While there might be a handful of school work and projects that consume time, junior saxophone player Andrew Guthrie, ’15, remains committed to performing music with his peers in the FC Jazz band. As a first year playing saxophone in the jazz band, Guthrie also performs in the percussion group at this campus. His interest in music continues to give inspiration to Guthrie as he look forward to becoming a professional musician.
According to Guthrie, he was inspired to play music when he picked up his father’s old saxophone. By fifth grade, he began to take serious passion in music thanks to the saxophone, and continued to play ever since.
“I found interest in music in 5th grade because my parents encouraged me to play thanks to their musical abilities,” Guthrie said. “I am actually glad that my parents supported my passion because I was able to appreciate and enjoy my life thanks to music.”
Although Guthrie enjoys various forms of music, he specifically prefers listening to classical and jazz music. The prevalent hip-hop and other genres of typical teenage music do not simply satisfy Guthrie’s ears. Guthrie believes that jazz and classical music bring more joy and relief in time of stress compare to other genre of music that he often listens on a radio. Guthrie says especially enjoys “Hit the Bricks” by Gordon Goodwin.
“I love listening to jazz and classical music,” Guthrie said. “I would definitely prefer those genre to other types of music on a any given day.”
Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie also appreciates his commitment in music. She believes that being in a music group helps Guthrie to improve his skills while enhancing his social life with others.
“I am very impressed with my son’s musical ability as well as his passionate committment,” Guthrie said. “Although we struggle to wake up for jazz band practices so early in the morning, his improvement shows me that joining jazz band was a good decision.”
As suggested by his parents, Guthrie finds it hard waking up early in the morning preparing for jazz band practices. He sometimes struggles to maintain his promise to be right on time.
“One of my biggest difficulties is actually not the music surprisingly,” Guthrie said. “Getting up so early for zero period is my worst weakness.”
His peer, and guitarist for the jazz band, Eric Cowin, ’14, also shares the same weakness the Guthrie posses. In addition to waking up early in the morning, he is also responsible for driving himself. He believes that coming to school early in the morning no longer is serious problem for Cowin as he became more adapted to sleeping less. However, according to Cowin, driving in especially foggy winters poses a threat to him.
“I totally feel Guthrie’s struggle” Cowin said. “But a bigger problem for me is just driving in the winter when foggy weather can give me a real trouble.”
Many peers appreciate Guthrie’s work in the jazz band due to his musical abilities while others simply enjoy his friendly personality. According to one of his close peer, Jordan Castro, ’15, Guthrie possesses good attitude and amicable manners.
“Guthrie is one of the nicest person I have ever met in my life,” Castro said. “Not only he is talented, he seems positive and encouraging very often.”
Guthrie hopes pursue his career as a professional musician. Vanguard University is one of many music oriented colleges that he hopes to attend. He desires to become famous musician and a saxophonist in the future after he graduates from college.
“I would love to be a famous musician one day,” Guthrie said. “Performing music in front of many audiences sounds daunting but at the same time, it is the most exciting thought.”
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For more features, read the Dec. 3 article, Get to Know: Mark Bennett
