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| Interview with Kathryn
by Mary Williams
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 Mary:
I know you are not teaching at UNT this year to concertize and
accompany. What events do you have coming up? Who do you accompany?
(still your husband? and others...?)
Kathryn: On Oct. 31-Nov. 7 - I am on tour with Dr. Eric Nestler
(professor of saxophone at UNT). We will be giving concerts at UNT,
Texas Tech, University of Toledo, Northern Kentucky University, Blufton
College, and Cincinnati Conservatory. Then I am home for a week and Nov.
15-19 I will be in San Angelo, TX as staff accompanist for the Sorantin
Competition. (This is a "regular" gig each Nov.). After that,
I have a couple of Doctoral recitals that I am accompanying at UNT.
Throughout the month of January, I will be on tour with Joe Burgstaller
(a trumpeter from New York) with "The Raphael Mendez Project."
We will be presenting concerts throughout Texas on this particular tour
- Greenville, Paris, Kilgore, Corpus Christi, McAllen, Del Rio,
Hereford, and Pampa. Touring with Joe is particularly fun because I play
a solo each night on his concerts. Between the Del Rio and the Hereford
concerts, I will be working as staff accompanist for the Midland/Odessa
competition. I thought, since I was going to be in the area and had the
weekend free, why not? This is another of my regular staff accompanying
gigs. (By the way, I did a tour just this past Sept.-Oct. with Joe with
concerts in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.)
Then in February, my husband (Dr. Leonard Candelaria, professor of
trumpet at UNT) will be giving clinics and concerts in Hawaii. So I
guess I'll just have to go there, too!!
In the middle of March I expect to be staff accompanist for the North
American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) regional conference which will be
held in Waco. I have accompanied for several of the NASA conferences and
this past summer was at the World Saxophone Congress held in Montreal.
Then just after the NASA conference, I will again be on tour with Joe
Burgstaller. This time we will be playing in South Dakota, Minnesota (2
concerts), Michigan (4 concerts), and Ohio.
I return home around the middle of April and don't have anything
definite planned after that! Many of the places that I have played with
Joe have expressed an interest in having me back to do a full solo
recital, so I am hoping that some of that will work out in the future. I
would love to find more places to play solo recitals.
Mary: How do you manage to take children with you traveling? I
remember you took your then very small child to Europe with you a few
years ago.
Kathryn: Yes, I still take my children almost everywhere I go.
Alexander got his passport when he was five weeks old. At two months, he
was with my husband and myself on a tour of London and Sweden. Then at
four months he went with me to accompany Eric Nestler on a tour of the
Czech Republic and Hungary. (My husband was in Russia at that time.) In
fact, Eric (who is single) is very accustomed to traveling with my
"babies" because we do at least one tour every fall and
frequently another in the spring, as well. Arianna, who is now 16 months
old, has yet to travel overseas, but she has been to a lot of places in
this country! On the long tours, either my mom or my husband goes with
me to help with the kids. When they were very young - not yet walking -
I usually did not have any help. I simply would prevail upon someone at
the concert site to "babysit" for me. Of course, I usually set
this up before arrival! The only place that I couldn't make prior
arrangements was when Alexander was with me in the Czech Republic. But
there were always some "babushkas" willing to help me out -
even though we couldn't communicate in a common language we were able to
work this out! Now that they are older, I definitely need some help.
Whenever we get to a new town, I immediately find out where the parks or
playgrounds are, and I make a point to take the kids every day if
possible. On the days that we are traveling a lot, I stop at places like
McDonald's or Burger King that have playgrounds to let the kids work off
some energy. Usually, I try to practice (if it is even possible, some
days there is no place to practice) fairly early in the morning when I
am on the road. The kids usually sleep rather late - 9:00 or 9:30 - so I
can often sneak away and get some practice in while they are waking up
and having breakfast with whomever is along with me.
By the way, I am not normally a "morning" person! At home, I
usually start practicing after 10:00 or 11:00 at night. Once the kids
are asleep for the night, nothing bothers them! Earlier in the day, any
practicing is subject to many interruptions. Alexander frequently has
personal requests and Arianna is always wanting me to let her
"play." I try to be very careful about not scolding them for
interrupting, because I don't want them to come to resent my playing as
they grow up. So if they want to be involved, or just to have
"mommy time" when I am practicing, I think they come first. I
can always stay up later and do what I need to do.
Mary: What are your career plans during your children's young
years? Later?
Kathryn: I'm not totally sure what my plans are right now! My
decision
to leave my teaching position was only made late this past summer and
was predicated on the opportunities that I had available to me this
year. Certainly, a big factor was also being able to be with my kids
more. Although, when I was teaching, my husband and I alternated
teaching days so that one of us was always home with them. The
accompanying jobs that I have this year have become pretty
"regular." That is, for 7 or 8 years, I have been touring with
Eric Nestler. And Joe Burgstaller does about 50-60 concerts a year -- he
has several accompanists that he uses because no one person can do all
of his performances. This is the second season that I have been playing
for Joe; and since we work well together, I expect that work to continue
in the future. And of course, I will always be playing for my husband!
Additionally, I regularly am staff accompanist for some competitions,
and am frequently staff accompanist for Trumpet, Trombone, and Saxophone
conferences. So looking forward for at least the next few years, I
decided that I would like to pursue these types of opportunities without
the constraints of a regular teaching schedule.
As I mentioned above, I would also like to so more solo playing. I
haven't done a lot of full solo recitals since Alexander was born
because I just didn't have time between a full teaching load and all the
accompanying practice. And I decided that I really wanted to change
that. As for when the kids get older: I plan to still take them with me.
I have always thought very seriously about home-schooling (even before I
had children). Since my husband and I both have training in education
(my mother was also a teacher), we feel that we could do this
successfully. And I get very excited thinking of what wonderful times we
could have traveling together and exploring history, science, art, etc.
rather than just reading about it in a textbook. For those who don't
really know, life on the road can be pretty boring. It is great fun
meeting people and seeing new places; but when you only have a concert
every 3rd or 4th day, there is plenty of free time. And I would like to
spend that time exploring life with my children rather than talking to
them on the phone about what happened in school that day.
Also, I think that because my kids are already so accustomed to
traveling, they are very good to travel with. Both of them are usually
quite well behaved in public (I guess there can always be those
moments!) and they are very outgoing and friendly. Alexander calls
everyone he meets his "friends" and I think that is a
wonderful trait. Having traveling a lot in Russia and Eastern Europe, I
think if more people were aware of how "alike" we all are,
there would be much less fighting in the world. And I think the world
can only be a better place when our children learn to respect the
customs of others and see no racial or social barriers to friendships.
Mary: Any interesting stories of traveling with children?
Kathryn: As I said, my kids travel well. When we were delayed in
the plane (not the terminal!) for 3-4 hours in Chicago, they really did
better than the rest of us adults! Of course, I try to stay prepared
with a stash of goldfish and M & M's. The most entertaining thing,
perhaps, was when traveling by car through Montana, Wyoming, etc.,
Alexander wanted to play hide and seek. Of course, we were all strapped
in our seatbelts and he and Arianna were in their carseats. But that
didn't stop him! He would simply put a pillow or coat over his head to
hide - or over one of our heads. Then we would pretend to look all over
for the "missing person." Even Joe was drafted into this game
and found it quite amusing. It really is great to see the power of a
child's imagination!
Mary: Thanks for taking your time for this interview, Kathryn.
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