2022 Senior Series: Bijon Watson

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“I’m a professional musician. I play the trumpet and I’m an educator as well. I grew up around Boston, Mass. I first went to school as a computer engineering major at USC, and a music minor. Both my parents were engineers and they didn’t want me to major in music. It was cool, but I ended up coming back to music after being in the engineering field and not enjoying it.

After leaving USC, I ended up working towards becoming a professional musician. I stayed out in California in the LA/Hollywood area and did a lot of freelance work for a while. I had the opportunity to record and tour with Michael Bublé, Natalie Cole, Justin Timberlake, and playing on "American Idol" and "Dancing With the Stars," and all of these amazing opportunities that helped me really grow my career as a musician.  

As a result of those gigs, I had the opportunity to grow as an educator. I was teaching for about 15 years, teaching middle and high school. I started a couple of programs at Orange County School of the Arts, it was a jazz and commercial music program and a wind ensemble program. That was where I realized I had a love for education as well as professional musicianship. I realized there was a way to merge those two things in the arts to get practical application to students.  

But there were things I still didn’t know and that I had to learn about in terms of the business and industry side. I found as I was trying to book acts and trying to promote myself, and get my own music in different venues, I was working with people who didn’t have musical experience in these performing arts centers. The Arts Management Program at UMass was great for me. It allowed me to merge the world of education and professional musicianship that I had and give me that piece that I was missing. From a management standpoint, understanding the nonprofit world and understanding how performing arts centers work. [It’s important to me] to build from a musician’s perspective, a lot of times the positions such as artistic director, executive director is not held by people who have been musicians. [Because of this, sometimes] they don’t understand how to truly engage with the artist.  

Getting my degree through University Without Walls, Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Arts Management has been great. It really has helped me understand better how to deal with being in the arts from a business perspective. A lot of times as artists we don’t pay attention to the business side of things because we are so focused on our art and our artistry.

Having already attended college in a different degree field, being able to study something that you are really interested in (not that I wasn’t interested in studying engineering at the time), I’m able to understand how these courses will actually impact me right now and in the future. There’s no substitute for that type of knowledge and having the ability to pick and make it work for you.

University Without Walls makes the world a lot smaller. It’s different from the traditional way of going to school for four years and study one thing. It adds more flexibility in achieving the goals that we have as a student or what careers people may wan to pursue. It puts those options out there, and a more readily fashion, as opposed to being directed in a standard studies situation. It really helped me understand that my experience is valid. Too many times in a college setting, especially for people who are returning to school or doing a shift in their career. It allows us to really see what’s possible for us in a more focused and decisive way.

There are still times when maybe you overextend yourself because you want to finish something in a timely manner. But I think you realize time goes by faster than you realize. You start to learn how to pace yourself, and how to say no to things which is a challenge. We get so caught up in trying to complete things and staying busy that we don’t have time to sit and reflect on what we have done and what are accomplishments have been so far. The only way to learn from your mistakes to is if you take that time to reflect."

Bijon Watson '22 is a world-class, renowned trumpet player in the University Without Walls program. His career as a musician and educator spans more than 25 years and has taken him around the globe to perform for audiences worldwide. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Watson began playing the trumpet at the age of 8. He attended the New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory School, and the University of Southern California, and was a member of the 1994 Disney All-American College Band and 1995 Disney/Grammy All-American College Jazz Band. He has performed, recorded, and toured with such acts as Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, Natalie Cole, Justin Timberlake, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, and Earth, Wind & Fire, and performed on multiple award shows, as well as “American Idol” and “Dancing With the Stars.” His film appearances include appearing in the award-winning film “La La Land” and recording on several soundtracks with studios such as Paramount, Fox, and Disney, including most recently “Despicable Me 2”, and “The Secret Life of Pets”. A dedicated educator, Watson is also an in-demand clinician that has given master classes and clinics to colleges, conservatories, secondary schools, high schools, and middle schools throughout the United States, and Europe, as well as maintaining a private lesson studio.