By Ezmeralda Bahena

Anthony Napoles  and his former classmate in the stands during a high school football game with their marching band.

Anthony Napoles is an 18 year old senior at Azusa High School, whose dream is way different from his passion. By interviewing him, who is passionate about music, we jump into how he is not just involved in any music program: he is a time member of his high school marching band and also in a mariachi group. His love for music shines through everything he does-  from  band practices to listening to music in his everyday life. Through this interview I take a glimpse into how music can impact someone’s high school experience, influence their personal growth as a person, and what it truly means to them.

Anthony with his former marching band comrades wearing their marching band uniforms for their senior night.

What do you think are your best qualities that make you a good musician, and which qualities in general do you think make a good musician?

Probably the main one is actually the way that =I can read  the music pretty fast. I can learn it super fast as well. That’s how my brain only functions super, super fast with music and I guess the way other qualities make a good musician is their style. The style of the way, like, they played, like they’re phrasing and all that makes them a good musician. Like there can be there can be like a bunch of heavy bands and there’s like this heavy, like, fast, soloist, or there’s slow bands with slow but super well phrasing

What got you interested into music and what was your ‘WOW’ moment?

I started music in fifth grade, because I was basically forced into it by my mom, because she didn’t want me sitting at home doing nothing.  And then from there, I don’t want to sound cocky or nothing, but I wa one of the best ones when I started. But I started off on Sax after a while I just wanted to learn something new. I started trumpet when I was in eighth grade, then after I got into that, well, I liked it. So I continued it, and then I got into a Mariachi. But n I didn’t do band in middle school for one year and I continued again but once I did that’s when COVID hit and nothing was ever the same. Then High School started and I went back into it but close into my freshman year I believe or in the beginning of my sophomore year where the passing of my uncle happened, and that really affected me because he was the one that got everybody into music; he was a singer and he had an amazing voice, but I guess after that I kept doing it for him. As for my ‘wow’ moment it would have to be when I saw the the blue note jazz orchestra, I think it was my sophomore year. At citrus college. It was their top jazz band there. And I don’t know, just the whole band in general was super amazing and l it was really, really good. It gave me chills, and I only get that when a band is super good. 

What does music mean to you?

Music is my life. Music means literally everything to me. It is able to cool me down when I am mad or it can pump me up when I am sad or just, it keeps me calm. Honestly the only thing that is wrong with music with my life is that there is nothing wrong with it, music makes my life bright and i have gained so much from it. Like a gain could have been a bunch of compliments that I’ve gotten from college directors, college jazz directors. Music’s just been all over since I was a little kid, and especially, like I said with the passing of my uncle, it has always still be everywhere. I just love to listen to it any time, anywhere, and whenever. The best thing about music is the how many genres of music there are. My favorite type of music to play and listen to is jazz, because there’s all types of jazz music. There’s slow jazz. There’s heavy rock jazz. Jazz is also my favorite type of music to play. It is just everything. The one thing about music is that it is not my dream job though. Honestly just my dream is to make my parents proud. As for dreams for myself, I plan to graduate from Cal Poly Pomona or at least just any university, as a mechanical engineer; be able to, I don’t know, either work in a theme park under ride machinery or work on the engines of a car. I can probably like, you know, play off on the side like a in a little band. or I can just keep the in a little a little mariachi. It doesn’t matter; but I don’t ever think I would want to do it professionally. Yes, music means so much to me, but it is not my dream.