KEY WEST, Fla.\u2014 A woman who plays the French Horn in the Royal Canadian Navy took top honors in Key West\u2019s 58th annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alliszon Zaichkowski<\/a> of Victoria, British Columbia, won the women\u2019s title performing excerpts from several melodies including composer Igor Stravinsky\u2019s \u201cThe Firebird<\/a>\u201d and Queen\u2019s \u201cBohemian Rhapsody<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She’s such a fan of the quirky \u201cinstrument\u201d that she had a large conch shell tattooed on her arm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI like to think of the conch shell as my travel horn, because I can\u2019t bring my French horn everywhere and you also don\u2019t want to be playing a French horn at the beach,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, I always just take my conch shell with me and that\u2019s my vacation instrument.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the men\u2019s division, Vinnie Marturano of Big Pine Key tooted his way to victory by playing a portion of Aram Khachaturian\u2019s \u201cSabre Dance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fluted, pink-lined conch shell, an enduring symbol of the Florida Keys, has been used as a signaling device in the islands for centuries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, native-born residents are known as Conchs and the Keys island chain is often called the Conch Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Navy Times editor\u2019s note: <\/b><\/i>It\u2019s our policy to always use the <\/i>correct rating<\/i><\/a> for all enlisted sailors, because they earned them. We found an M2 (Musician, Petty Officer 2nd Class) <\/i>Alliszon Zaichkowski<\/i><\/a> on an official 2017 Facebook post from the <\/i>Naden Band of the Royal Canadian Navy<\/i><\/a>. If she\u2019s been advanced since then, please tell us so that we can prefix her name correctly. Until then, BZ, M2 <\/i>Zaichkowski<\/i><\/a>!<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\t