He’s got rhythm, he’s got music; energetic, ecletic, innovative: that’s Polanco-Safadit
by Adam Tobin
It is obvious to anyone who encounters music instrctor Pavel Polanco-Safadit that he is very energetic, as he readily admits. That energy signifies a deep passion and love of music, shown as he leads Earlham’s jazz ensemble.
As the band dives into a few bars, Polanco-Safadit becomes animated, paces the aisle like a dancer, moves to the rhythm and beat and throws his body to the feel of the music.
At one point he notes the band’s sound is becoming cheesy.
“I used to stay in the Hilton Hotel twice a month and I had to cover my ears while walking the hall because the jazz music was so cheesy, so let’s not fall into that trap” he said.
Polanco-Safadit is the newest addition to the music department. Hailing from the Dominican Republic, he is in his first semester as the new jazz ensemble and salsa band director and is in his second year as an instructor at Earlham.
Polanco-Safadit has also initiated Earlham’s first salsa combo simply because he wanted to do something different.
Aside from the two ensembles, he also teaches jazz improvisational piano, classical piano, Latin piano and composition. He will also step in to teach the theory class next semester, as music professor Forrest Tobey will be off campus.
“We hired him to teach it and he’s taught a number of classes at the college level,” said Tobey.
Polanco-Safadit would like to incorporate the study of avant-garde and modern music in his composition seminar.
“I want to promote contemporary musicians like Luciano Berio and Karl Stockhausen,” he said.
Polanco-Safadit’s musical experience is a journey rich with schooling and performing.
At the age of 14, he learned classical piano from a missionary in the Dominican Republic and by 15 he was already teaching the instrument.
After a brief stint with the computer sciences, he decided to follow in his parents’ footsteps and study medicine.
“I wanted to do something with my hands, so I thought about becoming a surgeon” he said.
When Polanco-Safadit met up with his former piano instructor, however, his advice was to stick with music.
“He told me, ‘music is for you,’” Polanco-Safadit said.
Pursuing studies and a career in music, Polanco-Safadit and moved with his wife Emily to Kentucky and Wisconsin before moving to Indianapolis three years ago. Exhausting travel time and touring took up most of his time during his first years in Indianapolis.
“Sometimes I would play three gigs in one week,” he said. “For instance, I would fly to New York in the morning and then fly back to Chicago in the same day to do two gigs in two days. I don’t miss that, but I do miss playing.”
During that time, he played with many notable jazz greats including bassist Richard Davis and saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell.
Polanco-Safadit performs occasionally, including a performance at the Latin Festival earlier in the fall, where he sang with Kapítulo Uno, a group that blends salsa, bachata and merengue styles. He is also part of a group called Direct Contact, another salsa and bachata group that has performed at Earlham.
“When I perform, I want to be with great musicians, and Direct Contact is fantastic,” he said. “We only practice once, which is at the live show.”
Tobey spoke to Polanco-Safadit’s connections to other musicians.
“He’s connected with a network of top-flight musicians,” he said. “We are lucky the guy is settled in Indy and that he’s available.”
He added, “What’s great for us about Pavel is he has a great Latin jazz background and holds a doctorate in serious Western composition, which is a great reason to bring him on board.”
Reflecting on Polanco-Safadit’s initiation of a salsa combo at Earlham, Tobey said, “There is a lot of enthusiasm for salsa. This is an obvious thing: we want to play to someone’s strengths and so Pavel decided to take a Latin direction, and Latin studies are serious on campus.”
What Tobey and other music professors found especially attractive about Polanco-Safadit as a candidate was his eclecticism.
“Pavel has what all of us have in that we’re eclectic, so that lets him fit in nicely, opposed to just having someone who is trained only rigidly classical,” Tobey said.
At one point music professor Dan Graves asked him if he could do a ballad, poking fun at the fact that Polanco-Safadit is fast-paced and a ballad has a slow tempo. Polanco-Safadit eagerly accepted the suggestion.
“I’ve been in almost every situation with musicians all over the spectrum,” he said. “Although I haven’t tackled heavy metal yet.”
Polanco-Safadit is always willing to experiment and try new things, and his energy is contagious.
“He has a lot of energy and it’s really infectious. It transfers to us and it makes us better performers,” said sophomore Anna Hetzel, who works with him in the Jazz Ensemble and the Latin Jazz Combo.
“His passion for music has inspired me to work harder and try new things,” she added. “I like how personally he works with each one of us. Even if we are in an ensemble we feel that he is giving us personal attention.”
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