The different styles and sounds a saxophone is capable of making are among the reasons senior Adam Zolinski said he enjoys playing the instrument.

He  started playing the saxophone when he was in the fifth grade. However, his love affair with music started three years earlier when he learned how to play the piano at age seven.

Zolinski will showcase his admiration for music in his senior recital. The performance will be at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 6 in the Light Recital Hall.

Dr. Matthew Sintchak, Zolinski’s saxophone professor, said he will be playing alto, tenor and baritone saxophones in his recital.

“Adam plays with his emotions at the forefront,  instead of letting technique take over musicality,” Sintchak said.

He will play unaccompanied for part of the recital, with a piano for another and also as part of a saxophone quartet.

Zolinski said he will perform three pieces, Johann Bach’s “Suite No. 3,” a cello arrangement by James Kasperzach, a standard sax solo by Paul Creston and a piece titled “Mass Transit” written by David P. Jones in 1989.

The cello arrangement was written in 1970 for a baritone saxophone.

Zolinski said this piece can be difficult for saxophone players to play because they have to get it to sound a little like a cello in order to keep the Baroque sound intact.

The standard sax solo is an alto saxophone sonata, a classical composition that is most often accompanied by a piano.

“This is a piece that all saxophonists should know,” Zolinski said.

“Mass Transit” was written for the Jupiter Saxophone Quartet, a student ensemble from the New England Conservatory.  Sintchak was in this quartet when he was in college.

It was written to mimic different forms of transportation.

“I’m excited to hear Adam play ‘Mass Transit’ since it was written for a group I played in when I was his age,” Sintchak said. “It’s a great piece that explores the sounds of three different modes of ‘mass’ transportation via a saxophone quartet; a subway, a ferry and walking.”

The first movement is called “Walk the Walk,” which uses clapping hands and stomping feet to replicate the sound of walking.  The second is “Nantucket Crossing,” which mirrors the sounds of a ferry boat, and the third is “Subway Dance.”

Zolinski said he has worked closely with Sintchak during his time at UW-Whitewater, and he helped him to pick out the right pieces for his senior recital.

“He is a very sharp educator and a fantastic saxophone player,” Zolinski said. “He taught me tone quality and how to play fast, which is still my fear.”

Zolinski is starting his sixth year at UW-Whitewater, and he will receive his degree in music education at the end of the year.

“In the last six years, I’ve witnessed Adam become more sure of himself as a person,” Sintchak said.