From Vampire Weekend to Old Cabell Hall: Saxophonist Colin Killalea Brings a Working Musician’s Life to UVA

When saxophonist Colin Killalea walks into a lesson in the University of Virginia’s Old Cabell Hall, he isn’t always thinking first about music theory or technique. Sometimes the saxophone stays in its case. Instead, he might play a few notes on the piano or start a conversation about what makes a melody move us.

“It’s about trying to figure out what my students really want to get out of our lessons,” Killalea said. “Sometimes it’s not about the saxophone at all. We might just listen to music and follow along in the score. It’s not necessarily about the language of jazz or a reed and mouthpiece…but it’s just about what it means to be a musician.”

Killalea has taught private saxophone lessons at UVA for the past three years, guiding students whose backgrounds range from classical training to beginner curiosity. The range keeps him on his toes.

“I have students who are fantastic classical saxophonists who want nothing to do with jazz improv,” he said. “And then I have students who come in and just want to stretch out and just play. Every lesson is different.”

That variety reflects the character of UVA’s music students, many of whom pursue music alongside demanding majors in engineering, science or other fields.

“I’m so impressed with these students,” Killalea said. “They take this seriously. They come prepared. Half of them are in the School of Engineering, and they’re finding parallels between music and math that I could never see.”

Ultimately, Killalea tries to meet students where they are — sometimes by changing course mid-lesson.

He recalled one student who arrived discouraged despite clearly practicing all week. Instead of pushing forward, Killalea pivoted.

“Let’s just look at this score I picked up from the library,” he told her. They spent the lesson listening and following the music. “At the end she said, ‘Thanks for pivoting.’ They’re very self-aware.”

Moments like that shape what he hopes students carry forward after graduation.

“These lessons are conversations,” he said. “I hope they take away something about what the art life could be — something about living with music all the time.”

Killalea knows that life firsthand.

Before teaching at UVA, he built a career as a working musician, studying jazz at The New School in New York and playing across genres that range from indie rock to jazz, but the music that first inspired him wasn’t jazz at all.

“The first things that really got me going were pop music and 90s grunge,” he said. “Later I started understanding what was happening with the chords and the melodies — why something like a song by Prince or the Beatles gave me those big feelings.”

On the Road with Vampire Weekend

Killalea’s professional life is a big part of what he brings to the classroom. Recently, Killalea spent two years touring with the band Vampire Weekend after auditioning primarily as a guitarist but bringing his saxophone along.

“I remember leaving the audition thinking, ‘I don’t know what I just played,’” he said, but he knew that he’d made a connection with members of the band, and that’s often what matters most.

The tour involved stretches of weeks on the road followed by time at home — a lifestyle that can get complicated for musicians with families.

“Every day away when you have kids is another milestone missed,” he said. “It’s an amazing experience, but it’s hard.”

Those realities shape the advice he gives students balancing music with other ambitions.

One former student, who was both a talented musician and scientist, faced a choice between performing and accepting a job offer from NASA. Killalea encouraged him to keep making music, even if it made sense for his career to take another direction.

“You’ve got the rest of your life to play music and record songs,” he told him.

Killalea also pursues new music projects of his own. Recently, he has been arranging vocals for a musical adaptation of Anna Karenina set in post-9/11 Manhattan. It’s an ambitious collaboration that he describes as “a crazy undertaking and a ton of fun.”

Until his next tour launches, though, his stage is the teaching studio.

“Discovery,” he said, reflecting on what drives his lessons. “That’s really the word for it.”

For his colleagues in the Department of Music, Killalea is model of the depth of experience the program offers to music students across the University.

“Colin is a powerhouse musician whose mastery across multiple genres and instruments is unique,” said Sharel Cassity, a nationally acclaimed saxophonist and director of the jazz performance program at UVA. “He’s a true artist who breathes life into everything he plays. Both a rockstar and a highly skilled jazz musician, Colin brings a wealth of professional experience and a fresh, innovative perspective to the department.”