When Evan Axelbaum, Class of 2010, was a kid in Little League, he played right field—but when he says "played," Axelbaum really means musically.

"I was not so good [at baseball]," he says. "So I would stand out there and sing to myself. Mostly Golden Oldies."

Not surprisingly, Axelbaum didn't choose a career in sports. Instead, he picked up the saxophone, and he hasn't looked back since. Axelbaum is a music major, and he jams regularly with fellow students on campus. He's also in a band, Padula Oblongata, with his music theory professor Ted Buehrer. The band plays a gig called Jam and Bread, which includes an Italian dinner and music, all free of charge. Their favorite music to play is jazz.

"Music, you can learn some parts of it in the classroom, but, at least with jazz, you learn the most by playing with somebody and listening to them and trying to absorb everything the people around you are doing," says Axelbaum. "I've learned a lot by watching Ted Buehrer — and since he's my music theory teacher and my jazz ensemble teacher, I get to see him every day of the week except Saturday."

Axelbaum has also had success with The Manhattan Project, a funky blues band he formed with fellow students. At this year's Spring Send-Off, the annual musical festival just before spring break, they'll be opening for famous ska and reggae group Toots and the Maytals.

Next year, Axelbaum will take his sax off campus, heading for an internship with the New York Art Program.

Sometimes with an art form you get frustrated by your own shortcomings, Axelbaum says, and you have to find creative ways to break out of the mold. Playing with different groups and in different musical genres has been "a huge growing experience for me," he says. "You get to know everybody, and there's always gigs to play at, people to jam with. It's kind of cool to have that going on."