Quick Q with a creative: Saxophonist Misha Olarrea

Misha Olarrea

Misha Olarrea plays the saxophone in Jazz Ensemble 1 and Jazz Combo 1.

Misha Olarrea is a University of Kansas sophomore from Tuscan, Arizona. He is a saxophonist majoring in jazz performance and plays in Jazz Ensemble 1 and Jazz Combo 1.

I think being a musician teaches you how to be OK with spending a lot of time alone, which I think is something necessary because every person needs to learn how to be independent, or at least try to (try to is the key part). And then I think the other important thing that can be learned from music is how to listen.

I would also say the thing that music can teach us about the world would be to be in the present moment. Because if you’re not in the present moment, you’re not gonna be playing well, no matter the style or context with which you play.

I don’t think there’s anything that separates a person who plays at a very high level from just an average person, other than just practice. 

The best advice I’ve ever gotten is never tie your identity to something that you do. Because everything can change, and that thing that you do can change. 

I would say the most rewarding aspect of being a musician – or I guess a jazz musician – is when the people that you’re playing with and you lock together, and it feels like you’re sharing the same mind almost. And it feels incredibly natural and not forced at all, and that’s an amazing feeling.

I get nervous beforehand. I think everybody does. It all melts away once I start performing. I try to be in the moment, at least.


Guy 1: Let’s slap dicks

Guy 2: You ever pee and it feels like throwing up?

Woman 1: *holding baby* He would have been safer at the Hawk

Woman 2: Oh absolutely.

Girl 1: I would never date that guy.

Girl 2: Well, it depends how much money he has.

Girl 1: I’m going to the doctor to see if I have bronchitis before I hook up with him again.

Girl 2: Yeah that’s smart so you don’t give it to anyone else. 

Girl 1: No I mean I want to make sure I infect him.

Guy 1: I'm cutting some of my unnecessary costs, starting with Juuling.

Guy 2: Ight man, good luck.

Guy 1: Actually I might just start chewing

Guy 1: How was work?

Guy 2: My manager was chastising me for not dressing up in a Halloween costume, she doesn’t understand I’m strictly here to get paid.

Guy 1: I am so tired of this week, man

Guy 2: Dude it’s Monday

Guy 1: I know

Person#1: I want to be on the first ship to mars

Person#2: Not me, I doubt they have Wi-Fi

Perons#1: Yeah but at least they’re evolving up there. We’re all just devolving.

Girl 1: Um, I don’t eat pig.

Girl 2: You eat bacon all the time, bitch.

Guy 1: You better get going. 

Guy 2: Yeah, see ya. I’m off to get some Adderall.

Girl 1: Are you home right now?

Girl 2: Yeah, why?

Girl 1: I bought a cat

Girl 1: I just don't understand what fishing is for.

Girl 2: I don't know. Food, maybe?

Guy: I’m just gonna have to like carry an entire box of spiders up the hill tomorrow.

Girl: What?

Guy: Yeah, just like a hundred spiders in a box.

Guy 1: Sometimes ya just gotta give yourself a haircut.

Guy 2: Dude, you shaved half your head. That’s not a haircut, that’s a mess.

Girl 1: Can you eat fruit raw?

Girl 2: How else are you supposed to eat it?

Girl: That class is killing us. ​But they say rest is for the dead.

Guy: Well, at least we'll be rested.

Girl: She's not in class this semester

Guy: Maybe she's dead

Girl: Or studying abroad