Luke Monoghan, a senior at IHS, recently received a scholarship from Oberlin Conservatory to study jazz trumpet performance. As a musician, he participates in Wind Ensemble, Running to Places pit orchestras, and Jazz Band. Recently, I spoke with Luke about his aspirations and what he thinks of the state of jazz music today.
Frits Marohn: Let’s start with a broad question. Thus far, how has music impacted your life?
Luke Monoghan: Music has given me a way to express myself in ways I normally wouldn’t find otherwise. In broader terms, it gives me a direction to vent my energy and purpose. Where other people choose sports, I choose music.
FM: Adding on, I know you play trumpet as well as piano. Do you see a difference in how you can express yourself on those particular instruments?
LM: With trumpet, I simply have more technical skill; I’ve been playing since I was around eight or nine years old or so. In terms of technical ability, I can express myself more thoroughly on the trumpet because I know how to, but I still find piano to be very expressive, just less so technically.
FM: What originally attracted you to the trumpet?
LM: Initially, I wanted to play saxophone, but they had too many saxophone players where I went to elementary school, so I picked up trumpet. From there I fell in love with the instrument.
FM: With that fact that you’re going into jazz performance, jazz music has charted very low in terms of popularity in the United States. I’m not going to make the argument that jazz is dead, but you don’t hear it a lot on the radio. What do you think is causing the lack of popularity in jazz?
LM: I think there are a lot of newer music genres moving in that are fundamentally a lot less complex.
FM: Are you making the argument that complexity turns people off from jazz?
LM: I’m just making the argument that some people don’t have the capability to understand the complexities in jazz. They might prefer something simpler like pop music or rap music, where it repeats the same thing over and over again.
FM: Well, I think part of it is also an accessibility issue. Especially when you’re forming your music tastes as a young person listening to the radio, you’re listening to a lot of pop music from the ’70s and beyond on the Top 40. Do you think the popularity of jazz would change if we were exposed to it at a much younger age?
LM: I definitely think so. I think part of the reason for jazz falling in popularity now can be viewed through trends from way earlier. If you look at big hip hop and rap artists like Tupac and Snoop Dogg, much of their music refers back to a lot of jazz and funk musicians. You can hear Tupac talk about Grover Washington Jr. or Snoop Dogg reference Parliament. That’s the music they experienced growing up and it has [influenced] their music. Now, musicians are doing the same with Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Snoop Dogg, and other rappers. Although they might be referencing that, I think that rap becoming a popular medium in their time makes it so that jazz is less popular in our time.
FM: What advice do you give to people, particularly incoming freshmen, seeking to make music a greater part of their schedule?
LM: For any musical field, it’s all about playing in a way that makes you feel like you can express yourself, but really, the best step I took to help my self-expression was that for a summer, I abandoned technicals and listened to a lot of music that I liked to listen to and play. It got me thinking about what I wanted to play and what I wanted to sound like as a musician, allowing me to formulate my own sound and style.
FM: In the present day, how often do you listen to music?
LM: All the time. If I am driving, I’m listening to music. If I’m walking to class, I’m listening to music. When I wake up and before I go to bed, I listen to music.
FM: What extent is listening to music focused on the idea that “I’m going to study this?”
LM: Not much at all. I do have those moments when I listen to songs in Jazz Band to study the music and play along with it.
FM: Do you learn more by ear?
LM: By ear, for certain.
FM: I know that for freshmen there are so many ensembles, which can be intimidating. How do you balance your time? How do you think people should budget their time in that regard?
LM: For me, I budget my time by focusing on noticeable parts in my music. The first part I practice is the part where I am a noticeable member. If I am in Wind Ensemble, I’ll practice my most exposed parts first. If I’m doing pit orchestra and I have a week to rehearse, that’s all I’m doing that week. If I have a solo in Jazz Band, I’m going to practice that first. It comes down to how exposed I am.
FM: How do you make certain things like that are priority with so much to do?
LM: I have to put a lot on the backburner. As someone who loves music and will be going to college for it, sometimes everything else has to take a break. When I participate in Running to Places Theater Company I have to schedule out of work. Normally I work four days a week, and I would have to take all of those off. All of my concerts and ensemble practices take first priority.