The California Lutheran University saxophone quartet may jingle your bells during their first free Christmas concert on Dec. 14 from 7-8 p.m.

The CLU saxophone quartet features four students: Brian Hix- Soprano/Alto Sax 1, Jenessa Well- Alto Sax 2, Isaac Arias- Tenor Sax, and Paul Atkinson- Baritone Sax. Although the students share a common goal of playing saxophone music, they are all invested in different ways. Hix and Arias are music majors while Well and Atkinson simply like playing.

The saxophone quartet is mainly a student run organization, although Daniel Geeting, who is a professor of music at CLU, also works as a faculty advisor facilitating performances, listening to practices and finding new music. However, the idea for the Christmas Concert came from the students themselves.

“This is the first time we’ve created a concert for ourselves…this is our own creation,” Arias said.

The concert will feature an assortment of Christmas music, but the quartet will also perform music that they have been practicing all semester.

“I’m definitely excited, but kind of nervous,” Arias said.

The Saxophone Quartet comes and goes as students graduate and begin at CLU. Because the quartet is composed of only four members, when one player leaves, the whole dynamic of the group changes.

Hix described that during his first year at CLU, he was a part of the saxophone quartet, but because of the lack of members last year, he and Arias simply played duets for performances.

“This year, since we had more people that we thought would be interested in being involved, and Dr. Geeting wanted to recreate an actual sax quartet, that’s how we continued this, even though we had sort of a break last year,” Hix said.

The quartet practices about three times a week, which has been difficult to arrange with everyone’s schedules, but Hix says he “would definitely do it again,” and that they will continue to have some kind of saxophone quartet concert every year.

“Especially as a small ensemble group, when each part is only handled by one player, it definitely adds a whole element of surprise almost in terms of being ready to perform these pieces. I think that’s the part that has been the most nerve-wracking at this point,” Hix said.

“It’s been a fun experience this semester, and I think it’s great to do this concert,” Arias said.

With classes coming to a close, give yourself a little break from work and check out the free saxophone quartet Christmas Concert Saturday Dec. 14. It won’t be a Silent Night, but it may begin to look a lot like Christmas.

Danya Migdali
Staff Writer
Published December 11, 2013