Chuck Currie
Clarinetist and Saxophonist
Chuck Currie is a clarinetist and saxophonist who has performed and recorded with the Vancouver Island Symphony, the Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble, The Band of the 15th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, Sax Noir, Pacific Blackwood, the Vancouver Saxophone Ensemble and is the proprietor of Sax Noir Studio. Chuck is a Chedeville, JodyJazz, Rousseau, Legere, Backun Canada, Vandoren, Blashaus, Selmer and Yanagisawa artist-endorser and clinician performing on Backun Lumiere Clarinets, Selmer Bass Clarinets, and Yanagisawa Saxophones.
He has performed at Canadian Music Educator Association conventions, World Association of Bands and Ensembles conferences, North American Saxophone Alliance conferences and at International Clarinet Association Clarinetfests. A reviewer of the opening concert of the Vancouver 2007 Clarinetfest reported “He did an absolutely amazing job of interpreting the bass clarinet solos in Frank Ticheli’s Blue Shades. Never have I heard a bass clarinet shape and bend notes like that…what amazing projection. The a cappella duet with Eddie Daniels in Paganini in Metropolis was also magnificent.”
He teaches at his own Sax Noir Studio, has been the Clarinet and Saxophone Instructor at St Georges School since 2002. He conducts clinics and master classes throughout British Columbia. He is the coach of the Saxophone, Clarinet and Low Woodwind sections of the British Columbia Honour Wind Ensemble. Students have auditioned successfully for the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Wind Orchestra, the UBC School of Music , the National Youth Band of Canada, and the International Honors Wind Symphony at Lincoln Center, New York. Many have won St George’s Riggs Scholarship and the Concerto Competition.
Studio rates are $85 per hour. There is no GST for music lessons in Canada. 24 hours notice is required for cancellations or payment is due.
Dozens of Chuck’s articles and reviews on players, equipment and pedagogy have been published by the BC Band Journal, Canadian Winds magazine, the BC Music Educators Journal, and Clarinet & Saxophone Magazine, Bandtalk, The Canadian Music Educator, and other international journals. His articles have reached over 25,000 reads on ResearchGate.
Chuck is a member of the British Columbia Registered Music Teacher’s Association, and the BC Music Educators Association. He was inducted as a Canadian Champion for Music Education by the Coalition for Music Education in 2010.
