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Sometimes you just have to cut the line.��

That’s what saxophonist Tia Fuller��(MMus’00) was thinking outside a��2006 audition for Beyoncé’s all-female��touring band.��

Fuller was then rehearsing her own��album also; time was precious. The odds��were long and the audition line wrapped��around the corner.��

“I’m not waiting eight hours,”��she thought.��

Talking with someone she knew,��Fuller, then 30, politely finagled her way��into the line without a ripple.��

Good thing, too: She was called��back for another performance and��eventually got a ring from Beyoncé’s��music director.��

“Beyoncé specifically asked for you,”��she told Fuller.��

Narrowed to 150 candidates from��5,000, Fuller was among 10 musicians��who made the final cut.��

As an active member of Beyonce’s band��from 2006-2010, she toured the world for��eight months of the year and rehearsed��for three months.��

“We went to every continent��except Antarctica!”��said Fuller, who grew up��in Aurora, Colo., and began��playing classical piano��at age 3, adding flute and��saxophone before she was��a teenager.��

While touring with��Beyoncé, Fuller founded��the Tia Fuller Quartet in��New York.��

“Nothing lasts forever,��so I wanted to remain��visible on the jazz��scene with my quartet,”��she said.��

When Beyoncé’s band��went on break in late��2010, Fuller took her own��act on the road. In time,��she also planted a foot in��the academy, accepting��a full-time professorship��teaching in Boston.��

In one 24-hour period in��January 2013, she received��a teaching offer from��Berklee College of Music��— and a call from Beyoncé��to rejoin the band.��

“After lots of prayer, I said ‘Yes’ to��Berklee and ‘No’ to Beyoncé,” said��Fuller, who teaches in the ensemble��department. “At Berklee, it’s flexible so��I can tour, play, stay visible and direct��eight different ensembles.”��

By now, she’s got four albums of her��own, most recently Angelic Warrior.

“I merged what I’d learned from��Beyoncé about marketing and sequencing��a show into creating my own story,”��she said. “I now have an idea about��how to integrate R&B into the jazz��world, constantly tailor-making set��lists for different audiences.”��

Her biggest challenge is balancing��her teaching and touring schedule��while starting a business, a booking��agency called Elthopia Productions.��

“I need to maintain a balance in��everything and not feel guilty if��I am taking time��for leisure activities,” she said.��

That includes sitting down occasionally��on her couch.

Photo courtesy Tia Fuller��