Successful Musicians Podcast – Episode #31: Breaking Boundaries: Embracing Versatility in Music with Sherry Finzer

Successful Musicians Podcast Episode 31

Interviewee: Sherry Finzer

Interviewer: Jason Tonioli

Hey, this is Jason Tonioli. I’m a piano player that grew up believing it wasn’t possible to earn a living and support a family with music. I’ve proven that idea was wrong, and I’ve met hundreds of other people who have found success with their music. This podcast features stories of musicians who have found their own personal version of success and fulfillment in both music and life. This podcast is meant to inspire musicians and help them believe in their abilities and motivate them to share their talents with others. This is the Successful Musicians Podcast.

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 Jason: Welcome to the podcast today. We have a good friend of mine, Sherry Finzer. I should call you the flute ninja. You have more flutes and woodwind instruments than I think anybody I know. Sherry has been well known for her healing music. You’ve played in spas all over the world, I think. You’ve done a really amazing job at getting your music on a lot of these playlists. I know a lot of artists have questions about how to do that, and I’m sure you’ve helped a lot of people in that regard. The other thing that I think is so interesting with Sherry’s background and story is Sherry has worked with dozens and dozens of artists on collaborations. You’re on more than 40 albums, whether between yourself and other people. I think that’s just an incredible talent to be able to collaborate with so many people. Welcome to the podcast, Sherry.

Sherry: Thank you so much for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Jason: Speaking of all these different albums that you’ve done; I want to rewind and back up to your origin story of how you ended up getting into music. Was music something you thought of as a kid? I’m going to be playing flutes and make a living playing flute. How does one go about getting there to where you are today?

Sherry: I started probably like most musicians in elementary school. In a band, I started playing the flute then and I was very competitive, always auditioning for all states and different flute competitions. I did envision myself going on to be an orchestral flutist. I went through all the college auditions, and then I had such burnout just from all of those years of practice because they want you to practice five to six hours a day. It was like I didn’t really have much of a life during high school, so I had major burnout and decided not to go. I got married, raised a family, but I always missed playing and got back into it a little bit when my kids were little. When my oldest son, Nick, started playing trombone in fourth grade, it just made me realize how badly I actually missed playing the flute because I was trying to help him, and he wasn’t really listening to me because he had no idea that I actually knew what I was talking about. I went back to studying in 2000, seriously. At the time, I was still doing classical music. I started doing national competitions and was performing at the national flute conventions.

How did I get here? I didn’t take the traditional route of going to school. I think if you can find really good teachers and always look for opportunities, you can find a way to be a musician. I have a big birthday coming up this year, so I’ve been working on writing a book about how I got here so this ties into that. So as far as what I’m doing now, we moved from Rochester, New York to Phoenix, Arizona in 2005 and it was starting over. I didn’t know one person out here, and I just started meeting up with other musicians who play different styles of music, and I ended up playing with a flamenco guitarist and he said, “You need to learn how to improvise to play in the band.” That’s very scary as a classical musician.

Jason: You want your sheet music to stay safe and heaven forbid somebody asked you to play something not on a paper, right?

Sherry: Yeah. So, you know that fear. I started playing with a harpist who wanted to do some Latin jazz and not just play for weddings. I just really opened up myself to any opportunity that came along to learn. I always envisioned it. It’s still an education for me so if somebody came along today that played a different style of music and wanted me to play, I would spend time learning how to do it because I’m always trying to learn and create new opportunities. 

As far as New Age music, I was also a group exercise instructor for many years, and I had recorded an album called Desert Journey. Nobody can find it. It’s been taken off the shelf. It was not my music. It was music that I recorded with other composers. A little bit Latin, a little bit New Age, a little bit flamenco. I did a fundraiser for the YMCA where I was teaching here in Phoenix and a woman purchased that CD, a woman who had come to my classes. She came into my class one day, a couple of weeks after the concert. I think she probably had Parkinson’s. She didn’t tell me exactly what she had, but she told me that her hands would always shake and when she put my CD on, her hands would stop shaking. She could write, she could put her makeup on. Nobody had ever said anything like that to me before. I was like, wow, that’s really quite powerful and that’s not even my music. That’s just me playing somebody else’s music. That’s when I wanted to explore creating and composing my own music. That started back in 2009 with my first CD Sanctuary.

