Charlie: Hello, please state your name and your preferred pronouns.

Jake: My name is Jake Therien, and he him his.

Charlie: Okay. So would you please state the music group that you participate in?

Jake: Jazz Band is one of my courses.

Charlie What instrument do you play in the jazz band?

Jake: I play percussion.

Charlie: Can you explain percussion? For those who might not be very sure about it?

Jake: I’m the one who plays the drum set or other auxiliary instruments like the tambourine or like the cowbell.

Charlie: What made you choose percussion?

Jake: It was either easiest at the time, and I saw it the most fun. And so I kind of just kept going and follow through with it. And now I’m in the band.

Charlie: When did you first start to play the drums?

Jake: I started about three years ago, I started taking lessons and then I took middle school band.

Charlie: What do you like about playing drums?

Jake: I like that you can kind of like, be creative with it and like play how you want to play. The music is just something you can just go off of. But that’s why I think it’s fun.

Charlie: What does it take to be a drummer?

Jake: Definitely practice.

Charlie: What does the typical practice look like for you?

Jake: In band a typical rehearsal’s just like, run through a couple songs. Doc will tell us what we need to do better, what we’re already doing good. And then I guess you just slowly improve from that.

Charlie: Is the percussion section of the band competitive at all?

Jake: I’m not really we’re all kind of a team. We do switch off playing the actual drum set in different pieces. And we make it as fair as possible.

Charlie: What’s been your favorite piece that you’ve played?

Jake: Well, my favorite piece that we didn’t actually perform concert was Africa. And I played the fiber phone, which is like a xylophone. And I think the advanced band ended up playing with us too.

Charlie: How hard is it to learn the drums?

Jake: It’s not very hard to. Well, obviously, it’s not like a trumpet where you have to figure out how to play a note, I’m assuming a lot of people can hit a drum. So it’s just kind of figuring that out. And like, timing is a big thing too, because you’re the one that keeps the band on track and going.

Charlie: Think you’ll continue to play drums throughout school?

Jake: Um, I plan to yeah.

Charlie: Do you have any words of wisdom for up and coming drummers and middle school?

Jake: I can’t really think of any.

Charlie: How has drumming shaped your experience at SPA?

Jake: It’s definitely made it more fun. Because in middle school, we always had band either after before lunch, so that kind of got me used to playing before and after lunch like we do now.

Charlie: Do you like going into band practice?

Jake: I do because I have some friends in there. And it’s it’s a good time.

Charlie: Do you ever get nervous? And if so, like, what do you do to calm yourself down for like a big performance?

Jake: If I get nervous, I usually just try and calm myself down. It’s not like a huge deal if you just mess up a little bit. And if so, you can barely be heard.

Charlie: Well, thank you and that will conclude our interview.