Reading music is just the start of being able to play in an ensemble, three music students from Vicksburg are learning.

Playing for a local Rotary Club meeting Thursday, Steven Hugley, 20, Austin White, 19, and Rondell Evans, 18 — graduates of Warren Central High School — along with Will Bryer, 21, from South Haven, make up Delta State University’s Saxophone Quartet.

They performed pieces including J.S. Bach’s “The Art of the Fugue,” Jack W. Marshall’s “Gold Rush Suite” and eight other compositions.

In some of the selections the music interweaves the four saxophone parts through different passages — one or more of the instruments not playing for a few bars and then joining in again — and requires careful communication between ensemble members.

“It’s very difficult,” said Hugley, the quartet’s leader, “because all the communication has to be non-verbal. We try to spend a lot of time together — we practice a lot, we mark our scores and try to help cue each other.”

He said they become so attuned to each other, they can always tell if one is having a problem or tensing up in part of a selection, though their audience is usually not aware.

A junior, Hugley plays soprano saxophone. White is a sophomore playing baritone sax, Evans a freshman, playing tenor sax, and Bryer is a junior on alto sax.

Evans, the newest member of the ensemble, said the fact that he’d known White and Hugley in high school helped him fit right in. “Both of these guys went to Warren Central,” he said. “We all played together in high school, and I just followed them.”

Evans’ preferences run to jazz and blues, he said, and among his favorite musicians are Stevie Wonder and B.B. King.

White said he loves jazz and the big band sound. In addition to the sax quartet, he said, the four are also members of Delta State’s full 18-piece big band that will perform in the Big Band Bash in Cleveland Feb. 13. They are working on more than 20 pieces of music for that event, he said.

“These students are all very busy,” said Dr. Bret Pimental, assistant professor of music at Delta State and the quartet’s coach. “They’re in the band, the jazz band, marching band, they sing in the choir. They’re involved in a lot of different ensembles.”

The boys also perform at various venues around the state.

Delta State University is located in Cleveland. The school’s music department produces about a third of the state’s band directors, Pimental said.

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Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com