My Identity-Personal Narrative

A home, a haven, an encompassing warmth, an ambivalent feeling of tranquility and fervor, a feeling of complete control yet complete vulnerability are all the feelings the saxophone kindles within me. I began playing the saxophone my freshman year and since then It has become part of my identity. It has become a place for me to truly be free to express whatever it is I wish to express. There are no boundaries to the story I can tell. Whether it is a Bossa nova describing a beautiful wedding, a prelude tracking the adventure of a ship in a storm, or a smooth jazz tune looking at a cloudless, starry night, the feeling of euphoria is the same with each story. The idea that with just twelve notes I am able to communicate an infinite amount of stories

I learned auditions were to be held for the high school wind ensemble for the first time in history. The other saxophonist had been playing since middle school so in an attempt to make up for lost time I began playing everyday for two hours. I was very happy with the progress I made, but I did not perform at the level of quality at which the other saxophonist played at. My teacher gave me the options to either play an instrument I had previously played or leave the band at the end of the semester. If it had been any other instrument I may have had been willing to switch instruments, however, I had a newfound love for the instrument and was not ready to give it up so I decided to join the Jazz band. Even though I was not the best I kept playing because I simply wanted to and, my choice led me to discovering a new passion. For the ten years I had been playing music, music was always given to me as notes on a paper, but Jazz band introduced the concept of being given a blank page that I could fill with anything I