SAXOPHOBIA: THE CULTURAL TRAJECTORY OF THE SAXOPHONE IN ART MUSIC
Heinze Room
1:45pm - 2:15pm, Saturday 28 July, 2018

SEMINAR: ROSS CHAPMAN (Melbourne)

The saxophone’s cultural profile has excited both enthusiasm and opprobrium throughout its relatively short history: a history which makes for fascinating, often entertaining reading. Despite its intended use in high culture musical settings, the saxophone struggled to earn the acceptance of the institutions, composers, and indeed players so critical to such success. Instead, following the cessation of Adolphe Sax’s Saxophone Class at the Paris Conservatoire in 1871, the instrument found a more welcome home in low- and middle-brow musical settings across a rapidly changing world. This presentation analyses the historical and musical currents of this early period, explores how the intersection of music and morality affected cultural life - often at the saxophone’s expense - and concludes with an overview of the establishment of classical saxophone traditions we recognise today.

ROSS CHAPMAN
Ross Chapman is a saxophonist and music educator based in Melbourne.

Ross regularly performs with the Australian Army Band Melbourne, having enlisted in 2009. From saxophone quartets to music theatre to symphony orchestras, he can be found performing in a variety of commercial and community music settings. Since 2014 he has also led the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Victoria’s Saxophone Ensemble.

In 2011 Ross was awarded the Bachelor of Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, completing an Honours thesis on the saxophone's unique position in art music. In 2014 he travelled to Brussels for the Musical Instrument Museum’s SAX200 exhibition and conference, and in 2017 commenced a Master of Music (Musicology) focusing on pre-Jazz Age attitudes to the saxophone both in Australia and overseas.