The University of Nevada, Reno’s Bluebird Saxophone Quartet brought the sounds of jazz and live music to K-12 students across Northern Nevada and surrounding communities. The student ensemble, part of the College of Liberal Arts’ School of Music, embarked on an outreach tour, performing for hundreds of students in Portola, Quincy, Greenville, Chester, Truckee, Tahoe City and Reno. Through these performances, the quartet shared its passion for music while inspiring the next generation of musicians.

Tristan McMichael, a second-year master's student, spearheaded the tour. Originally from Quincy, California, he was especially eager to bring live performance to more rural communities.

“Being able to bring collegiate-level performances to rural schools that would otherwise not have access to them was an important aspect of this tour for me and a central part of our planning,” McMichael said. “It was definitely a full-circle moment to perform for students at my alma mater and the other schools throughout Plumas Unified School District.”

The quartet also includes Eliel Perez of Las Vegas, Caleb Huffman of Mesa, Arizona, and Chris Dorr of Simi Valley, California. The ensemble gives students performance experience while sharing music with the communities around them.

At each stop, students heard what a saxophone quartet can do, from 19th-century French Romantic works to arrangements of Super Mario Bros. music and contemporary classical pieces. Kindergartners chanted for the quartet to play “Piranha Plants on Parade” faster, while high school students asked about the quartet members’ journeys in music.

The tour grew out of a proposal the quartet developed with its coach, Jessica Dodge-Overstreet, instructor of classical saxophone, and Reed Chamberlin, director of the Nevada School of Music. It was designed to bring live performance to communities that are rarely able to offer it to young people.

“Our general student body was completely spellbound by the performance, and our music students came away excited and profoundly motivated to continue working and improving in their own musical journeys,” said Jane Brown, music director at Greenville and Chester schools.