Danny Miller

“Let’s do it again from the top,” a voice yells over the high schoolers, arranged in lines, their musical instruments glinting in the afternoon sun.
First chair trumpet, Jacob Whitt, a sophomore at Madison Central High School raises his silver horn, purses his lips and repositions his feet to begin the routine again, nearing the third hour of after-school marching band practice. With more tension and focus than usual, the band prepares for regional quarterfinals. Between in-school band practice, organized marching band practice and after-school practice, Jacob dedicates almost five hours a day to perfecting the trumpet.
Music connects Jacob’s family through generations. His grandfather taught the trumpet to his father, Marc, who taught Jacob. His parents met through music in the church choir. Back then his mom, Jennifer, played piano, and Marc practiced his singing for long hours to earn the accompanying spot of his crush Jennifer.
“We always had music,” says Jacob.
Not only Jacob, but also his older siblings, Elizabeth and Emily, have devoted much of their lives to training and performing. At family dinners and gatherings, one way or another, everyone ends up singing together around the piano.
After a long day of work for Marc and school for Jacob, the two sit in their family room with their trumpets, competitively raising one another an octave, only interrupted by one another’s laughter.
A few days before regional quarterfinals, Marc catches the tail end of Jacob’s marching band practice. Standing beside other parents, Marc’s smile is constant.
“There is not a word yet that has been created to describe that feeling,” says Marc.

Generations of Song