Cambria — Of all of the high school alto saxophone players in New York state who were selected for the Conference All-State ensemble, half of them live in Cambria.

That’s just Paul Rappolt, a senior at Starpoint High School. The designation comes from a strenuous evaluation by the New York State School Music Association, where the highest scoring kids are selected into different performance groups. They include All-County, Area All-State (performers from a part of New York) and Conference All-State (which is performers from all over New York.)

Rappolt, 17, has also been picked for Conference All-State as a tenor saxophonist, too. In fact, for both instruments he was chosen for Area All-State, as well.

Music has been a big part of Rappolt’s life, as he has been playing an instrument since fourth grade.

“I’ve been playing for about nine years,” Rappolt said. “I can also play the drums and the flute.”

To be selected, students must perform at one of NYSSMA’s music festivals held throughout the state. Participants prepare and perform a solo from the organization’s manual, perform scales and demonstrate reading original music. Judges score the performer on several categories such as tone, intonation, technique, accuracy, interpretation, scales and reading. Each performance is preassigned a difficulty level from 1 to 6, with 6 being the hardest, and are scored on a 100-point scale.

Rappolt scored a perfect 100 on a level six difficulty for both the tenor and alto saxophone for both Area and Conference All-State competitions. He has been performing with a level 6 difficulty since 2008, while the lowest score he earned was a 98 out of 100. Last year Rappolt scored a 100 in Area All-State for alto saxophone and a 99 while being selected as an alternate in Conference All-State for tenor sax.

As expected, Rappolt has been very involved with the Starpoint music program. He has been involved with the pit band since 2006 and played with the jazz and wind ensembles since 2007. Rappolt has also played tenor sax for the All Star Band at the Lewiston Jazz Festival in 2009 and continues to play for the Alder Creek Jazz Workshop, something he’s done since 2003. Rappolt also plays and sings in a local ska band, Who Cares?, for over a year. In college next year, he plans to study music education.

Diane Rappolt, Paul’s mother, said he would be one of the few students selected to perform for the state Legislature, comprised of the Senate and Assembly. The students will play sometime in the spring in Albany. Rappolt will also play the first weekend in December at the NYSSMA Winter Conference in Rochester.

But it’s not the recognition that drives Rappolt to play. He said he enjoys the improvisation of jazz.

“You can express yourself in music,” Rappolt said. “The possibilities are endless.”