes I have Known...

Special Reed Boxes I Have Known…

By Mike Zucek-North Central Regional Sales Manager

Last month, I left you with a teaser…regarding the old brown Rico “wood grain” boxes. Well, would you believe that the original Rico boxes were actually constructed of real California redwood! They were beautifully made, with dovetailed corners and a paper “cigarette pack” seal. They had a full length fabric hinge and to top it all off, were wrapped in orange/yellow cellophane. (These are now real “finds” for the collector!) After WWII, redwood was getting expensive and a change was in order to help keep down the cost of the reeds. Why not eliminate the wood, but keep the wood appearance! The “wood-grain” box was the logical result. This package continued in use until the early 1980’s, when the now ubiquitous “orange box” came on the scene.

In 1983, the Rico Company decided to produce a new package that eliminated all the layers of tissue that were used to separate the reeds. The Dispensapak was the result and was an immediate…….FAILURE! We knew right away that something was wrong as many customers promptly spilled the reeds on the floor while trying to figure out how to operate this new “trick” package! We immediately performed a costly re-design based on the time proven “Novapak reed holder” and learned a valuable lesson about the “KISS” principal in the process. Our quick about face, while not totally avoiding some embarrassment, allowed us to finally arrive at the right package and, more importantly, avoid forcing our mistake on the customer.

In 1987, Rico produced a special “sampler pack” for its line of Mitchell Lurie and Frederick L. Hemke Premium reeds. These packages held 8 reeds in Novapaks with an assortment of strengths from 2 ½ through 4 ½. They were in attractive, three inch square, “shrink-wrapped” boxes that were clearly marked S A M P L E R on one end flap.

Likewise, a few years later, when Rico introduced the ground-breaking Grand Concert clarinet reeds in ¼ strengths, another sampler pack was made available. These were based on the same package that the GC reeds were normally available in, but with the addition of a gold band seal that covered three sides of the box. On this seal was printed “Compliments of Rico International” and “Reed Strengths 3, 3 ¼, 3 ½, 3 ¾, 4” and finally “Complimentary Sample”. The white box held “standard blank” models and the dark blue box held “thick blank”.

Finally, perhaps the most unique reed package ever produced by Rico….the “Inaugural Reed Sampler”… “In Commemoration of President Bill Clinton, Music Enthusiast January 20, 1993”. These reeds were actually presented to president Clinton at the White House, but also made available in limited numbers to attendees at the 1993 Winter NAMM show. Each sampler consisted of an assortment of 4 reeds (2 Rico Plasticover, 1 La Voz and 1 Rico Royal in a Reedgard IV) for soprano, alto, tenor or baritone sax. The box was white with a blue banded overwrap, and had a picture of the White House at the top front. The Rico logo was in red and each reed, rather than being stamped with a brand name, was instead marked “1993 Inaugural Reed”. The Plasticover reeds had white lettering and one each of the remaining reeds was in red and blue.

In some future postings, I’ll get into the packaging history of Rico family brands that for many years never bore the Rico name!!!