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"Love to Hear Someone Whistling One of My Tunes"
Passenger Profile: Kathleen Strecker
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By Kenny Kerner
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We've often told you that our TAXI members are diverse musicians. Perhaps no one is as diverse as this month's Passenger Profile subject, Kathleen Strecker. She plays a handful of instruments and has performed with just about every conceivable combination of musicians, from orchestras to marching bands to chamber ensembles. Here's her story:
Did your parents encourage you to get into music or to play an instrument?
Definitely. Both my parents played instruments in their school bands and my dad is a very talented pianist, composer, and arranger. Our styles are quite a bit different, but he certainly got me started playing the piano as soon as I was big enough to sit up on the bench.
Where did you grow up and was there a music scene there?
I went to high school in La Grande, Oregon, in the 1980s and I wasn't hooked into any sort of music scene outside of school there. At the University of Oregon, where I went to college, there were of course a zillion different bands in every style imaginable. A classmate of mine from the Oregon Marching Band was--and is--the trumpet player in the Cherry Poppin' Daddies.
According to your bio, you play several different instruments. What are they and do you have a favorite?
Well, piano and keyboards have always been a mainstay for me, and I love that you can create so many different kinds of music on keys. Flute was the first wind instrument I learned, in the school band of course; I got serious about it in high school and started really studying it. I got pretty far with it, to the point that I started teaching students of my own. I wanted to learn alto sax during my junior year when I was an exchange student in Swedish Finland, and basically taught myself, so I still feel like there's a lot of stuff I don't know about that horn. I've picked up other instruments over the years--I'm having the most fun now with my piccolo and my tin whistle.
What was it about music that really attracted you ... that pulled you in?
I'm a geek by nature and music makes sense to me in a very mathematical way. I liked the way I could control the technical side of performance--like playing the right notes at the right time--and at the same time make that performance personal and emotional. It's like mastering the rules in order to break them.
At what point did you realize you wanted a career in music?
I never wanted to make performance my career--I'm not a person who craves the spotlight. I've always wanted to be behind the scenes, composing and arranging, making the performers look good. But I didn't ever think that could be a realistic full-time career. In the last couple of years I've discovered the markets that are there and the possibilities for someone like me to be working in the field ... and it seems like with enough time and effort, anything could happen.
You've performed with symphonies, Jazz bands, dance bands, marching bands, and chamber ensembles. Why the diversity?
A lot of my lifetime, I've lived in pretty small towns--so if you're going to play at all, you have to play with whatever group is there. I love the flute parts in Rossini overtures, the sax lines in Duke Ellington, the keyboard solo in Santana's "Evil Ways"--there's something great about every kind of music.
Do you remember the very first original song you wrote? What was it called and was it good?
My piano teacher was very big on composition, and she always had her students write something for the Oregon Music Teachers Association's composition contest every year. The first piece I entered was called "Theme and Variations," and it was modeled after Mozart's original (the "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" tune). It was short, it was simplistic, but I ran across it the other day and I have to say I'm still kind of proud of it. A few years later, I entered the very first electronic piece that contest had ever received, and it won first place in the high school division. And that one I can't stand.
How did you first hear about TAXI and what made you become a member?
I think TAXI sent me some materials after a friend and I wrote a 9/11 tribute song and mailed it off to several different publishers and record companies. We didn't know a thing about the recording industry and weren't looking to sell it or get a record deal--we just wanted people to hear our song. Then a co-worker who was a singer/songwriter also told me she was a TAXI member and was excited about some forwards she had gotten. So I started checking out the site and what I found helped me decide to get back into songwriting and composing in a serious way.
What were your impressions of this industry before joining TAXI?
I had heard stories about how everything in the music industry depended on "who you know." So living on the Oregon Coast, I never figured I had a chance of getting anywhere. I think the whole electronic age has helped break down the geographic walls, and TAXI has bridged the gap between industry insiders and some really talented people who never would have been discovered otherwise.
How has TAXI helped your career so far?
It's made me get my butt in gear! Deadlines are good for me, and so is having to justify the annual membership fee! I've written dozens of songs and instrumental pieces in the year and a half that I've been a TAXI member. Some have been good, some have gotten forwarded and signed, some are pieces of junk. But I would have easily talked myself out of taking the time to work on them without the TAXI incentive. AND, even more importantly, I have gotten the most valuable musical education ANYWHERE on the TAXI forums! The members there are positive, helpful, knowledgeable, and just plain great to hang out online with. Without the help and feedback from the boards, I'd still be struggling for that first forward.
What was your proudest moment in music up to now?
Getting notified of that first music library deal was pretty awesome. But my proudest moment ... OK, every year at the holidays, my whole family gets together and we form a horn band and go play Christmas carols for retirement homes and downtown shoppers, just for the holiday spirit. And every year, I write a new arrangement of a holiday standard for us. So far, I've done a funk version of "The Christmas Song," a bari sax solo feature of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," a rendition of "Silver Bells" with Chicago-style horns, a real novelty number called "If John Williams Had Written Frosty the Snowman" and this last year's was a big band version of "Let It Snow." When we'd finished playing through that one for the first time, everybody in the band congratulated me and said it was their favorite. I recorded us doing it for a TAXI listing calling for unique versions of traditional Christmas songs, and it got forwarded! So that was pretty cool.
What future goals would you like to achieve?
Goal 1 is to buy a new computer with enough processing power to run my DAW and orchestra library without dying. Goal 2 is to put more time toward writing and recording so I can keep getting better. And Goal 3? To start getting my music heard. I don't necessarily want to make millions (though that would be nice!), but I would love to hear someone whistling one of my tunes. Someone outside my immediate family, that is!!
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Well, Kathleen, I think TAXI can certainly help you with Goal 3--getting your music heard! We've been doing it for nearly 20 years now and we're not gonna stop! Thanks for being a loyal TAXI member and telling us your story. We appreciate it.
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"With help from you guys, the music is pouring out and I'm having such fun! Thanks!"
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— Willie McCulloch,
TAXI Member
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"TAXI provided real access to a nearly inaccessible industry."
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— John Mendoza,
TAXI Member
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"I received 5 critiques for one song and each one was right on the money. The critiques and this membership are priceless!"
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— Tammy Endlish,
TAXI Member
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"In this competitive field you need all the help you can get and with TAXI, you've got a friend in the music business."
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— Richard Scotti,
TAXI Member |
"I recently got my first deal as a result of a submission to TAXI! I'm very excited to see that this actually works!"
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— George Leverett,
TAXI Member
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"We appreciate all that you do and try to do to help us struggling songwriters!"
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— Pat Harris,
TAXI Member
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"I've known most of TAXI's A&R people for years. These are real industry pros. I'd be happy to listen to anything they send me."
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— John Carter,
Vice President of A&R,
Island Records |
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"I am enclosing a check for my third year of membership in TAXI. You've got a great thing going, and it's fun being a member."
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— Thomas Hipps,
TAXI Member
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