Biography Essay

Ian Youngs
12/12/08
Prof. Bricker
SAGES

Professor Greg Banaszak

Looking for a college is very similar to looking for a serious relationship. You have to check if you are compatible and if you want to stay for a long period of time. It is a difficult process for anyone, but for music majors, it is much more difficult to pick an institution. Unlike most other departments, the majority of music departments are small; you meet people quickly. So you have to make sure that you fit in at the college.
A specific factor that a music major looks for in a college is the teacher he will be taking lessons with. This teacher will be like a second father or mother to the student. So picking the right institution is imperative. And that is why I chose Case Western Reserve University.
Greg Banaszak, the saxophone professor here at Case, is why I chose this school. From the moment I met him, I was amused by him. His style of teaching, his method of listening, and his playing were all unique. I respect that feature about him. I admire him as a person, and look up to him as a saxophonist. But Greg is a very complex individual, and writing a biography of him is not so easy.
One day after my lesson, I asked Greg if I could ask him some serious questions. Greg stopped writing his email, looked right at me and said, “You didn’t get someone pregnant did you?” I choked on my words trying to say “no”. I finally managed to spew out enough words to let Greg know that I wanted to ask him a few questions because I was writing a biography on him. His response shocked me so much, I could have cried.
“No. I don’t have time for things like that.” he said “You know me pretty well, and anything you don’t know, just look up online.”
I did not know what I was supposed to do with that. The person that I was going to write a paper on just said no to a request to ask him questions. But being the savvy person I am, I found a way around it.
I went around to a bunch of Greg’s upper-class students and asked them what they knew of Greg. I was relieved to find that I had gotten enough information to write a decent essay. Using my previous knowledge, excerpts from his students, and a few of Greg’s own stories, I am able to see why my teacher is so special.
Greg Banaszak’s career doesn’t begin until after high school. Greg was accepted into the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut. After his first months at the school, Greg realized that he had a lot of work to do to keep up with the rest of the sax majors at the school. He was not only playing and competing with undergrads, but a handful of graduate students and professionals as well.
Greg was determined to be one of the best. And under the guidance of Jackie McLean, the only student of jazz legend Charlie Parker, Greg attained greatness. Working and practicing day and night, Greg rose to the top of the saxophone studio, and in his senior year became first chair in the esteemed Hartt School Jazz Ensemble.
Graduating cum laude with a B.M., Greg was invited to study in Poland. This was new territory for the saxophone community. Greg Banaszak was the first American saxophonist allowed behind the “Iron Curtain” in communist Poland. While there Greg improved on his already impressive skills and earned his M.M. at the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw; with distinction.
Traveling the world for a bit, Greg was soon invited to the school that would cause him much angst and turmoil. The Centre Musical d’Annecy in France would challenge Greg far more than his previous institutions. His first day at the school, his professors took away his sax. They told Greg, “If you are not able to sing your music, how are you supposed to play it to the best of your ability?”
Flabbergasted and sax-less Greg buckled down and complied. A few years later, Greg emerged from France with an Artists Diploma, showing he had mastered the saxophone. Greg had finally completed his wish, becoming one of the best saxophonists, in the world.
Greg’s profession can only be described by the instrument he plays. His life is saxophone. Greg is a clinician for Selmer saxophones and Vandoren reeds. In the middle of lessons, Greg receives calls from Branford Marsalis, the famous tenor saxophonist, asking if he wants to do a gig next week. Then the next week I find that I do not have lessons because Greg is doing a gig with Branford…in Spain.
Greg also holds three jobs at three different schools, one of them being Case. When Greg opens his planner, it is easy to see how busy he is. He has his whole life scheduled to a “T”. He is booked so far in advance; he has planners that go until 2012. Greg is also happily married. His wife works at the CIM as a flutist.
But the interesting trait about Greg is that, he has enough time for his students. He starts off every lesson asking how our week was, followed by questions about our other classes. Whether Greg genuinely cares or not, you can tell that he cares about the saxophone player in his students. He wants to make sure his students are mentally healthy enough in order to achieve their best at the saxophone. However I believe that Greg really does care about his students. Many of his students, myself included, have received calls asking if we are doing okay, or if we are feeling sick. It is as if Greg loves us as his own kids.
I have asked myself the question, “Why do I admire Greg?” I find Greg Banaszak to be a truly amazing person. He has many of the traits that make a great human being as well as a fabulous musician.
The first trait that I admire about Greg is that he is devoted. When asked why he isn’t teaching at a conservatory, or touring the country, Greg always answers the same way; “Because my students need me more.” Greg could easily throw away his teaching career, but he doesn’t. He has all the talent in the world, and yet stays for his students. I have witnessed Greg push back his schedule to make time for the undergraduate quartet. He told the man on his phone, “These guys just sound too good for me to make it on time. I’ll be fifteen minutes late.” Greg ended up being thirty minutes late that night.
