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JohnStacy

@johnstacy.bsky.social
173 followers 13 following 6 posts

Brass session player, orchestrator, composer, teacher, many other things.

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JohnStacy @johnstacy.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
When I talk about these frustrations, well-meaning (and some not) people "jazzplain" why there's a standard jazz instrumentation and this and that, and try to "teach me into my place" by talking as if I haven't been extensively studying non-standard jazz orchestration for over a decade.
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JohnStacy @johnstacy.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Don't get me wrong. My bitterness is mainly retroactive. I am satisfied with who I am as a composer/arranger, and I am writing for my own group and my own goals. I don't think it's unreasonable to wish I could even compete for awards from time to time. I think it would help to stop one thing:
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JohnStacy @johnstacy.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
I'm a little bit tired of being told that what I do is "too niche" to be considered legitimate. It's a feedback loop - you can't only give accolades to people who do things in a box, then use that as proof that people outside of the box are "too niche" to be allowed to participate.
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JohnStacy @johnstacy.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
The bitterness mainly comes from wanting to be able to get some of the accolades I've been regularly denied. I would like to occasionally be able to compete as myself, in the way I do things. It's not the biggest deal. But it would be nice. But it goes a wee bit further than that.
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JohnStacy @johnstacy.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
My writing has been complemented as "fresh". Although I am mostly satisfied with where I'm at as a composer/arranger, I do occasionally want to enter a competition because usually they provide things that would be lovely to have once in a while - having a chart played by the Airmen of Note, for one
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JohnStacy @johnstacy.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
So I'm a bit bitter that I'm basically ineligible for every jazz composition competition by default. Every jazz composition I've written that fits into my voice as a composer includes 2-4 French horns and a tuba. Although I sound like me without them, it's definitely a different "me".
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