Thomas Roman was only a freshman when he received exemplary in the 2024 District SSE in his alto saxophone solo. Shortly after, he received a gold rating for his state performance after his first time participating in the event. Roman was the only freshman from Warrenton to reach this honor. Now, as a sophomore and entering his fifth year in band, Roman wants to go back to the state competition and work on developing his skills even more. 

Grade: Sophomore 

Favorite Artist: “I like a lot of R&B. I wouldn’t necessarily say hip hop. It’s sort of in the middle of jazz and hip hop, so really anything under the jazz category. A few big ones are Tyler the Creator, MF Doom, Pharrell Williams.”

What would your last meal be?

“Probably a steak bowl from Chipotle.”

If you could go to one place in the world, where would it be? 

“I recently went backpacking in Colorado and I’ve seen pictures of mountains in Switzerland and I think it would be cool to backpack those.”

Have you always played the saxophone or did you try other instruments?

“I always wanted to play saxophone, but I did play the clarinet at some point to get started.”

Why did you want to play the saxophone?

“It’s the center of jazz and I love jazz. I also followed in my sister’s footsteps.” 

How did you prepare for state?

“It took a lot of practicing. I went to districts back in November and I didn’t do so great, so I decided to put in a lot more work for the solo and ensemble and it paid off. There would be times where I would stay after school and practice for 30 minutes and then go home and practice for another 30 minutes. There were a lot of nights spent like that.”

How were you feeling before you performed?

“It’s a very exciting thing and I love doing it, but I was very nervous. It’s definitely a different feeling than anything else and you’re walking into a room full of people that are there to watch you perform. But, I feel like once you get in there, you start kind of locking in and really feeling the music and that’s what really helped me through.”

What was your reaction when you saw you got gold?

“It was a surprise after coming out of districts. I felt like it was a very good performance. My teacher that gives me lessons was in the room. He said it was the best performance that he thinks I’ve ever played for this piece. I got out of it waiting for those results to come in. Instead, of it being like a big, dramatic moment, it was really an unreal feeling. I mean, going to state as a freshman and winning gold, it’s a weird feeling and it’s indescribable.” 

What piece did you perform?

“It was a piece called Elegy. It’s a darker piece and you know, they play elegies at funerals. It was this dark kind of feeling and it had a build up into a big thing, like having hope, but then going back down.”

How many times do you think you played that piece?

“I practiced it enough that I was able to play the piece without looking at the music.”

Do you see yourself having a future with music?

“Possibly. I feel like you get into music and there’s a lot of ways that you can go, like teaching, or performing, or writing songs.” 

Have you done anything else with music?

“I produce tracks. It ranges from trap to R&B. I really like making the R&B stuff, but for some reason, I’m really good at making traps. It’s fun to do because I really love the creativity that comes out of it.”

Has your saxophone been featured on the tracks?

“I did buy a microphone to feature my saxophone. I haven’t worked too much on that yet, but sometime in the future.” 

Is there anything else you want to work on or accomplish?

“For the district band that’s coming up here in November, I’ve been working to get a better placement than I did last year in order to be able to try out for state band.”