Crestwood senior Matthew Lund said he chose the saxophone in seventh grade because of the neck strap.

“I just thought it was cool,” he said.

He tried the clarinet for a year until he decided to make the switch.

Since then, Lund hasn’t looked back.

Throughout the rest of middle school and high school, Lund said he threw himself into musical activities including marching band and other ensembles.

It was during this time Lund discovered what he wanted to do for the rest of his life — music education.

Lund said he realized he enjoyed teaching after he became the drum major of the Oldham County High School Marching Band.

Taking a leadership role over his fellow band members sparked his interest, but another event made him sure of his path.

“It was my senior year that really sealed the deal for me,” Lund said.

During the spring semester, he attended an all-state band workshop where musicians throughout Kentucky played in an ensemble and presented on the final evening.

Lund said the band director’s passion for the music they were rehearsing was infectious.

He was inspired to play with more emotion, and he knew he wanted to provide future musicians with the same experience.

“I wanted to be just like that,” Lund said.

When choosing a college, Lund said he was interested in WKU because of the music program and particularly one professor.

He had heard of John Cipolla, an associate professor in the music department, who specializes in clarinet and saxophone.

Lund said he contacted Cipolla, and the professor advised Lund to take a campus tour.

“I took a tour and fell in love,” he said, “as most everyone does.”

When Lund started attending WKU in the fall of 2008, he became immersed in the music community and began practicing six to eight hours a week.

During his first months of college, he also met his current girlfriend.

Kaitlin Keane, also a senior from Crestwood, said she knew Lund before WKU.

“We went to the same high school,” she said. “But we didn’t really know each other.”

Once they moved to Bowling Green, Keane said they broke ties with old high school friends and started hanging out more.

Their friendship turned into romance, and now the two live together in an off-campus apartment.

As a photojournalism major, Keane said she would spend many late nights working on assignments in the computer lab while Lund would practice saxophone during the daytime hours.

Music education majors spend their last semester in classrooms student teaching. For Lund, this means less studio time for practicing.

With school and other activities, Lund now manages to get in about two hours of practice per week.

Once Lund graduates in May, he hopes to get a job teaching music and to continue playing the saxophone.