Another trait that Greg has that I admire is humility. There are many pieces on sax that I cannot play. But I attempt them, and fail horribly. However Greg does not look down on me. Instead he sits back in his chair and tells a story of when he played my piece. He tells me what I did well, and what I need to work on. He never mentions that he aced the piece, or that it made him Grammy nominated, he lets me know that he had trouble with it as well. He really emphasizes the fact that he is not some sort of a music god, just a man that practiced a lot.
Also, Greg never attributes his success to himself. He always gives credit to his mentors and teachers. He says that he would not be where he is today if it were not for people like Jackie McLean or Vincent Abato. He constantly gives them credit and respects them fully.
The last thing that I respect Greg for is the way that he lives his life. It is so fascinating to see him when he is teaching, playing, or even listening. You can immediately tell that his mind is immersed in music.
I will spare talking about what Greg thinks when he is playing because I honestly could not tell you. His musical genius is so far beyond mine, that it hurts to think about. But I can let you into his mind when he hears music. Greg is all about the feel of the music.
Greg knows every etude book for sax, as well as the pieces written for it. There is not one thing that Greg does not know about the saxophone. So quite naturally his next step would be to interpret the feel of pieces. So when I take out Eugene Bozza’s Improvisation et Caprice, Greg’s mind starts to work. Greg knows a few things off the bat.
Greg knows that Eugene Bozza wrote the piece in 1952, making it from the post-classical period. This denotes a more rigid playing style, and immediately whips out his metronome. He tells me that I need this. Even though the Improvisation is an improvisation, it has bar lines, meaning Bozza wanted a meter.
Greg also knows that the piece is written in concert D major. This means a lot of sharps for me to play. So Greg has me warm up playing variations of my B major scale. Major scales, minor scales, whole tone scales, Greg has me immerse myself in the key.
The last thing that Greg realizes is the type of player I am. He knows that I can sight read proficiently. He also knows that the metronome will give me problems. So he tells me not to worry about the mistakes I make, and concentrate on my task, the music.
Greg Banaszak told me all of this in a matter of seconds after I told him the piece’s name. He analyzed the piece, the composer, and the student in a matter of seconds. His brain works on another level.
Greg also has the ability of living a structured planned out life. Anyone with a schedule as packed as Greg’s would obviously not have time for an empty gas tank, let alone an interview. But how does Greg do it? How does he live his life through a seriously over packed little black book? The answer is; he knows his limits.
Greg has been living this type of life for most of his adult life. He has grown accustomed to what a busy life is like. His brain skips over all the useless information and processes only the good content. So when Greg hears about a recording session that will take three hours, he knows that he has to show up early and plan to stay late. He knows how recording sessions work, he knows that they always start late, and nothing goes right. So Greg will schedule the session into a slot of five hours instead of three.
Greg, since he is so sought out, is booked well into 2012. So Greg also prioritizes. He knows that his show with James Carter is more important than his gig at the Bop Stop. But he still realizes that his students come before any of this. Greg has to do this in order to maintain a healthy mind. His entire career would fall apart if he did not possess this skill.
The reason Greg is so successful is how his brain works. His work is his play. They are one in the same. You perform your best when you are having fun. And Greg is a performer. So he has fun performing. And he performs on the saxophone, so he made it his work as well. This is the secret to Greg’s success.
Greg’s success is not because he was taught by the only student of Charlie Parker; so were many other students. It is also not because he studied in Poland and France, that has nothing to do with his success either. Greg is successful because he combined what he loved with what he wanted his career to be.
Since Greg is able to perform at the highest level, he is able to teach at his highest level. He loves to perform and be in the spotlight. But Greg also likes that life for his students. He reflects on his own experiences, and wants he students to have the same opportunities. Greg teaches just like he works, and works just like he teaches.
I just had my last lesson with Greg this past Sunday. It did not go as well as I hoped. Greg sensed that I was feeling down and asked what was wrong. I told him that I felt a bit shafted on music this semester. I felt as if all I did was practice his material, and not material for my ensembles.
Greg looked at me and said two words, “So what?” This may sound a bit mean, but I knew what Greg meant. He knows that ensembles aren’t everything, and that life keeps on moving.
Greg also told me the story of how he made it to jazz ensemble at Hartt. He told me that he would not have gotten there if he hadn’t got cut his first three years of college. I left my lesson feeling refreshed, and happy.
That is the power of Greg Banaszak. That is the power of a man who knows who he is, and knows how to run his life. He makes me realize that I made the right choice about coming to Case.