Steven Lohner holding the football
December 2005
The Thomas Worthington Jazz Band includes musicians in all four grades at TWHS. In order to be in jazz band, a student needs to be enrolled in one of the four curricular bands (though that is a "loose rule,") play a jazz instrument, and be able to make the rehearsals, which are Tuesdays and Thursdays each week from 3:30 to 5:30 in the band room. The jazz instruments include the saxophone, trumpet, trombone, percussion, and piano, but can also be expanded to include the clarinet and, in rare cases, the French horn. The Thomas Worthington Jazz Band performs about once a month at the Columbus Music Hall, the same place where jazz trumpet legend Wynton Marsalis also plays. Although it is not a huge crowd that shows up for these performances, those who come enjoy it. Junior trumpeter Mia Keller says, "The people who come to the performances are, of course, your parents, but also people who come for the music because they enjoy it so much, which is different from curricular band concerts."
Typically, the music that is played by the jazz band is written by Louis Armstrong, Glenn Miller, and Sammy Nestico. They also play a lot of music written in the big band style and a lot of smooth jazz. The music also includes a lot of soloists. Everybody in the jazz band gets a chance to do a solo at least once, but the typical soloists are junior Luke Holmes in the rhythm section, senior Emily Stopa and sophomores Greg Benson and Kevin Keuper in the saxophones, senior Bryan McClurg and freshman Mike Jones in the trombones, and junior Mia Keller and sophomore Ruby Harrison on the trumpets. For performances, the soloists are already decided, but at rehearsals, that is not the case. The director, Mr. Ellis, will just point at a certain player, and that player will have to improvise a solo. On the subject of doing a solo, sophomore Ruby Harrison says, "It's exciting because you're kind of waiting in terror for Mr. Ellis to point at you to improv." Mia Keller claims that her most valuable experience in jazz band was when Mr. Ellis forced her to take a solo. She was very surprised, but she also enjoyed it.
To the people who are in jazz band, it is a lot of fun. Sophomore Ruby Harrison claims that she likes to have fun "jammin'" with her friends. Junior Ben Bacon said, "They were awesome," about the jazz band.
