Judith Saxton
I am a 35-year international musician, educator and creative artist who combines her music-making and teaching with mindfulness and movement through her 40 years of Alexander Technique study (Teacher Certified 2015 with Alexander Technique International).
Alexander Technique, developed in the 1890's was among the first modalities to recognize the mind-body connection -- the brain-body bond. Psychosomatic unity is achieved through a gentle 'unlearning' of habits and 'undoing' in order for our innate coordination to arise within activity. This is especially significant for those in the creative arts field as we generally exceed the limits that our bodies were designed for on a daily basis.
About Judith Saxton
(C) 2023 J Farley Photography
The greatest challenges as an artist is maintaining the balance of mind, body and spirit necessary to continue performing and educating at the top of their field. The energy it requires to perform for audiences, the energy given and received, and the energy needed to educate all has to come from somewhere. This energy seeks a village of sustenance, support, and life-giving resources. Residing in a community that honors and recognizes what is required to produce world-class art and instruction is not our common experience in the western world. Said another way, the safety net and the supportive ground to both build and sustain a life in the creative arts is an ongoing need, yet one that our society doesn’t always honor. My hope is to honor that need and create the space, understanding, and practical application of accessing and harnessing our energy.
Presenting and performing in any field demands an energetic outward focus, so rest and recuperation time becomes a top priority - especially within the framework and pace of modern life. Rest, Wait, Slow, and Time are some of my favorite 4-letter words – all the more because they are rarely honored and respected. Only by first coming to quiet can we effectively learn and create change.
For the creative, this need for respite is in partnership with the need to express.
Finding the balance necessary for each person’s continued creative expression is where I wish to help.
The offerings I choose to teach feature an inbuilt sustainability because they are the foundations of living a balanced, healthy life. Breath, movement, awareness, flow, connection, highlighting choice and change through pausing, and boosting the brain-body bond through Alexander Technique -- each are part of my mindful/bodyful approach. When combining these foundational necessities with the creative arts, we discover our chosen art form more easily contributes to the refreshing and renewal of ourselves, our communities, and, ultimately, I believe, illuminates a pathway to peace.
The impulse to constantly better oneself and have a voice remains present throughout an artist's life and career; my aim is to provide easier access to the energy needed for every body to attain their excellence.
Bio
Judith A. Saxton enjoys a multi-faceted thirty-five year career as an international concert and recording artist, chamber, orchestral, liturgical musician and improviser, and educator. A Certified Alexander Technique Teacher (ATI) and Registered Somatic Movement Educator (RSME), Judith aims to embody those mindful/bodyful principles in her teaching and all her interactions. Her complete program 'Boosting the Brain-Body Bond for Brass' (2022) shares her experiences in a practical pedagogy guide coupled with 10 teaching videos.
As a recitalist, Ms. Saxton has performed in the UK, China, Finland and Brasil, and concertizes nationally and records with organist Timothy Olsen, Landfall (2020), The American and French Muses (2017); and with Allison Gagnon, piano, Concert and Contest Pieces for Trumpet, the 2011 International Trumpet Guild [ITG] CD distributed globally to 5,000 members. As principal and soloist, she leads the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, and is currently Acting Principal with Winston Salem Symphony. She served 25 seasons on Eastern Music Festival (EMF) faculty with whom she recorded annually under Gerard Schwarz’s leadership. She can be heard regularly with orchestral and chamber organizations across the eastern seaboard of the US.
As an Alexander Technique teacher and Conn-Selmer artist/clinician, she has offered her musicianship and body/mind expertise for over 200 master classes at conservatories, festivals, conferences and Eldercare facilities world-wide including ITG, EMF, Road Scholar, Trumpet Festival of the South East and International Women’s Brass Conferences (IWBC).
A keen advocate of new music, she continues to ardently promote, co-commission, premiere and compose new works; in this capacity, she has soloed with a variety of orchestras and bands in the US and abroad. Her Krazee Kreativ initiative, begun in the pandemic, launched her compositions and her Landfall CD to nation-wide audiences through ‘Pipedreams’, EMF’s Virtual Chamber festival, and the American Viola Society 50th anniversary Festival features. She is a founding member of ‘Trompettes Soniques’, an all-women trumpet ensemble who debuted at IWBC 2022.
For several seasons, Judith was principal and soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Illinois, South Bend, Illinois Chamber, Wichita, and Key West/South Florida Symphonies, New York Women’s Ensemble and Virginia’s Blue Ridge Music Festival. She was guest principal for the St. Louis and Roanoke Symphonies and extra with Chicago, North Carolina, Charlotte, Milwaukee, Grant Park, Sydney (Australia) and Harrisburg Symphonies. Additionally, she was a section member of ten Chicago-area orchestras. In demand as a versatile musician during her decades-long freelance career, Judith performs a variety of shows, commercials, recording sessions, big bands and combos from Hong Kong to Chicago and beyond.
Chamber credits include Chicago Symphony Brass Quintet, Southeast Chamber Brass, Wichita Brass Quintet, UNCSA brass quintet (founder) and Jazz Septet, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Sierra Brass (Japan tours), Musica Harmonica, Tromba Mundi, Millar and Monarch Brass ensembles. She was North Carolina Brass Band’s founding principal solo cornet and soloist for two seasons and soloist for their first two recordings. A full-time member of two dozen ensembles, she has recorded for over 20 labels. She has written and recorded for Vincent Cichowicz Long Tone Studies and Flow Studies Volumes 1 and 2, and has contributed articles to both ITG Journal and the Brass Herald and two books: Arnold Jacobs Legacy - Sound advice for developing brass players (2015), and Arnold Jacobs: His artistic and pedagogical legacies in the 21st century (2022).
Past teaching positions include ten years at University of North Carolina School of the Arts as Artist/Faculty and Brass/Percussion Chair, tenured Associate Professor at Wichita State University, and positions with Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Illinois Wesleyan and Northeastern Illinois Universities.
Ms. Saxton has been a multi-term board member for EMF, ITG, National Trumpet Competition, International Women’s Brass Conference, and Fulbright National Screening Committee. A graduate of Mansfield (PA) and Northwestern Universities, Saxton’s most influential teachers were Vincent Cichowicz, Arnold Jacobs, William Scarlett, Susan Slaughter and Michael Galloway.
Judith relishes collaboration with her colleagues and students in her worldwide guest artist residencies, and enjoys coaching Trumpet/Brass, Alexander Technique, Brain-Body Bond and LIFE through her ‘Free Flow’ Studios In-person and Online. Her students can be found performing and teaching around the globe. In 2019, Judith joined less than 1 % of the population and hiked Rim-to-Rim of the Grand Canyon.
