The Incongruent: Behind the Curtain with Maksim Mintcaev, composer, conductor and maestro

Embark on an auditory odyssey with us as Stephen King and Mikhail Skornyakov uncover the melodic intricacies of forging a career in music, in our latest interview with professional saxophonist, composer and conductor, Maksim Mintcaev.  

Join us for a session resonating with insights, where every note is an invitation to explore the cadence of a creative musical career.

Transcript

Stephen: So welcome everyone to a new episode of The Incongruent. I'm here with my first year, soon to be second year, Mikhail Skornyakov,

a budding flutist, saxophonist and advertising exec of the future. We just had a wonderful conversation with my own music teacher Maksim Mintcaev.

Mikhail, tell me, how did it go?

Mikhail: I think it went really well, even though it was rather short in my opinion. But, t here are lots of key takeaways for me personally, especially on the part that I actually have to push myself to actually perform because in my personal practice with Saxophone once I found the sound sweet spot when I'm confident with all the scales, I can practically play any sheet music that I wish to play.

Being this comfortable but after speaking to your tutor I really should rethink maybe pushing myself out of my comfort zone to actually perform so I can grow. But yeah, I think this was a key takeaway for me personally.

Stephen: Wonderful stuff. Thank you very much. And so here we go. We're going to look straight into it, and here is our new episode of The Incongruent

Hurrah. Okay. I'm here today and I'm really happy to be joined by two amazing musicians.

I have Mikhail Skornyakov, who is one of my students in the Advertising PR and Branding course at Middlesex University, Dubai. He is also a phenomenal saxophone player. At least, that's what he tells me. And I'm also here joined by my own teacher and tutor, Mr. Maksim Mintcaev. Who's who's name I regularly destroy.

And we're here just to talk today unusually about the idea of music as a creative career option So just to begin with, I thought I'd just allow my two great guests here to introduce themselves.

If it's okay, Maksim, I'm going to ask Mikhail to begin and then we'll go into your career. Is that okay?

Maksim: Yeah.

Stephen: So Mikhail, tell me what's your music history? What's your background?

Mikhail: Yeah. So basically in 2018, my family decided to move from Russia to Switzerland and so I changed schools and you know, changed my whole life.

And starting in a boarding school in Switzerland, many of my friends were already like established musicians and you know, it was just to fit in in the whole boarding school with my friends and stuff. So this is how it started. So I picked up because one of my best friends was Armenian.

So I actually started with Armenian Duduk. so I played Armenian Duduk for a year and studied it. I had a private tutor then. I actually, in 2019, I moved to flute. From 2019 to 2020, I played flute. And then in 2020 I actually decided like, cause I really enjoyed my, one of my favorite musicians that I listen to are from Sade and Ben E. King you know, so it's mostly jazz. So I decided I have to try a saxophone. So, I asked my dad to get me a saxophone. He got it and yeah, then I just started it. And yeah, here I am now, four years later, I enjoy myself.

Stephen: That's great. That's a wide variety of different instruments, bringing you to where you are today.

Maksim, how does that match with your own?

Maksim: I think we have lots of things in common. Because I used, I also used to shift from one instrument to another. As as usual as most of us, I started with flute. Block flute in German, it's called.

And then I shifted to clarinet. First, it was a small kids clarinet and then a proper clarinet. And then I was like, no, it's not a cool instrument. I want a cool instrument. And I decided to switch to a saxophone. And this was my first conscious decision in life. I think just move to from clarinet to saxophone.

I was very proud of myself. Yeah. All done. And then, yeah, then there was some other instruments also like a professional musician, we all are supposed to know how to play piano. Of course, we also all play piano, not professionally, but as some average middle a level, something like that.

And during the time of my college studies, I was also practicing bassoon, just because we all were supposed to have some Additional instrument apart from our main So I choose bassoon just I don't know. It's cool also And very interesting very like it's a lovely instrument. I really love it.

Yeah, Oh, yeah, also I tried to do but it was too hard for me But it's a really nice instrument. It is very flexible, very the sound is so rich and so soft and nice and so pleasing, it's a really good instrument. But I found it a bit hard for me because For one simple reason.

It's just because when you play the duke, you're supposed to do lots of bendings. You need to bend the pitch a lot. And you do this not only by your breathing and lips, but by also by, by moving your fingers smoothly. So by opening and closing the holes very smoothly and slowly. And uh, as soon as I have some scars on my fingers, I cannot do this very smoothly.

Mikhail: Yeah, I definitely agree you on the Duduk point. That's like  one of the main reasons why I decided not to take it any further.

