Kaelan Decman has become a beloved member of the San Diego Symphony while playing multiple one-year contracts with the Orchestra. He is kind and compassionate, a really fun guy, and brings incredible energy to the music. He has become part of our SDSO family! Following years of pandemic delays, this season SDSO held a national bass audition. Kaelan won, finally winning a full time permanent position in the orchestra. Several months later Kaelan won a position in the LA Phil. Sadly for San Diego, he has already played his final concert with the SDSO.
In May 2022 SDSO cellist Marcia Bookstein interviewed Kaelan over Zoom for this article.
What will you miss about San Diego?
The weather here is better. I will also miss the Orchestra — I really like the awesome warm dynamic here. It really feels like a family, strengthening one another. Other orchestras don’t have that feel. This is hard to leave behind. I’m grateful for this San Diego chapter of my life.
You are one of many SDSO bassists who have left for LA Phil. Is Dennis Trembly still there? Peter Rofe?
I’ll be the fourth member of the San Diego Symphony who “graduated” to the LA Phil: Oscar, Jory, Peter, and now me. Half the LA Phil bass section was previously in the SDSO.
How old were you when you first discovered the bass?
That’s a good question! Not because it’s an easy one to answer. My father was an electric bass player. He was one of if not the most major influences in my life. He was very open to me doing anything, whether it be going into music or sports, or academics, all of which I tried. I felt the strongest pull towards music. “You could try the bass. I could get you started.”
It was around the age of 12 when I started the electric bass. Around the age of high school he encouraged me to attempt to take up the double bass. It was around 13 or 14 when I started to seriously take up the double bass. All through high school I was studying privately.
Tell me about your feelings about auditions.
Maybe not anger. More like frustration, stress, being stressed out about auditions. This has happened quite a bit in my life. Even with school auditions — looming pressure and anxiety about that. Auditions have been a lot of my life for the past decade — I’d need my resume to remember all that I’ve taken, but, most recently–Minnesota Orchestra (assistant principal), Seattle Symphony, Grand Rapids principal bass, Buffalo Philharmonic (while studying at Indiana), and Kansas City. I’ve taken far fewer auditions than most people I’ve talked to. Several colleagues have taken over 30!
You practiced for two more years for this audition?
I picked up some data from my friends regarding the pandemic. It was half and half: half hit the books, went back to basic technique, method books, started working on audition or solo work from scratch. Half took a big break from bass or whatever their instrument was. That was me. I taught virtual lessons, but played very little bass for over a year. I guess it was something that I needed to do. There was no drive to do it. Looking back, it worked out, and maybe even helped me. My thinking was, after going crazy for eight years taking auditions, now maybe I can take a break.
During the break that the pandemic caused, I learned a lot about my body, myself and my mindset that I think is invaluable. I could approach it from a completely fresh perspective and not have all those years right behind me of built-up stress, anxiety and pressure. Yes, looking back this was one of the best things that ever happened to me, and I never would have figured it out without that break.
Playing the bass is very palpable. The feeling that you get from playing is, you can feel the air that you’re moving, you can feel the vibrations, the oscillations of the strings a lot more. It’s a lot more tactile than other instruments with a higher frequency of sound. I missed that during my break — to kind of shake the walls a little bit now and then is not a bad feeling at all!
How to get there with your bass?
You have to purchase a flight case. A large trunk of some sort. They run in the several thousand dollar range. You put the bass inside and check it. Before 9/11 you could purchase two seats so the bass could sit next to you. Squished in economy. Depending on the airline there you spend the whole flight crossing your fingers, hoping a crew member doesn’t toss it onto the conveyor belt.
How do salary and living expenses between the La Phil and San Diego compare?
The living costs are losing their disparity between here and LA. This cost of living is an alarming thing –- rapidly approaching the ridiculous. The LA Phil pays over twice as much as here. I think it’s around $165,000 right now, perhaps. [The salary is $165,000 base pay plus $20,000 housing allowance.] They are going through negotiations now, and musicians are confident that that will increase. Twice as much salary and the same living expense. It’s nearly impossible to buy a home with the salary here – you can’t qualify for a mortgage – unless you’ve inherited some money.
So you’ll be able to buy a home in LA, right?
Since I grew up in Lomita, which is a small blip on the south bay of the LA map I really plan to. Lomita borders Torrance, Long Beach and Palos Verdes.
Are you planning to take any more auditions?
No more auditions! No more. It’s a lot, preparing for an audition–sleep, diet, exercise, practicing every spare minute. But, oh, I still have to get up and practice!
Marcia: I can feel myself getting kind of sweaty just thinking about it.