Out of Office: Rich Ohnmacht

I played the saxophone back in my youth. I played in the high school jazz band. I started out playing the violin and played both of them for a while, and then ended up just doing the saxophone in high school.

I had a long hiatus and I picked it up again, maybe seven or eight years ago. It had been a while, and getting back to a certain level of proficiency was hard. I had to put in a lot of practice, but at least I got to a level where I could keep up, because the band I was in then was a large concert band [with] a lot of music teachers in it—a lot of really good players. 

You get that immediate feedback of ‘Yes, I did the practice, the hard work, I got better at this piece, and it paid off.’ You have the camaraderie of being in a band—you spend a lot of time together. You get to know the people and your section really well, and it’s a nice bonding experience.

The nice thing about the saxophone is there’s nowhere to hide, especially when you’re in jazz band—you do a lot of solos. And so, there’s the intensity of the moment, it’s ‘do or die.’ And it also kind of drove home that lesson of ‘practice makes perfect.’