Senior Ethan Meyer

• Trumpet player

What are some of your accomplishments in band?

“I’ve been in Wind Ensemble for four years, I have been in the jazz band for three years, I’ve been a soloist and a lead trumpet in jazz band. I’ve earned multiple superior ratings at state competitions and district competitions. I made district band twice my sophomore and senior year and district jazz band in my junior year.”

What motivates you to continue doing band?

“I enjoy recreating what composers intended for me to recreate, and I think that’s the joy of making music is recreating something that one has already provided in its best form, but working with an ensemble to provide that best form.”

What inspires you in band?

“The motivation to always continue getting better. There’s always someone better than you. And that’s always a reason to keep practicing. I have idols of my own that are better than me and they encouraged me to get better and sometimes not even personally sometimes just through their own works.

What’s your favorite thing about band?

“My favorite thing in band is the tight-knit section, but also all sections have their own dynamic and they understand each other and it’s more than just like a friendship or a friend group it’s, it’s like a section, and it’s different than that.”

What have you learned from being in band?

“I learned the importance of the cultivation of hard work and what practice [and] time can put into a skill, trade or an academic subject can really improve how you are, especially like musically-wise.”

What’s a goal you’d like to achieve in band?

“At this point, I’ve been in band for so long that I just want to continue to do it and that’s my only goal. I want to strive to do it no matter what, be it in college that I can’t be in every single ensemble I just, I need to be in one and that’s my only goal.”

What piece of advice would you give to a freshman that’s just starting off with band?

I would encourage them to take both semesters of band; many do not. And that it only gets better and that placement in general can mean almost nothing, just depending on your hardware personally, and that there’s always somewhere to go. Even if you think you’ve reached the top there’s someone above you.