Jason: That was right about the time when Pandora was really coming onto the scene and a lot of these artists got their big breaks in that relaxing music genre even.

Sherry: Yeah. People who listen to Pandora, once you get your music on Pandora, they never take it down. So that original CD that I recorded is probably still spinning on Pandora and I had to contact them actually because it’s not my genre anymore so when people would go to listen, they would hear that old album and it didn’t really fit what I was doing. I think it’s still there. That might be one place people can find that.  Yeah, that’s basically how I got into creating, soothing, relaxing and healing music and I would do a lot of solo gigs in Scottsdale. They would have art walks, and I would just go down there.  I got paid to play, but I would set up my sound system and my table with my CDs and sell my CDs and then people would come back and say, oh, I love the CD. I use it to fall asleep too. Still, I have that classical mentality where it was like, no, you’re supposed to listen. It still took me a while to understand how music could be used as a tool and for wellness.

The universe has kept opening doors for me, and I’ve just followed through those doors. Like you mentioned, I’ve done many collaborations now over the years, and I’ve always seen those as an opportunity for me to expand my musicianship and my knowledge. I love playing with other people because everybody has their own very unique style.

Jason:  Very cool. Just thinking, as you’ve worked with multiple artists, and I’m sure there are several that will come to mind, but are there any specific, maybe even in those early days, things that you learned as an artist coming in to try and collaborate with people that… You were given some younger musicians or that classical musician some thoughts or ideas on how they can do that better. What types of things, looking back, did you learn in getting thrown into a recording session or when you talk with one of these… You make a new friend and they’re like, hey, let’s do something together. What things have you learned can help that to really flourish when you do get into a situation where you’re working with somebody?

Sherry: Well, I think you always have to like their music, first of all. Otherwise, you’re going to be in a situation where you’re creating something that just does not feel good or feel right. I’ve had to learn that. There have been a few circumstances where I’ve started recording and collaborating with other musicians, and it just didn’t feel right and our ideas were very different and it just didn’t work, so I’ve had to walk away from a few projects. That would be one thing is to make sure you really enjoy listening to the music of that particular artist. 

Then, you have personalities that you have to deal with as well but luckily, most of us in this genre are very nice and very warm and very open and very giving so that really hasn’t been too much of a problem in this particular genre for me.

Jason:  Got you. In some of these recording sessions, as you look back on… I’d be curious to know, what’s some of those very memorable sessions you’ve had that really stand out in your mind? Why do they feel special or what made them special?

Sherry: Well, you met Darin Mahoney, my guitarist that I formed with up in Salt Lake. We were in the studio together in 2013. Well, that’s when we released our recording. It took us a while. Probably took us a year, year and a half to get the recording done. Every time we were in the studio, it felt magical. When you have that feeling that you just created something very special and very magical, it’s such a high. It’s just like, wow, what just happened? I’m sure you’ve had that feeling, too, playing with other people. It’s hard to explain, but if you’re a musician and you’ve had that happen, you know what I’m talking about. Well, music is a language and when you know you’re speaking that same language with the other artist is just… It’s like euphoria for me. Darin and I had many of those moments in the studio, and we still have them when we play together, too. We’ll get through a song and just look at each other and it’s like, wow, that was so moving. It doesn’t happen with everybody, but it happens with a lot of the people that I have collaborated with. It’s just been an honor to record with so many different artists.

Jason:  Got another question for you. You’ve worked in studios a lot of different times and probably with a lot of audio engineers. You’ve probably done some of it yourself as well. If you were talking to a class of audio engineers that were trying to think, okay, how do they get better? What coaching would you have for that group to really bring out those special moments for the musicians that you’ve seen?

Sherry: Well, I am challenged with technology, so yes, I can record myself here. It is a challenge. I’m not great at it so I prefer to go to a studio. I would say the best studios and engineers that I’ve worked with are also musicians themselves and they’re not just sitting there pushing records. They’re really listening to the music. If they know you, they will say, that was good, but I know you have a better take on you. Let’s do it again, so somebody who’s really working with you and wants to bring out the best in you. How they learn that I’m not sure. I’m not sure.

