About William Heinz
William Heinz is a Denver native. His musical life started at the age of ten when he began studying saxophone with an after-school enrichment program offered by Denver Public Schools. Once acquainted with the horn, he initiated his first inquiries into wind band literature and jazz with Colorado Honor Band. During middle school, William added Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts to his after-school repertoire and, under the keen eye of local jazz-giant Keith Oxman, he attended Denver East High School. Upon Oxman's direction, William attended Metropolitan University of Denver and pursued music professionally.
Becoming a professor of saxophone became William's professional goal during his undergraduate studies, however, like most young scholars, his college experience was a metamorphosis. As he approached the end of graduate school experience his artistic focus began to change. His artistic focus has become a lifestyle, a lifestyle converging upon creating a unique relationship with the universe. As he left graduate school, he felt that he needed to step away from saxophone education to ground himself and his personal relationship with the universe.
After completing his graduate degree, he embarked upon a spiritual journey of creative discovery. Fed up with the rigid conformity of higher education, he wanted to connect/reconnect with his creative self through a broader spectrum of experiences. For example, after tossing his graduation cap into the air, he drove, walked, and experienced most of eastern North American. To only name a few, he visited fishing museums in the Maritimes, trekked half the Appalachian trail, drove/hiked the Natchez Trace, experienced the Civil Right Museum in Memphis, meditated on Civil tragedies and triumphs in Vicksburg, walked in footsteps of Shakers, peered into the studio life of Thomas Hart Benton, and enjoyed American improvised music in Montréal, Detroit, New York, Nashville, Kansas City, and New Orleans. His goal was to soak up as much Americana as possible.
William's journey ultimately led back home to Denver. Since graduate school and his American experience, he has been seeking opportunities to further broaden his life's understanding; primarily fueled by his numerous passions. He currently works at a Kosher bakery, but he spends his free time connecting, or perhaps reconnecting, with the saxophone. He has been using the saxophone and his musicking as a method of meditation, prayer, self-healing, and self-care. The Ohio University, his alma mater, boasts a prominent music therapy department. While attending the institution he became aware of and interested in the healing properties of sound. Since departing graduate school his practical focus for saxophone and musicking revolves around holism.
