Senior Andrew Holland is one of many underrated talented musicians in the community. Andrew’s love for music began at the age of nine, when he was told by his teacher to choose an instrument to play. “The drums seemed like the coolest instrument at the time, and as I kept playing I started to really enjoy it,” he said.
From there he started taking lessons with a teacher to further enrich his love for the drums. “I knew I loved to play so my parents suggested I take lessons to get even better,” Andrew said.
When Andrew joined the KO community in 6th grade, he wanted to further pursue his talents by joining the middle school jazz band. When he started in 8th grade the upper school jazz band recognized his talents and wanted him to join. Although he only played a few times as an 8th grader, during freshman year he completely emerged himself into the band.
Music director Dr. Wayne Pierce admired Andrew’s dedication to the drums. “Although it was kind of scary for him to play as an eighth grader, he held is own and through the past few years he has blossomed as a drummer,” he said.
Part of the reason Andrew enjoys the jazz band is due to the other talented musicians he gets to play with. Fellow band member Adam Sontag raved about Andrew’s music, “Andrew is always so positive about everything we do and is an extremely talented musician, he inspires me in every way,” he said.
Music teacher Todd Millen had similar views “Andrew is always very positive and willing to do everything and anything, he doesn’t complain and will do everything with a smile,” he said.
Andrew is always open to doing whatever the music teachers need him to do, Dr. Pierce admired this quality about him. “Andrew helped build a spirit of cooperation to the group, he was very open to ways of playing and new ways of listening,.” he said.
Mr. Millen went on to express his admiration for Andrew.“Andrew is an amazingly gifted musician and doesn’t complain about anything, he just does it with a smile, he is the heartbeat of what we do; he keeps us together,” he said.
Andrew plans to continue his music after high school in some way, he just isn’t sure how he plans to do that yet.“I’m not sure exactly how I am going to continue my passion for drumming, I just know I definitely want to in someway,” he said.
