To date, senior Garrett Mccormick Ufland plays nine instruments. His interest in music started when he wanted to get out of taking Physical Education at Blankner School.
Despite the fact both his parents and his brother played clarinet, Mccormick was unsure of which instrument to begin with in sixth grade, Mccormick just asked the kid sitting next to him, who advised him to play the bassoon since he had larger hands. Mccormick went with it, and enjoying it, began taking lessons. The next year, Mccormick decided to branch out some more. He joined jazz band in seventh grade and began to learn how to play the alto saxophone. From then on, Mccormick started to pick up at least one new instrument per year.
“What inspired me [to do band] was to just always learn something new. The more you learn, the more you can do with that information,” Mccormick said.
Along with the bassoon and alto saxophone, Mccormick also learned to play the cello, keyboard, baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone, mellophone, French horn and clarinet. But Mccormick does not plan to stop there. He aims to one day learn to play the rest of the woodwind family. According to Mccormick, this diversity would help him when playing in orchestra pits, which he hopes to do after high school.
Restricted to time between band classes and private bassoon lessons on Wednesdays, Mccormick does not get much practice time outside of band to focus on some of his other instruments. Band director Joshua Jackson, who has known him for five years, attributes his success mainly to his knack of sight reading, which allows him to pick up new instruments quickly.
“Garrett’s been good to have because he can do lots of things, and whenever we ask him to do something, he’s more than happy to make it happen,” Jackson said.
According to Jackson, Mccormick has grown a great deal as a musician. He hopes Mccormick will work on further developing his skills in each of the instruments he plays.
Mccormick plans on working on his technique and style. He seizes any opportunity he can to play for an audience and he hopes to play professionally one day.