Instead of wishing on a star, Briana Carrasquillo auditioned for the Disneyland All-American College Band.
Carrasquillo, a senior saxophonist and jazz studies major, is the first University of Alabama student to be chosen for the band in over a decade. Five hundred to six hundred students from across the country auditioned and twenty-one were selected.
The All-American College Band performs for eleven weeks each summer at the Disneyland resort in Anaheim, California. The program was created in 1971 and gives college musicians the opportunity to perform at the Disney theme park and learn about the entertainment industry first-hand through career-advancing clinics and classes with Los Angeles-based musicians, arrangers and producers.
“This experience made me realize that something as simple as a musical performance can really change someone’s life,” Carrasquillo said. “Music can make someone’s day that much better. It can inspire them to pursue music themselves or to pursue something different. Playing with the All-American College Band reminded me why I got into music in the first place.”
Carrasquillo has been playing the saxophone for ten years. She was in the marching band for two years and has played in the jazz ensemble, jazz standards combo, wind ensemble and saxophone quartet.
“My favorite part about jazz music is the creative aspect,” she said. “It is an art form that allows you to share and interact with other people, not only with fellow musicians, but with the audience.”
Carrasquillo’s experience at Disneyland also sheds a new light on the university’s jazz program.
Chris Kozak, the Director of Jazz Studies, drove Carrasquillo and another student to the audition for the All-American Band.
“The intimacy between the professors and students is what sets our jazz program apart from others in the country,” Kozak said. “We have a smaller student base and are more tight-knit. We not only know how our students are playing but how they are doing in their personal lives as well, because that affects how they play their instruments.”
Beth Gottlieb, a percussion instructor for the university, played in the Disneyland band as a college student herself and introduced the idea of auditioning to Carrasquillo. After her summer there, Gottlieb ended up returning to Disney to work full time as a professional musician for more than twenty years.
“Briana was chosen first because of her great musicianship,” Gottlieb said. “She was also picked because she has the contagious personality that Disney loves. When you work at Disney, you are not just a musician, you are an entertainer.”
For Kozak, the students’ personalities also play a part.
“We want the students of the jazz department to grow,” he said. “In this profession, you can be a real jerk and still get gigs, but if you’re a good person, humble and easy to work with, you will go far. And that’s exactly what Briana’s going to do.”
