Portland State University Magazine Fall 1991

Sautter works with student Sugar York, a junior in music education. They never made it back to New Jersey. Sautter's mother liked T exas so much that she decided to take a chance, settle in, and find a job. The choice was fo rtuitous-it gave him proximity to North Texas State University, which had , and still has, one of the best college jazz bands in the country. "T exas was where it all came together for me," Sautter says. It was the combination of a new state, a new high school, and an old band director. "The guy had wisdom and experience. Like a lot of you th, I wanted to play brilliantly right away-do it all right now. Of course I wasn't able to." But Sautter did advance, with some patient and gifted guidance, to the point where he was awarded a 14 PSU music scholarship to North Texas. With the scholarship came exposure to university band instructor John Haynie, now in his 80s, who had a national music reputation . "Just about everything I do with my students comes from what Haynie taught me," Sautter says. Much of Haynie's legacy is techni– que: proper breathing, correct use of air, tone and intonation . But more important, the man taught Sautter what it meant to work and grow in a highly structured setting. "As the band leader, he was Mr. Discipline personified ," Sautter says. "! may have thought, and I was probably wrong, that I had better ideas, but I never questioned his authority. I learned from him what it means to fo llow a 'maestro."' Sautter spent several years after graduation from North Texas playing in orchestras and soaking in art in Europe. He returned to the United States in the mid-1960s to complete his master of music degree at Washington State University. In 1969, hearing that the O regon Sym– phony was looking for a first trumpet, he drove down to audition. Desp ite being 45 minutes late because of incorrect directions, and performing what he thought were several frazzled interpretations of the trumpet solo from Stravinsky's "Petrushka," Sautter's skills were singularly impres– sive. He joined the Oregon Sym– phony, and, shortly thereafter, the fac ulty of Portland State University. Throughout the years in Portland, Sautter has produced his share of students who have gone on to play profess ionally. One of the most noteworthy is Timothy Morrison,