I know you don’t play the saxophone as your main instrument in band, and you play trumpet instead. What made you branch out into playing the saxophone?

• The saxophone is kind of like a pair of a woodwind and a brass instrument, and has a tone that all brass instruments kind of have, and all of them are similar in their own ways, like through the mechanisms. It also has a very nice warm tone in comparison to the brightish(?) tone of the trumpet, so it’s fun to switch between the different families of instruments.

Is there something that inspired you to write your own music?

• Honestly I just really like band, and when I joined it I thought: “You know, I don’t see a lot of people that do their own music,” and I see people writing music all the time online, and I wanted to try and see how it would go. And I really liked it a lot, and I started writing a lot more and more, and I had fun with different instruments instead of a piano or just a trumpet.

When you compose your own music, is there anything that you take inspiration from?

• Not a whole lot of them, but most of the time it’s simple tones from songs instead of actual melodies that are note-for-note, but feelings that I get from certain pieces of music. For example up-tempo jazz, or orchestral, or marching band-esque music.

What initially got you into band?

• My dad used to be in band back when he lived in Ohio. He used to play the trumpet as well, but switched to tuba. We have all of the band things he’s brought home from his recent trips, and he was a really cool player. There’s also a lot of fun of things you can do with band, like how last year I went to Japan. Also, music is such a fun hobby of mine, and I listen to it every day, so it’s nice to go more in depth. Usually when I write stuff it’s mostly for brass instruments or similar, like how the saxophone is more similar to a brass instrument than a woodwind instrument. When I write for brass it’s kind of a marching band style, but other times I’ll include it in a full band/orchestral kind of song with full symphonies and stuff that has other instruments than just woodwinds and brass, but also strings and percussion. But I wanted to try doing these instruments and this kind of tone they come from and writing it in a style that I’d use for marching band, and then take the music I’d write for marching band and use another kind of instrument and tone, which I find really fun to do.

So are you considering composing music as a future career?

• That’s something I’ve really looked into for a while, and with the recent career fair, I’ve got to learn about stuff like different kinds of schools and what they have to offer. There’s stuff in Iowa, and when I go on a trip there in the summer I can actually get to visit the schools and whatnot. There’s a bunch of different music programs, like Wisconsin and GCU, but I want to find a place that’s somewhat close to home, like Iowa, or maybe even on island. I also want a place that I can perform in instead of just learning how to write music and not having a band that I can actively be with– I feel that it’s probably best to have a place where I can perform and show off music that I write as well.

Does being in the school’s band give you experience to help you achieve your dreams?

• I would say so. Band is one of those opportunities that students often pass up on, but there’s all kinds of fun stuff that we do, like how we just had a trip over Spring Break, and there’s already speculation about a Korea trip. There’s also Lion Dance, that we’re going to go to Hong Kong for, and there’s just so many opportunities that we wouldn’t have if we weren’t in band, along with the people that you get to experience it with.