But at the start, I guess I was just really lucky as I was learning it from my friend. And his family has been playing Duduk like for generations. So he's really good at it. And What actually started my passion for wind instruments as a whole. And yeah, but definitely hard.

Maksim: Totally support your passion. Go ahead.

Stephen: In terms of making money. Cause that's one of the things that we're all about. We're all about the coin here, Maksim. You said you're a professional musician. Tell us a little bit about how you progressed from college to becoming a professional music maker. Cause you down here are the few things, you teach, you perform or have performed, and you're also a composer. Would you tell us a little bit about. Those three different paths that you've gone on?

Maksim: Yeah. One of my, one of one, one of important people in my life, he once asked me like Maksim what are you really doing? There's so many things.

Can you already decide? Or something like, I don't understand you. To me it seems, it looks sometimes also like this. Like I, I'm trying to shift from one thing to another. Just because I'm interesting in everything and we'll trying to Check different stuff, but look some how it started in the age of three My parents brought me to the music school and here this is where everything began.

They started teaching me music, uploading some knowledge into my head, and I was not understanding what's going on, but little by little, this stuff started making sense, and I decided to become a musician. First it was after music school we have college is not something it's not a higher education like in America or something, it's associate's degree.

Something between the ninth grade in the year in the school and the university. in the college I was studying saxophone. And then I decided to do conducting. So my higher education, my specialist degree is a conducting.

And while I was  doing conducting I started also making some music and now I'm doing, both. I'm in conducting, music and sax.

Stephen: What is the biggest thing that you've conducted?

Maksim: The biggest thing that I conducted it's Tchaikovsky Orchestra. We have the Tchaikovsky State Orchestra in Moscow and there is a very famous orchestra in Moscow, very big, conducted by Maestro Vladimir Fedoseev, and I was a participant at his master class. It was a big big And a big joy for me. Also, there is another experience like I met my own orchestra in conservatory because I was bored Because I had some jazz background now i'm studying classical music and I decided okay, why not?

Join this together Join some musicians, you know Some of my friends I have some bass players drummers and I was like they are practicing You know alone in their rooms and I was like why not, you know joining together and making a band So we started doing an orchestra. It was like 25 people. It was symphonic jazz orchestra.

and we used to do some Music like dance music for balls we have a venus ball in conservatory and also We were invited two times to Austria, to Vienna to perform, to do the same thing in Russischer Ball in Hofburg. It's the the king's residence in Vienna.

Yeah, they also host a ball there. So yeah, we were invited to perform with some also interesting events. And then here when I came to Dubai Me with my friend. He is also a producer. He's a musician professional and a teacher we made an orchestra here in dubai and we also made a concert into them

Stephen: How does mikhail become part of your concert? Miguel is relatively skilled. He wants to come and join your band. What would be on a musical CV that you would want him to have ?

Maksim: Okay. That's an interesting question. Let's start with with this. so called CV. Actually for us, for musicians, there's no such thing as CV. Words cannot describe how do you play. There has to be, I don't know some video, of course, right? Some portfolio. But if you want me to be more specific it is something like we have some sort of skills required to match others, for example, this type of things like good pitch, right? So when your notes like, let's say if you're playing A note can be like 140 hertz and can be 142 hertz. And these are both A notes, but they are different. And so this A note will not match the band, this is what we mean by pitch.

And the saxophone is a very flexible instrument in terms of pitch correction and bending. This is one of the requirements to to be able to match. Not a big deal, I'm just saying. So it's just one of them. Another one is, yeah, be, like, fluent with the The passages the scales that you are doing the fingers Be a good musician.

Yeah, first of all this is actually what I had to start with. what is your inner musician we need to see what's your inner musician, what can you bring to the To the whole band and if you match, welcome. It is a very good thing to, to have different personalities.

Musical personalities, different music opinions, if because we all improvise. So we share our vision, right? Our musical vision. When you're improvising, you're sharing your musical ideas. And since music is kind of language, we say that, yeah we use it.

We're welcoming different opinions different, personalities So yeah, I think this would be the criterias what kind of musician what kind of skill set you have

Stephen: Mikhail, do you have any plans to perform in Dubai?

Mikhail: In Dubai? I'm not sure. I'm probably just at home that's it, but I don't have that much experience performing really for anyone cause I think when I was playing was actually practicing it professionally, like proper music school, proper tutors and stuff like that.

And concerts and the end of the year exams and stuff like that. And I just found myself that I don't really enjoy it. So when I started saxophone, I made sure that I'm just doing it for myself and that's it. That's why haven't really performed that much yet. However, I do have experience playing with backing tracks and stuff like that.