Jason:  I’ve seen it in many situations where sometimes the artist thinks they were doing good, but it might need to be better. I think the hard part is that audio engineers, if they tell you, Sherry, based on their reaction, that’s going to affect how you’re feeling about things and I think, as you’re saying, the best ones will in a positive way help bring out the best in each person they work with.

Sherry: When I was doing my first album, the Sanctuary album I was talking about, my engineer, John Hererra, there was one day I was trying to record one of the tracks, and he said, “You’re just playing too much. You’re playing too many notes.” I was still thinking classically, and I was getting really frustrated. He said, “Let’s end the session for today. Just go home and think about it.” I was like, what do you mean, go home and think about it? I need to do this. And he’s like, no, you’re playing too many notes. Go home, think about it, come back another day, so to have somebody that can do that for you, so you don’t end up with a crappy recording, somebody that really knows you’ve got a better take in there somewhere.

Jason: I think some of the time, I know for me where you’ve got an hour or hour and a half drive just to get to the studio. It’s probably something you’ve planned out for weeks or months in advance to go down to that studio time and you think you’re prepared; you think everything’s going to go well. I think some of the hardest lessons I’ve learned are that luckily, I’ve been able to have somebody say, look, just be able to even be honest with yourself, I’m just not feeling it today. It’s not coming and flowing, whatever word you want to use to describe that, and cut it at one hour, hour and a half of being frustrated and not dragging out five hours to try and suffer. It’s going to be hard for that poor audio engineer to suffer through it, too. What I’ve realized is, boy, if you’re not filling it, they’re not going to fill it either. There’s maybe words of encouragement or things you could do to help get back in that zone, but I think that’s probably one of the hard lessons I feel like I’ve had to internalize as a musician is just recognizing when you’re in the zone and when maybe when you’re not and it’s okay for both.

Sherry: Yeah. There was one instance where I was just going into the studio as a work for hire to record tracks for a pianist. I was having such a stressful day. I got there and I asked John, I said, all right, I can’t record yet. I need to calm down. I said, can you just build me a track to play to? Some Synthes pads and so he laid down a track and I just played my base flute. For me, I was thinking of it as a breathing exercise. Take a deep breath, play a phrase, wait, take a deep breath, play another phrase and I ended up with this 22-minute-long track, which was therapeutic for me. I didn’t think I was even going to release it and I did on my album acceptance, and it’s been one of my most popular tracks. That was my therapy session. People were actually listening to my therapy session right there until I could get my head in that space to be able to record and do the work that I needed to do.

Jason: I’m curious. One of the things I’ve learned when I’m playing piano for vocalists is I perform better, I play better when I’m actually breathing the same way that vocalist would breathe, or like an instrumentalist. The violins, I play with my violinist a lot, but phrasing that at and as an accompanist, if I’ll breathe at the same time. Just curious if you’ve ever found that with your guitar and some of these other instrumentalists you played with, do they follow your breathing when you’re taking that solo or have you found that makes any difference?

Sherry: I’ve never really thought about it, but now that you’ve said it, I bet we do, especially with Darin, because we’re on the same plane – playing together. We’re just somewhere else. We can both play with our eyes closed and know when the other person is coming in. We. don’t even have to look at each other. I would imagine there’s some reaction to the breath there.

Jason: It’d be an interesting thing. I think it’s one of my big takeaways, having played with a lot of different people is, as soon as I started breathing in and out as that soloist was doing the same way, all of a sudden, especially vocalist, it’s really obvious with that, but all of a sudden, the piano accompaniment will follow more the breath in and go down. I’ve never really heard anybody else talk about it, but there’s one of my secrets I’ve learned over the years, I guess.

Sherry: Yeah, it just puts you in sync with the other person. 

Jason: Got you. Is there any trick you’ve had for connecting with some of these Grammy nominated people or getting your music into the spa, some of these bigger playlists? I know you’re playing sometimes. I think you made it on some of the airlines. What’s the trick for that? Is it just to go look it up and don’t be scared to go for it? Or what advice would you have for that struggling musician that thinks, oh, I can never do that?

