How valuable or detrimental is having a discernable style?

[tbdana]

I've never really developed my own style, I'm just someone who can copy a lot of other styles. On one hand that allows me to be pretty versatile, but on the other I'm not a player where people can hear something I play and instantly know it's me. But I've been toying with the notion of throwing all that overboard, and taking command of my own individual style, for better or worse.

Sometimes it's worse. Frank Rosolino used to lament that he didn't get more studio work, but was only called for solos. Both of those were due to the fact that he was so instantly identifiable when he played. OTOH, many of the gigs he did get he got specifically because they wanted him.

I've always prided myself on being a chameleon: someone who can play a wide variety of styles, with a wide variety of approaches, and do them all with some authenticity. But these days I am starting to doubt that is an asset. Maybe it's even a detriment.

My thinking "back when" was that being versatile would give me more opportunities and open me up to doing a wider variety of gigs. But in the end, I'm nobody. Just a ghost. Not someone anyone can quantify. Not anyone about whom people say, "Wow, I really dig her interpretation." And when I die there will be nothing left of me.

So now I'm thinking being stylistically versatile just makes me fungible. And that's not good. Rice is fungible. No one cares which grain of rice they get. One grain of rice is as good as any other. There's nothing unique or special about a grain of rice. No one ever stood in line overnight to get into a grain of rice concert. (<-- Yeah, I know that's a stupid sentence, but it amused me, and after all, that's what's really important. ) There's not a single thread on this forum about how awesome some versatile player is who just blends with any situation. There are thousands of good trombonists we never talk about because they don't have their own identifiable sound.

What are your thoughts about developing an identifiable sound, one that makes you stand out rather than blend in? Good? Bad? Neither?

[AndrewMeronek]

It's pretty much inevitable that someone will eventually develop their own identifiable sound as they mature as a musician.

Except - where this individuality is drilled out of them. There are an awful lot of orchestra audition chasers who have ingrained the lesson that in order to win an audition they need to sound exactly like someone else who the audition committee expects. Not just trombonists.

[tbdana]

It's pretty much inevitable that someone will eventually develop their own identifiable sound as they mature as a musician.

Except - where this individuality is drilled out of them. There are an awful lot of orchestra audition chasers who have ingrained the lesson that in order to win an audition they need to sound exactly like someone else who the audition committee expects. Not just trombonists.

Yeah, that's rampant on the audition circuit.

But is it a bad thing? Or a good thing?

Symphony orchestras are not known as bastions of individual style. Especially with trombones, it's all about blending with the section.

[AndrewMeronek]

But is it a bad thing? Or a good thing?

Good or bad, that's the gig. Meaning, I think that valuation is individual.

[Doug Elliott]

The ability to do everything well and blend in as if you belong there (grain of rice, not a pebble) is a huge asset and exactly what I have always tried to do - orchestra, small group jazz, big band, society band, brass quintet, orthodox Jewish weddings, etc. The only things I don't really do or care much about are typical wedding bands and trad jazz.
At this point I think I do have my own style and that's also an asset.

[Burgerbob]

I don't think many people winning auditions have no personal style.

[brassmedic]

It's pretty much inevitable that someone will eventually develop their own identifiable sound as they mature as a musician.

Except - where this individuality is drilled out of them. There are an awful lot of orchestra audition chasers who have ingrained the lesson that in order to win an audition they need to sound exactly like someone else who the audition committee expects. Not just trombonists.

You're auditioning to be a part of a brass section. You can't have a sound that's completely different than the rest of the section; it won't blend. If you're playing a solo part, though, there is room to show your own interpretation. In fact, you are expected to. I have never heard of an applicant being rejected because s/he didn't imitate someone else's style in a solo part.

[Posaunus]

I've never really developed my own style, I'm just someone who can copy a lot of other styles.
...
So now I'm thinking being stylistically versatile just makes me fungible. And that's not good.
...
There are thousands of good trombonists we never talk about because they don't have their own identifiable sound.
...
What are your thoughts about developing an identifiable sound, one that makes you stand out rather than blend in?

Dana,

We all are (probably) capable of "developing an identifiable sound." That could be beneficial in some cases - e.g., Rosolino, George Roberts, ..., who got many gigs just because of their unique (at the time) persona. But many performing opportunities do not require - even discourage - an individually different sound (or style); think orchestra, brass band, most big band sections, etc.

Ask your friends who make a living in the Hollywood or New York studios - they survive (many of them handsomely) because they are chameleons; they can sublimate their own style and create whatever trombone sound that the arranger or producer desires.

Is your objective, at this point in your life, to get a few specialized gigs where they want "the one and only Dana" to perform - and be "talked about," or to find various ensembles here you can fit in with the group and enjoy making music?

[Fidbone]

Best way to develop an individual voice is to compose and play your own music.
Particularly in Jazz and as a jazz soloist. That way you can truly be you without boundaries.
Anything else you have to fall in and play the style of music as it’s meant to be played.