Music and playing an instrument have been a part of my life since an early age. My great grandfather Woodworth was a professional musician, playing multiple instruments. He made playing instruments look so easy and it was from him that I started learning to play my first instrument, the trombone. My mom would take me to see Grandpa Woodworth for instrument lessons during which I would play the trombone, my brother would play the trumpet, and my sister the clarinet. He started out with the basics showing us how to hold the instruments and then to play simple notes and scales and eventually simple songs. I continued playing the trombone in grade school and into middle school. I still own the trombone that grandpa Woodworth gave to me and it is a treasure.
In middle school I was also introduced to several other instruments that I learned to play including the baritone and the sousaphone. These were quite different than the trombone which uses a slide to vary the pitch and tone of the instrument, instead these instruments used valves to play different notes. I really like this sousaphone because it was so giant, it was like putting on the instrument and wearing it while you played it. The baritone was also fun to play because it was just a deeper version of playing a trumpet, and I learn to play that quite well for band concerts.
My first two years of high school I did on the East Coast in North Carolina attending Lee high school. The school marching band was the pride of the school and always got more attention and awards than the football team itself. There I played the trombone the first year and then switched to the tuba and marching tuba to support the marching band during half time shows. Marching band competitions are a big thing on the East Coast, and our school represented very well in the state and local competitions as well as performing during halftime shows for home games. Of all the instruments I played in school, the tuba and marching tuba were my favorite. There’s something about being able to play and hold the bass line that really appealed to me. The tuba required big lungs and being in pretty decent shape to be able to lug that heavy metal instrument around while marching precisely to the beat.
Around 1987 my parents moved us back to California from North Carolina. In band class I played the trombone and tuba for most of my junior year. As many band geek people will tell you, there’s always a group of cool guys who play the percussion instruments. I decided in my senior year that I wanted to play percussion, which included playing the largest of the bass drums for our parades and concerts. Having already played mostly bass instruments, keeping beat on the bass drum was a natural fit and again it was fun to play the biggest and loudest instrument. My brother played the snare drum and sometimes an alternate bass drum and I was the big bass drum.
Outside of school, I also learned to play the electric bass guitar which was quite fun. We had church worship groups like the youth group praise and worship team where I played the bass guitar, my brother played the drums, and my sister sang. Our little trio of my brother sister and I, also did some group singing for church events, as a pretty decent trio. I would usually sing back up and an octave below what my sister sang as the leader of the group, and my brother was really good at harmonizing. Our little band would do covers of songs from popular Christian artists when we could find the instrumental tracks. Many of my high school friends were in the band and part of the praise and worship team for our church, so music was always a focus for me and my family.
Music was how I met my wife, when I was just a junior in high school. Every year new people joined the band and started playing an instrument for college credit and just for fun as an elective class. One of the new band members was a clarinet player who caught my eye from the very moment I saw her. Back in the late 80s girls had very tall hairdos that framed their face dramatically, and my wife Stephenie was no exception. She had long dark hair and a fair complexion, and from the first time I saw her I was intrigued. Being part of the band meant that we did things outside of school hours, like concerts and road trips for concerts, so I got to know her through those. I also invited her to be part of our youth group at church, and eventually she was part of the praise and worship team so we got to hang out even more. Soooo you could say that music introduced me to the love of my life!