Sherry: Well, there are many musicians who do everything themselves, which I have been one of those, but my album transformation with Darin Mahoney, we hired a promoter to get that out to radio. That’s when I saw things start to happen for me and more opportunities opened up. The following year, I released a solo album, and I was going to hire another promoter, but I thought, you know, let me try to do this myself. I wanted to save the money, so I spent hours and hours and hours researching, finding the radio stations, and finding the right contacts. I self-promoted that and it did really well. Then I thought, well, if I could do that for myself, I can do that for other people, too. That’s when I started my promotions company and then I started expanding my label, too. You can do it yourself. It’s a lot of work. Or you could hire a promoter to do it for you if you have the money.

Jason: Just putting in the work done is what I’m hearing.

Sherry: 20:41 It’s being pleasantly persistent and not just giving up at the first no. Many of the programmers are very busy and they just don’t respond. You can reach out in a calm, pleasant manner via email. Don’t get upset. Don’t say, why haven’t you listened to my music yet because that’s automatically going to shut the door right there. Just be pleasantly persistent and hopefully you will get a response back one day. It takes time.

Jason: Awesome. One other thing that I think is unique about you, a lot of people probably haven’t even heard of this place. There’s a very unique recording studio in Colorado that you’ve been to especially for the wind instruments you play. Share a little bit about that and what that location is.

Sherry: Yeah, it’s called The Tank, and it’s in Rangeley, Colorado, which is a four-hour drive from Salt Lake. It is an abandoned water tank that was originally built for the Rio Grande Railway system. It’s 68 feet tall, I believe, just under 70 feet tall and it was moved to Rangeley. I can’t remember the town it originally was built in, but it was moved to Rangeley to be used by the electric company. It was set on this hill across the street from the electric company. An engineer came along and said, if you fill that with water, the hill is going to collapse, so they hadn’t thought about that. It remained there empty again and a sound engineer, Bruce Ogden was passing through town and some townspeople took him into the tank to hear it. Then he launched a whole kick starter program to save the tank. It’s now a performance and recording space, great for soloists. The reverb in there, it’s a natural reverb that can last up to 45 seconds. It’s just fun to play in there because you will hear your music coming back to you. Then you start playing off your music that’s echoing back to you. It’s a very special space for me. 

I’ve recorded my fifth album coming up this year at the tank, that’s all-solo flutes and because I have such a variety of flutes, I can go in there. I just bring everything with me. I usually play all of them while I’m learning. Because I’ve learned to play by ear, which is another thing we can talk about, but I’ve just learned to play by ear, which is difficult being a classical musician. Once you do that, that opens up so many doors as well. There’s learning how to improv. I can just go into the tank and just have some ideas. I like creating for people and I like learning about their story, maybe what they’re going through in life. I go in there and create a song for them. Sometimes I let them choose the flute they want me to record on. I just think about them and what they’re going through, and I just play.

Jason: Play the soundtrack to what they’re doing, what’s happening to them.

Sherry: That’s what I have, and I love to do that. I love to create for other people.

Jason: Awesome. Last question I have for you. What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given when it comes to music?

Sherry: Yeah, that was probably learning to play by ear. Really, that is what has opened up so many doors and not being scared to try something new.

Jason: Got it. That’s awesome. I think trying something new and not being scared goes so far. I don’t know how we overcome the classical training side and open that world to help people feel comfortable, but it’s a game changer for sure.

Sherry: When we’re classically trained, everything is supposed to be perfect, right? We learn perfectionism, and it’s hard to let that go. It’s hard to let that go and do your own thing. I remember thinking when I was recording that first New Age album, what are the other flutists in the classical world going to think? I’m playing three notes through this whole song because I’m trained to play 40,000 notes in a minute and I’m playing three notes. I had to get out of my head and out of that thinking. That would be advice. Don’t be afraid to seek new opportunities and try new things because you might be somebody out there that is doing something for the very first time that nobody else has ever thought of, which is very cool.

Jason: You could be a game changer to open up a whole bunch of new doors. Great advice. Well, Sherry, thanks so much. If people want to find out more about you or listen to your music, where would you like them to go?

Sherry: They can always go to my website, SherryFinzer. Com, but I’m on all the streaming services so you could just type my name in there to Spotify or Apple Music. I still have CDs. I have boxes of CDs if anybody has a CD player. Those you can buy on Amazon or Bandcamp.

Jason: Awesome. Well, Sherry, thanks so much for your time today and I appreciate you.

Sherry: Thank you for having me. It’s been a pleasure.

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