Aug 26, 2020
Alex Laing is a very cool and interesting person. He is currently the principal clarinet for The Phoenix Symphony and is coming up on 20 years in that chair. He's a very funny guy, a deep thinker and wants to leave his mark on social improvement in as many ways possible.
I was lucky enough to get the chance to work with him on a program he put together a few years back called The Leading Tone. It was an after school program where we got to work with very young students and teach them the process of working in an ensemble using buckets as a percussion instrument.
It was exciting to assist him in getting this program off the ground and to see the smile on the students faces when they got to perform in front of their classmates and their family and friends.
Alex has reached a very high level in the world of classical music which not everyone always gets to accomplish even if they pour their heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears into their work. Being the principal chair in a symphony is no small feat.
The great thing about Alex is his "real". You'll hear in this conversation that he's just one of us with maybe a little more discipline than most but still someone who I love hanging out with for lunch or a beer.
Please check out this episode to hear how all this started for Alex at a young age as we bring you on a journey all the way to his appointment at the Principal Clarinet of The Phoenix Symphony.
In part 2, we continue to talk about the current status of The Phoenix Symphony during COVID-19 and all the projects he's working on moving forward.
I hope you enjoy both parts of this interview with Alex and I can't thank you enough for listening to my podcast.