From classical rhythms to the head bangers of rock, the opportunities for music makers are endless. For students and staff at the high school, those opportunities are not limited to the walls of the building.
Junior Jordan Steinbrook said his music involvement started when he began learning to play the drums when he was four, later playing the trumpet when he was 11 and piano at 13.
“At such a young age, I was heavily influenced by my parents, who both still play instruments, and I just kind of saw them doing it and was interested by that,” he explained.
Now, Steinbrook plays for the Columbus Youth Jazz Orchestra (CY
JO), as well as his own band, the Long Street Combo, with a few of his friends who play around town, he added.
Senior Fiona Sullivan, under the influence of her father, began playing the piano at just five years old. She now plays for CYJO with Steinbrook, she noted.
She is also a part of an all girls jazz band that happens in the month of March for Women’s History Month and plays for the All State Jazz Ensemble, Sullivan explained.
Substitute teacher Michael Perkins has been playing the guitar since he was 11 years old, but said he also plays the piano, drums and bass guitar.
“I credit the music education that I received in middle and high school and my classmates for making me feel like it was worth listening to the stuff I played,” he said.
Perkins took his once hobby to a professional career where he operates as an individual musician as well as being in a band, he explained.
Sophomore Luke Mugler started playing the drums when he was around 10 years old and guitar at 12. He said he believes his interest in music was influenced by his musical family.
Mugler said that he loves everything about music, especially the feeling you get when creating something. He now plays in a band with other Bexley students.
“I wanted to hang out with other people that understood that and could help me make it,” he explained. “That’s kinda what got me into it.”
Mugler said he enjoys playing a variety of musical genres such as rock, indie and pop and is not confined to one label of music.
“I guess I just like finding a rhythm and then just messing around with it,” he added. “That’s kind of my favorite.”
While Sullivan said she began with classical music, her main focus and enjoyment is currently jazz.
“I think I like playing jazz more for the performance aspect because I can sit and play like six movements of a Mozart Sonata,” she explained. “With jazz, it’s so vast that I think people like sitting and listening to it more.”
Mugler likes how music has the ability to bring people together, he explained.
“It’s a whole new way for people to communicate, and a way for people to express their
feelings,” Mugler added.
Perkins added that he has a special connection with performing to an audience. He explained that the feeling of performing is very unique.
“I think my favorite part about being a musician is knowing that something I do might give someone a small experience of beauty in the world,” he said.
He added that he is excited to see what other students are able to create with their music and where music can take them in life.
“I think it’s so important for everybody to really be encouraging of other musicians and any artist that we go to school with, because that encouragement goes such a long way,” Perkins explained.
