After a few years of listening to proper instruction and dedicating my time to mastering saxophone performance, I was in a prime position to make the Florida All-State Concert Band in 10th grade. The summer before the audition had me spending hours a day practicing my required musical works. If I stayed consistent there was no doubt I would make a top position in the band with my audition that September. Proper practice and preparation put me in the best position to succeed in making the All-State band. To begin with, every great journey has a beginning. I was 12 years old when I started playing alto saxophone in my middle school Symphonic Band. I had played clarinet for a few months before that but had little interest in it. I started teaching myself how to play the saxophone and in a few weeks had beat …show more content…
I maintained first chair for the entire year. That next summer I started private lessons with a local saxophone instructor who was once a world-class performer. This was the start of a variety of teaching across all aspects of performance that increased my skill and tenacity on the saxophone. I became one of his best students if not his best very soon because unlike most, I listened to his instruction of proper practice and did the exercises I was assigned. The next year I was in 8th grade and was under similar circumstance. Throughout high school I competed in numerous competitions and auditioned for honor bands. After failing my first All-State audition on alto as a freshman, I had begun musical training on the tenor with little experience in 8th grade jazz band. Throughout the next year I had become versatile on multiple saxophones: alto, tenor, and baritone. By the summer of 2015, I was preparing for my next All-State audition. This time I would be auditioning on tenor saxophone, for my instructor and I had learned my intonation was much better on tenor than alto. Although the instrument