But I think when it comes to playing live and still with someone in a band, it's a bit. different than playing with a backing track. Yeah, I don't think I can say anything more to be honest.

Stephen: Okay. So Maksim, where, that's perfectly fine. Maksim what should Mikhail be doing next? He's got some intermediate confidence.

What should he be doing next to take him to that? Or where in Dubai can he go to, take him to the next level?

Maksim: So when you're a musician when you're an artist, let's say since we people were social creatures We're we You know, we like other people to be out there in this world, we would be think, bored if we would be alone in this, on this planet.

We want to share and we want even though we we're not waiting for it, but we would be happy if someone would I don't know it would be able to share our art with someone and not just give some feedback, no, share emotions. That's it. You don't need to be told you're good or you're bad or something.

You're just sharing emotions and as an artist to me, it's like kind of final destination. So you're practicing in your room alone, sitting, practicing, doing something. And then here comes the moment where. When you, you perform, like you, you walk out of your room and perform because it's actually another type of experience.

And I wouldn't recommend anyone to to steal this from yourself. If there is an opportunity to perform, it would be a really great thing because you're learning another things. You're learning how to. Engage with the audience how to like how it feels to stay on the stage, you know How it feels to share emotions how it feels to be judged or something and it also gives you some other like It challenges yourself it challenges it's and very it is it's very important

Stephen: That's beautiful.

That's very nice. Now you missed the opportunity to plug yourself like crazy there because the question was, where does Mikhail go next to to perform? And that was a beautiful answer, but Maksim, I've got, we're at the end now more or less of our time, but do a self plug, right? Where you, cause you, you organized a performance which I was able to participate in.

So how could Mikhail engage with you in your community

Maksim: There is some events, like for example, yeah, we, me with my colleagues, we host concerts I think like once in a term, so three times in a year.

We host concerts in the House of Pianos or maybe there can be different venues. It depends. And there is an opportunity for students to perform. Why not? Welcome. Yeah. This is a concert of students for other people anyone can come and listen anyone can well submit and perform That's why we're doing this because we want our students to feel the stage We want them to grow.

This is one, one place to begin with. There is other opportunities like open mics or something. And another thing is just we as everybody is doing, you can record yourself and, put it on media. This is also some kind of performance. This is also some kind of interacting with the world,

Stephen: Good. So how's the pianos? How's the pianos, which is in Alcoa's area, just next to Al Sakal Avenue, which is awesome. But in order to do that, we would, to perform anyway, you needed a teacher, a good teacher. How do we know what a good teacher is? Is a good teacher the kind that slaps your wrists?

Cause I have this idea of Russian music teachers where they're slapping your fingers and making stand on your toes and for ballet type of things. It's all of this kind of really strong teaching techniques. Is this what makes, this is what we should be looking for if we're having a music teacher?

Maksim: Yeah, of course. The best teaching techniques.

I was lucky enough not to have this type of a teacher. Cause yeah, I think I wouldn't become a musician but yeah this is not what yeah, there are other teaching techniques let's put it in this way. Apart from that there is different ways how to deliver knowledge how to download and upload the knowledge from one, like from, like to a student's head. There is different ways, different learning techniques, teaching techniques, studying techniques, And of course to me, like if if a teacher is doing, if a teacher is doing this not for the sake of just earning money but it is his passion. He devoted himself to teach, to bring education, bring knowledge to the world.

He will be interested in that and he's he will be thinking, he will be finding new ways how to deliver knowledge. And so you wouldn't, you will not expect this type of things from this teacher. Yeah, which I actually, to be honest with you I completely understand. I know where it comes from. When 100 times you say the same thing over and over again, sometimes you are about to give up. It just depends on your own personal character and strength and patience. But yeah, it's not the thing. This is, these are not the methods.

And to me personally, I'm trying my best, yeah, honestly, like really trying my best to to work on the ways I deliver knowledge.

Stephen: Any final thought? We know that the more languages you speak, they more diversify your type of thinking.

Maksim: Music is also a type of language. I would really encourage everybody to learn this new language and become a better version of yourself.

Mikael, give me a cool exit. Give me a cool exit.

Mikhail: What do you mean?

Stephen: Thank you very much, Maksime, for being here. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

My podcast is called The Incongruent. So give me, thank you very much for being here. It's called The Incongruent.

Mikhail: That's a tough word!.

Stephen: Mikhail Strony Kirchhoff, yeah.

Mikhail: Yeah. All right.

Stephen: The incongruent.

Mikhail: Incongruent. All right. All right. Yeah. I think I got it. Thanks a lot for the opportunity for me to be on this podcast. Incongruent.

Stephen: Brilliant. That sounds wonderful. Thank you very much indeed.