Junior Alyssa Abbott has played the saxophone and participated in school band for the past six years. She also performs outside of school. 

Q: How long have you been in band

A: About 6 years

Q: How long have you been playing the saxophone?

A: 6 years, and I haven’t had private lessons at all

Q: Did anything draw you specifically to the saxophone.

A: To be honest with you my 5th grade teacher sort of asked if i wanted to play the trumpet or the sax so I just said the saxophone.

Q: Do you ever regret not choosing the latter

A: Honestly i’ve always wanted to play a brass instrument but that’s only because we don’t have a lot of brass instruments in our band but not too much because I consider saxophone one of the most versatile out of all the instruments because you see ….. Players playing the same thing every single day  

Q: You played gigs outside of school, how long have you been doing that for?

A: About two years, it’s becoming to be more professional. My latest gig was at copper for kids which was a charity event, it was very formal. It was very fun

Q: So what’s the difference between playing with the band and doing formal gigs?

A: I personally enjoy doing gigs more. Obviously the one main difference is the money involved but that isn’t a big deal to me. When I go out to gig it’s a personal thing and I’m getting myself out there but when I’m with the band I’m getting us out there, doing gigs is much more flexible.

Q: Do you play any other instruments?

A: I’ve played bass before, I’ve played guitar, I can play bass clarinet, I can play Indian flute, I play piano and I do sing as well as write my own songs in addition to playing pit instruments but those are basically the same thing as playing piano.