Brass Quintet Fires up Five Musicians
More by Doug Phipps
NEIRAD enilno edition
New band director Jonathan Grauer is breaking it down. With his entrance, many things changed this year. The first big change is the fostering of small quartets or quintets. Seniors Luke Washer, Danielle Tilford, Mike Sawitsky, Kristi Carey, and Charlie Lacy went with the plan forming a musical five-some.
"When Mr. Grauer came to DHS, he encouraged smaller groups to form," Charlie said. Luke can also attest to Mr. Grauer's influence on the quintet. "Mr. Grauer wanted to start a brass quintet, so we started one!" Luke said.
Luke and Kristi are band veterans, both in their fourth and final year of band and jazz. Danielle has played the French horn since the summer before 6th grade, and played in her school band in Texas, transferring that talent to DHS her sophomore year. It was an unexpected turn of events. "I didn't originally plan on doing band," Danielle said. "But when I heard the French horn for the first time, I changed my mind."
Charlie began playing trumpet two years ago in sophomore year, while Mike just began playing tuba last year.
Luke plays trombone, Kristi plays trumpet 1, and Charlie plays trumpet 2. All are members of band, while Danielle, Luke, and Kristi are also members of the audition-only jazz band.
Danielle and Luke show off their singing talents as well as their instrumental talents, as both are members of Tudor Singers. Mike plays bass in the school's orchestra, giving the versatile quintet a member of each musical group offered in the music program. Of his music-laden schedule, Mike said, "I go to orchestra four days a rotation and three days of band. As long as I check in with both teachers, it's not that hard to handle."
The quintet's first performances came during the holidays, the time here most extra-curricular musical groups perform. They played at Whole Foods, the Darien tree lighting, and both DHS concerts. "During the holidays, we practiced at least twice a week, if not more, because we needed it!" Luke said.
While the group hasn't been all that busy since the end of holiday break, it hopes to get a few more performances in before the five go off to different colleges this fall.
However right now, the quintet only knows Christmas music, so it will need to expand its repertoire to continue playing gigs. The five seniors plan on playing a song or two at the DHS spring concert. Be sure to get your tickets.
