Musically inclined

PRINCETON/TISKILWA — His fingers glide up and down the piano keys. Likewise, those same fingers deftly move the slide on the trombone, and they know just what valves to push on the baritone and the tuba. And on the strings of the guitar and the mandolin, those same fingers walk up and down the strings, as the music is delivered.

Eighteen-year-old Aaron Kaufmann of rural Tiskilwa plays seven instruments — the trombone, the piano, the guitar, the euphonium (baritone), the tuba, the bass guitar and the mandolin. On top of that, Kaufmann also sings; he’s a baritone in the school choirs.

March is Music in our Schools Month, and as Kaufmann speaks about how music has impacted his life, it’s pretty obvious he’s found a home away from home in the Princeton High School Music Department.

“I’ve heard it said that music makes you smarter,” said Kaufmann. “I tend to agree with that. I’m not saying that people who don’t do music are stupid, but they say that listening to Bach and Mozart, well, it’s a form of expressing yourself. I think (music is) important because it’s a subject just like math and English, and there’s a lot that can be learned through it.”

Kaufmann, whose unkempt curly dark hair tends to get in his eyes when he’s strumming the guitar, has been involved in music for most of his 18 years.

“I started with  my dad. He’s very musical. We would go out and do family programs at church, probably since I was 5, at least,” Kaufmann said, adding that he has grown up with music all around him.

Though he took guitar lessons for a while and studied the trombone when he started the grade school band in fifth grade, he has basically been taught the instruments by his father or else he has taught himself.

“I started trombone because that was what my brother played. I guess I looked up to him and wanted to be like him,” Kaufmann remembered. “I learned guitar from my father. Once, I learned trombone, euphonium wasn’t very hard, and I progressed from that to the tuba. Bass guitar is a lot like guitar, and the mandolin —

“Well, I guess I have an ability learn new musical concepts very fast,” he said. “When I say I play seven instruments, I can do so and feel comfortable doing so in front of people. I’m more of a jack of all trades, as opposed to someone who specializes in any one instrument.”

Young Kaufmann said it’s difficult to choose a favorite instrument.

“It’s kind of hard to choose a favorite between brass and strings because they are so different. I guess for brass, it would be the trombone, and for the strings, the mandolin,” he said.

But if Kaufmann had to choose one instrument, perhaps it is singing that this Princeton High School senior loves the most.

“The nice thing about singing, is that you don’t have to have anything else. It’s just yourself. You can sing anywhere,” Kaufmann said.

“I just like music. It’s because that’s what I’ve been raised with. While a lot of other families would get together and watch a football game, my parents and I would sit down and sing. Even today, when we have a spare evening, my dad and I will get together and play,” he said, adding his father, whom he calls Phil, is also very musically inclined.

Kaufmann, who wore a long, green, fuzzy bathrobe to his interview, described himself as spontaneous. He laughs easily, but he was also quite serious when it came to discussing music in the school.

Kaufmann said he believes music in the school is very important because it’s part of our heritage. On top of that, he believes music is something in which everyone can relate. He spoke casually of Beethoven and Mozart, speculating on how those artists helped build a foundation for more modern music.

He also spoke of the “family” he’s found in the instrumental and choral departments at PHS, though he said he certainly has friends outside that circle, as well. He was also quick to applaud his music teachers at the high school, as well as those he had in grade school.

“(Choral director) Miss (Joy) Schertz is an incredible singer and really knows what she’s talking about and really has a lot of good knowledge she passes on to her students,” Kaufmann said. “With band, I feel my teachers also had a lot of good knowledge, from junior high on up.”

Kaufmann also said his family has been instrumental in helping him pursue his musical interests. He is the son of Phil and Pam Kaufmann of rural Tiskilwa.

Along with playing seven instruments and singing, Kaufmann has found himself involved in the Homestead plays, as well as those at the Prairie Arts Center in Princeton. He is involved in the concert choir, the concert band, the marching band, the pep band, the high school Madrigals, the jazz band, the men’s ensemble, a jazz choir, a show choir, a Madrigal brass section and in the school musicals in the drama department. He has also been the Princeton Tiger mascot during his junior and senior years in school.

“That’s really a blast,” he said, referring to the mascot. “Interacting with people is a form of acting, which I’ve had experience with. I had a great time with it.”

When Kaufmann graduates from PHS in the spring, he’ll be headed to Goshen College in Goshen, Ind., in the fall. Though he’s undecided what career path he’ll choose, he feels like he might major or minor in music.

“I’ll probably do voice, simply because in terms of talent and technique and ability, I would be strongest in voice,” he said. “But I still wouldn’t give up my other instruments.”