Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam Germany
Hi Sam, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Music has always been a part of me. Somehow I knew that my path was going to include music no matter what specific angle that took. I studied and played piano starting at age 5. Singing was like breathing. Then I got the music theatre bug in high school with two productions my junior and senior year. With college music studies, my strengths developed along diverse lines rather than a singular specialty. I chose Music Ed as a major because it seemed the most practical thing to do for making a living. But upon completing the BA, my gaze shifted to think that I could possibly be skilled enough to teach college rather than high school. I continued my studies with my Master’s studies at Western Michigan University, where the diversity continued. I had a teaching fellowship in piano and accompanying, but shifted my personal studies to vocal performance. While there I was drawn in even more to music theatre performing in the city’s rich environment of college and community theatres, and eventually with a professional stint in summer stock. For complex reasons, I realized that NY and Broadway was not for me, so I moved to Dallas where I had relatives who could help me get a start there. I landed an adjunct teaching job at Cedar Valley College, thanks to my diversity again as a pianist and vocalist. While completing my doctorate in vocal performance at UNT, my teaching versatility broadened even more as I specialized in Music Theory. In 1992, conversations with my dean Jerry Cotton led to my starting to direct music theatre.
CVC (then a part of the Dallas County Community College District) was heavily a community based institution then, and FMT was very much created in that vein. Our endeavors were with both college students and folks of all ages from all over the Dallas area. When I started, I had two young sons and wanted to make sure that they could come with me to rehearsals whenever they could. I insisted that I be given freedom to select a product that would be safe for their exposure. As I frequently involved young people in productions, I also wanted to make sure the environment was safe for them. Eventually we called ourselves Family Music Theatre based on that, and developed the mission of “producing top quality music theatre that was always safe for the entire family.” To make the most of funds, my diversity paid off – I served as director, music director, vocal coach, rehearsal accompanist, and piano-conductor with a live ensemble for performances.
When I retired from CVC in 2019, our non-profit organization was formed (the Generations Institute for the Creative Arts) as an umbrella for FMT. FMT continued and we are now in the midst of our 30th anniversary season. I continue to teach voice with my own private studio, accompany professionally for area theatres, and helm FMT.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
A smooth road would definitely not be a fitting description of my path as a music theatre director. At Cedar Valley College, there had been no theatre program – so I was starting from scratch. There was no public, no base of support, no real interest. From calling on my friends, and recruiting strangers coming down the hall, casting was accomplished in the early years by the skin of my teeth. My education was all in music. I had experience performing in music theatre and a passion to do something great, but little knowledge of the real nuts and bolts that could make it all happen. So I scrapped by and learned from my failures. We had zero budget at the start, so we developed as a group of volunteers who shared my vision. With my long time co-creator Dee Longino, we created “sets on a shoe-string.” I also drew on my own diverse skill-set to save hiring others. Being too ignorant to know that what I was doing was crazy and at times beyond reasonable limitations, I kept believing that we could do great things and we did.
Funding has always been a challenge, as it is for most who work in the arts or education in general. It took years at the college, and many special folks who shared my vision, to gradually build a working budget there. Since my college retirement, FMT has been fighting the non-profit battle of pursuing donations, keeping up attendance, and staying afloat. While we had a strong start in 2019, 2020 was a different story as COVID shut down all public performances everywhere. For a start-up group, it really took a toll. But we are still here and still going.
At times, even now, there is the inner struggle of wondering if you are fighting a losing battle, if you are enough for the task, and if you have the energy to continue to make a difference. But diamonds are forged in the rough, and pearls are made from irritation. Great things come from those who persevere through hardship. Sometimes the best results are there BECAUSE of the struggle to get through.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I did a strength finder test once, and my number one strength was “connectedness”. Also, I look at what I do artistically and creatively that has the greatest impact – it is all due to “connectedness”. Yes, my individual musical and artistic skill-sets play a foundational part. But the impacting things that I have born witness to are all corporate, cooperative, shared, and empowered by those who join me to do something bigger than any of us could do individually. I have the distinct privilege of seeing a community around me – a community of those who have a shared ownership and identity in something that I may have started, but now they carry on.
I have also come to realize that as a musician, my greatest instrument is those who work with me. I play through them. I sing through them. They are my instrument. Being blessed to elicit, encourage, engage, and enable them to do their individual best in our composite whole brings me incredible joy and fulfillment. The things that WE have accomplished together brings me the greatest pride.
It’s bigger than me . . . and I cannot take credit for it. But it’s what I was meant to do. Seeing the community of artists doing something passionately and at a high level of expertise on the foundation of love and respect for each other is invigorating, rejuvenating, and with immense potential for even MORE. We say that FMT is “where art meets heart” and together we experience that.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
I think the most important lesson I have learned (and I continue to learn in more complexity and detail) is spiritual. If I clearly hear God’s direction and follow it, I can not only do whatever I need to do, but I can also thrive through any hardship. IF He desires me to do something, then I can do it by His empowerment. This gives me courage to take what would appear to be risks.
As a perfectionistic, driven, alpha type personality, I have to continuously find balance in awareness of my limits. I am a flawed individual, and my flaws teach me that I have to depend on a power greater than mine. I cannot self-power my way through life. When I do, I lose track and I flounder. When I am surrendered to His control, and dependent upon His power, I have peace. Balance is an ongoing development. I’ll probably be discovering new things about that until I die.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.familymusictheatre.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/familymusictheatre
Image Credits
FMT photographer, Bill Hall
