2008 Woodie Awards
Admissions officer moonlights as a jazz club musician
Jackie Ryan
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Steve Freeman has an addiction.
'¿½It'¿½s a compulsion,'¿½ he said, '¿½an endorphin generator, where I find my zone, my happy place.'¿½
And, like most addicts, Freeman considers his addiction '¿½safe'¿½ and makes no attempt to hide it. His office in Wesley House is covered in jazz posters.
And not just any jazz posters'¿½posters with his name on the bill.
By day, Freeman is an admissions officer for Drew University. By night, he is a bass performer at Shanghai Jazz in Madison and multiple other venues in New York and New Jersey.
'¿½I'¿½ve always been a jazz artist,'¿½ he said. '¿½It'¿½s in me'¿½ I grew up in a culture where we heard jazz all the time.'¿½
Freeman described himself and most jazz musicians as introverted.
'¿½We use our instruments as our mediums of expression,'¿½ he said.
Freeman then demonstrated the nature of jazz musicians by dropping his head, closing his eyes and playing air bass.
He explained that unlike pop music performers, jazz musicians are not about the visual aspect of a performance.
'¿½We rely on a listening audience, and the audience accepts that,'¿½ he said.
While Freeman has been '¿½cognizant of music from the mid-1950s forward'¿½ and has been practicing since he was 8 years old, he also contributed a significant part of his life to the academic community. A Drew alumnus from the class of 1970, he went on to graduate work at Georgetown University in German Philology.
'¿½I'¿½ve always enjoyed the German language for the puzzles involved,'¿½ said Freeman, who was a German major at Drew. '¿½I became an expert in the field of Germanistics.'¿½
After Georgetown, Freeman taught high school German in the public school system for 10 years and was also a professional translator, working mostly in the medical field. He then became a carpenter, because he needed something '¿½radically different.'¿½
'¿½After teaching in the public school system, I needed to pound nails into wood for six days a week,'¿½ Freeman said.
This image is much different from the soft-spoken man who told his story from behind a thick grey beard and heavy eyebrows. The only nails in his office are the ones holding framed political cartoons on the walls to his left and right. His desk is spare except for a laptop, some papers, his glasses and a small bronze statue of a bass player.
Occasionally lifting a ballpoint pen to his chin, he explained how he ended up back at Drew.
In 1986, then Dean of Academic Affairs Edye Lawler'¿½who was Freeman'¿½s German professor when he was at Drew'¿½asked him to teach German classes at the University on a part-time adjunct basis, and he accepted. This eventually evolved into a full-time adjunct position.
'¿½I thought I could work teaching into my carpentry day,'¿½ Freeman said. '¿½I taught for a semester and was invited back. Before I knew it, I had taken on a full-time course load.'¿½
After 16 years as a professor, Freeman, who was also freelancing as a jazz musician, decided that his teaching career was taking too much time away from his music.
'¿½I wanted to play more,'¿½ the self-proclaimed '¿½hired gun'¿½ said. '¿½My music career was growing, and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunities.'¿½
But Freeman was not ready to leave Drew.
'¿½There came a point when I needed a change,'¿½ he said. '¿½But I have a long history with the place. I understood the culture and Drew students. I was well-suited for admissions because I can speak freely about the place.'¿½
Freeman began his work with the office of admissions in February 2002 and has since conducted about 2,500 interviews. He has only been interviewed about three times in his life, including his interview to get into Georgetown.
'¿½I felt a little nervous [when I was being interviewed], but only because I wanted to come across as well as I could,'¿½ Freeman said, describing his interview for Georgetown. '¿½I knew I was well-qualified, so I was confident.'¿½
When conducting interviews, his first concern is that the student does not feel insecure.
'¿½I'¿½m not really testing them,'¿½ he said. '¿½I want to know who they are'¿½what makes them tick. The questions I ask are designed to elicit a response'¿½but I want to see where the question takes them. I want to get to know them with as little tension as possible.'¿½
Freeman said that he sees the value of putting interviewees at ease and allowing them to be themselves.
'¿½I like speaking to people in this context,'¿½ he said. '¿½People tell me I should have been a therapist.'¿½
Since interviews at Drew are optional, Freeman emphasizes the power a strong interview report can have in contributing to a student'¿½s scholarship. He began describing the technical aspects of the process but stopped mid-explanation.
'¿½God, I sound boring,'¿½ he said.
However, Freeman'¿½s face lit up when he spoke about students that he remembered interviewing.
'¿½Over the last four years, about 10 students stood out as significantly superior,'¿½ he said. To win this title, Freeman explained that a student needed to possess a combination of intellect, character, world experience, maturity and self-confidence. One of these students currently attends Drew, he said.
After a pause, Freeman, who wears a bass pin on his lapel, turned again to the wall behind him.
'¿½This is my wall of musical pride,'¿½ he said, pointing to the posters and reminiscing about each performance. '¿½This is much of how I like to see myself.'¿½
When he was finished with his day, Freeman explained that he was going home to prepare for a gig at Shanghai Jazz. He planned to nap for about 20 minutes, put on a black shirt, black jacket and black pants '¿½like jazz musicians do'¿½ and focus on the performance ahead of him.