Florian Hoefner was born and raised in Germany, and now lives in Canada. A JUNO Award-winner, he has performed at festivals including Jazz Baltica, ACACIA Jazz Festival, Jazz in Situ in Ecuador and Tremplin Jazz d’Avignon, where his group was awarded the jury and audience awards. Florian’s work as a sideman has led to numerous additional CD releases including a collaboration with guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. He serves as Assistant Professor for Jazz Studies at Memorial University. Florian co-founded the ‘Atlantic Jazz Nights’ Series, which has seen him perform with invited guests including Christine Jensen, Shannon Barnett and Norma Winstone, with whom he’ll be touring Canada in early 2025. Florian lives in St Johns, Newfoundland with his wife, clarinettist Christine Carter, and their two sons, aged six and two.
UK Jazz News: What is the best advice you received about balancing/juggling parenthood and career?
Florian Hoefner: I receive the newsletters from the US-based author Austin Kleon. (He has written some very helpful books for artists, like “Show Your Work” and “Steal Like an Artist”). He had young kids around the time our first son, Max, was born, and in one of his newsletters he shared how he was finding time for his work in the “nooks and crannies of the day.” This advice stuck with me. The large stretches of uninterrupted time that I was used to before having kids were not realistic anymore and I had to shift to getting things done in shorter bursts. It was about savouring the minute and getting right to it. No more checking news or social media first or doing elaborate warm-up routines on the piano.
UKJN: What information or advice do you wish you’d received but didn’t (and had to learn through trial and error or on the go)?
FH: One thing that no one prepared us for is the constant stream of viruses that kids are bringing home from daycare and school, especially during the winter months. You think you have childcare figured out and count on consistent work days while kids are in daycare and school but then there are constant interruptions because you have to take care of sick kids who can’t go to school/daycare (and sometimes while sick yourself since kids are not great at keeping their germs to themselves). This problem was magnified during the pandemic when our daycare would send home any child with even a mild runny nose. Anyone who has had kids knows that a runny nose in young children is pretty much a permanent occurrence during the cold months. We had to learn to factor in these sorts of regular interruptions. Especially when working with deadlines, never leave stuff until close to the deadline because you might not be in a situation where you are able to work.
UKJN: Your top tip(s) for other parents in jazz:
FH: Try to find the help you need. Maybe you are in the lucky situation of having close relatives nearby who are willing to help out. If not, hiring people is the other option. My wife, Christine Carter, and I are both artists with active careers. Unfortunately we have no family nearby who can help us. The only way we can keep both of our careers going is by hiring help with childcare, cleaning, and even occasional food preparation as necessary. Of course this costs money and comes with other sacrifices to make it possible, but Christine and I agreed that time was our most valuable asset. While the most intensive years might be tight financially, investing in both partners’ careers now can pay off down the road, both in terms of actual financial gains and also in terms of family dynamics. It can create lasting bitterness in a relationship if one partner has to give up doing what they love.
UKJN: Best general travel/gigging/tour-with-child advice:
FH: This is a tough one. In most cases, only one of us travels at a time and the other parent stays home with the kids (and, as mentioned earlier, with help). Sometimes, however, we are involved in the same project or have simultaneous out-of-town engagements and have to travel with the whole family. The only way this works is if you have reliable childcare, and sometimes this means bringing a nanny on tour. Between travel and childcare, you might be spending more than what you are making on the gig, or just breaking even. But again it’s an investment into your career that will pay off in the long term, both financially and psychologically. And then sometimes you can have the best plans and they still fall through. We once took a nanny on the road and then she got sick and had to travel home. We did a rehearsal with little Sam on my back in a carrier and Max, our older child backstage on a computer watching Netflix. During the performance, a friend on the board of the festival agreed to push Sam around in the stroller outside while Max was again watching Netflix backstage. At some point mid-performance Netflix timed out and Max appeared on stage to get one of us to turn Winnie the Pooh back on for him! Luckily we had a dancer on stage with us who was not actively performing at that time and she was able to take Max backstage and resume his show. Otherwise he would have probably headed straight for me, the closest parent to the stage door, and pulled me away from the piano.
UKJN: What is one way that figures or structures in the jazz industry could better support parents who are working jazz musicians?
FH: It would be great if granting agencies would accept childcare and children’s travel costs as eligible expenses. On the venue and presenter side, the ability to connect with local childcare providers would be super helpful for the travelling jazz parent.
UKJN: What has surprised you about becoming a parent and remaining engaged with your professional activities and ambitions?
FH: Despite the massive changes brought on by becoming a parent, I was surprised by how quickly we adapt. Somehow work gets done in the time available. I quickly learned how to become more efficient and get things done in less time. Being a parent also adds so much richness and fulfilment to your life which, for me, has positively affected my artistic output. It gives you something to write about and also makes you consider what is really important to you.
UKJN: What boundaries have you set for yourself as a parent in jazz (could be related to travel/touring, riders, personal parameters, child care decisions, etc.)?
FH: I have had to become way more protective of my time, especially time away from my family, so I am just more selective about what I take on.
Florian’s latest album “Project Earth: The Blue Chapter” (Canadian Centrediscs label) features his wife, Christine’s chamber ensemble, the Iris Trio, with Christine on clarinet, Zoë Martin-Doike on viola (from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra) and Anna Petrova on piano. With Project Earth, the ensemble strives to illuminate the impact of human behaviour on the environment, addressing issues of climate change, pollution, habitat degradation, and biodiversity loss, while also giving centre stage to the immense beauty and wonder found in nature. The concept for the album was to combine newly commissioned poetry and chamber music to explore these issues.
Florian says this about the project: “I had the fortune of writing the music for this wonderful project together with the great Canadian poet Don McKay. In hindsight, I almost can’t believe how we got this album done. I had to write most of the music on this album while we had a newborn during the pandemic. If it had not been for our reliable nanny, Lauren, I don’t think this would have been possible. For the recording itself, we had to travel to Domaine Forget in Quebec with a 1-year-old and a 5-year-old. While Christine was recording, I was taking care of both kids while trying to catch snippets of the recording in a livestream.”
(*) Parents in Jazz was started (first as ‘Mothers In Jazz’) by vocalist Nicky Schrire in August 2022. The initiative aims to create an online resource for jazz industry professionals with children, those contemplating parenthood, and jazz industry figures who work with and hire musicians who are parents. The insight of the musicians and administrators interviewed for this series provides valuable emotional, philosophical and logistical information and support that is easily accessible to all. “Parents In Jazz” shines a light on the very specific role of being both a parent and a performing jazz musician or jazz arts professional.
