Playing ‘I’ll take the ‘A’ train’ by Billy Strayhorn, Broden Schaefer (10) plays the saxophone during Jeremy Knudtson’s first hour Jazz Band class, Nov. 9. “Jazz band is undoubtedly my favorite class,” Schaefer said. “I want to be a professional musician, so it is something that motivates me to move forward. It is the reason I practice over an hour every day and pour over music theory and learn all this obscure music. I want to be the best. Playing is the best feeling ever. The rest of the day is completely affected by it. If I play well, the day gets better, but I am also hard on myself, so if I focus on my mistakes, the day gets harder. It can be a downward spiral. I started playing wind instruments in middle school, but only started the saxophone last year when Jazz Band needed me to. It hasn’t been that hard of a transition. It was a little rough, but playing the saxophone made me realize that I want to be a professional musician.”