“”Everyone Has a Story”” is a weekly segment in the Arizona Daily Wildcat that aims to tell the story of an interesting person on the UA campus. This week, the Daily Wildcat interviewed Chad Travis, an Associated Students of the University of Arizona senator.
“”Saxappeal in the Senate”” was the slogan Travis used during ASUA Senate elections.
“”I just wanted to have fun with the campaign,”” Travis said. “”Saxophone has always been a huge part of my life.””
During the eight years that Travis has played the saxophone, he has had many memorable moments — some of them embarrassing.
“”I was playing in the Wind Symphony with the U of A, here, and it was my first concert,”” he said. “”There is a big intense moment where the entire band plays the same lines together. There is a rest, and then they play a note. They rest and play a note. Well, somehow, I miscounted the rests so I came in on the rest when the entire band was silent. I played as loud as I could play and it was so embarrassing. I remember sitting there thinking it was my first college concert and I just messed up as badly as you can possibly mess up in a band setting.””
Travis continued to play through the rest of the concert like nothing happened.
“”It was totally obvious it was me,”” he said. “”We are always taught if you are going to come in and make a mistake, make it a big mistake. I immediately looked up at the conductor. He gave me a look like, ‘at least you made it a good one.'””
Travis emailed his high school band director about the incident who, in turn, read the email to his entire band class.
“”By no means am I a perfect player,”” he said. “”I have made mistakes since, but nothing ever like that time.””
Throughout high school, Travis spent a lot of time practicing and rehearsing in order to beat his a rival saxophone player from another school.
“”We would go to the local competition and we would always compete to go to state,”” he said. During competitions, the saxophone players were accompanied by a pianist and judged on tone, rhythm and how well they played the music. They were then given a score ranging from one to five and within the scores there was a ranking system that would determine who was going to state.
“”He beat me my sophomore year, so for my junior year I was determined to beat him,”” Travis said. “”I had worked really hard, but he ended up beating me again. I was heartbroken because I had done all this work.””
Travis continued to work hard throughout his senior year, even though his rival had already graduated.
“”I placed first my senior year, went to state and took third,”” he said. “”It was cool that even though I never beat my rival all that hard work paid off.””
