Saxophone player turns passion into lifestyle

Senior Uday Singh, just a third grader at the time, was fixated on the saxophone his older sister had brought home. All he could think after seeing the instrument was that he really wanted to play that loud, golden thing.

Soon after, Uday’s parents signed him up for weekly private saxophone lessons. In elementary and middle school, Uday joined multiple bands, but didn’t realize the impact music had had on his life until high school.

Currently, Uday is a member of the school’s marching band, two jazz bands and concert band. Uday said that marching band is one of the main reasons that he has felt at home on campus since his first day of freshman year.

“When school started my freshman year, I already had 150 to 200 friends to come to school with, so it was really easy to find people to talk to,” Uday said.

In particular, Uday said that being a part of the saxophone section in the marching band was one of his favorite high school experiences.

“There’s just a mass of different personalities that are brought together because of saxophone,” Uday said. “You get to meet and hang out with different types of people who you wouldn't get to hang out with, without band.”

Aside from the school’s band, Uday has had the chance to participate in  many other musical groups. During his sophomore and junior year, Uday was a part of the Santa Clara County honor band. In his junior year, Uday was chosen as first chair for saxophone in the honor band.

“There was like a really [awesome] solo that year and I was extremely excited to get it,” Uday said.

To supplement all the musical knowledge he was acquiring during the school year, Uday has also actively sought out and participated in music summer camps and programs such as the San Jose and Juilliard jazz camps and Idyllwild, which took place last summer.

“In Idyllwild, I got to live with other musicians in a sort of cabin kind of format, which was pretty cool,” Sing said. “Even though it may not have been as educational as some other music camps could have been, I felt like it was really [beneficial] because I got to live with and meet other musicians who aren’t in Saratoga.”

In his junior year, because Uday began to invest almost all his time into music, he found it hard to maintain his other hobbies: photography and biking. He also said he tended to neglect school work sometimes because he preferred to play the sax, something he regrets. Nevertheless, Uday still gained admission to the University of Southern California, University of Michigan and Eastman School of Music, his top three college choices. Uday plans to attend Eastman School of Music in the fall.

“I feel like I shouldn’t have sacrificed my academics for saxophone as much as I did, but then again I also wonder, if I didn’t focus on saxophone as much as I did in high school, would I have gotten as far as I did?” Uday said.

Before Uday could fully invest himself into saxophone, he had to convince his parents of his choice. Uday comes from a family of engineers: both of his parents, as well as his older sister, have a strong interest in the field.

He began to convince his parents that he could succeed in music when he started excelling in out-of-school bands. In his junior year, Uday began to extensively research what the “life of a saxophone player in the music world” is like. After Uday gained admission to multiple prestigious music schools, his parents supported him more.

“I understand where my parents are coming from because it’s important to have money in your life and music is a very questionable career choice sometimes,” Uday said. “But I am glad that I was eventually able to show them where I was coming from, and that they were eventually able to support me.”