Arts Student of the Week - Drew Moore

When Niwot sophomore and guitar player Drew Moore was asked to play the upright bass in the orchestra, he took on the challenge and excelled at it.

This student taking on a new challenge is nothing new, according to NHS orchestra director Keynes Chen. "Not only is Drew Moore an exceptional young bassist with enthusiasm for learning orchestra, he's also a fun student and a real team player," Chen wrote in an email.

"Drew has shown up wherever and whenever he is needed," Chen wrote. "Even though he was already in the symphony orchestra, he volunteered to help with other musical projects as well. Drew has also played with our mariachi band since the start of the program."

The symphony orchestra and the mariachi band are only part of his musical exploits. "Drew will be playing with the chamber ensemble's performance in mid May," according to Chen. "He also won a spot on the Longmont Youth Symphony. Drew has been working very hard and improving at an impressive speed. I'm looking forward to witnessing continued musical growth in his last two years of high school."

Moore learned the bass very quickly; "I didn't even have a bass when I started," Moore said. "I played the electric guitar for six years and had a handle on that, and then I realized it's the same four strings on the bass as it is on my guitar. One time in class, I was playing a Metallica song called "Master of Puppets" on the bass while the other kids were trying to learn a G chord [on the bass]. I was pretty advanced. My seventh-grade teacher looked at me with surprise and said, 'Why don't we throw you in the orchestra?'"

"It's the same with his mariachi playing," Chen said. Moore's teacher told him they were starting up a mariachi band and asked him if he wanted to join. Not one to disappoint, Moore learned the songs in one day.

Moore commented on the different types of music he enjoys and the types of music he plays. Moore is playing bass in an orchestra performance in mid-May titled "Nights of Nostalgia."

"It's classical stuff," Moore said. "I've really gotten into classical because I'm learning how music is composed. The songs are personal to the composers," he explained. "You know when you get that solemn feeling while you're listening to classical music? You get to feel the way the composer felt while they were creating it. This spring we were playing a song by Schubert. Our teacher told us the story behind it. Schubert was very poor and he was hungry. He wanted to get a free meal so he said he'd write music and play for the restaurant. Schubert wrote the symphony titled 'Unfinished' in that restaurant. Schubert's meal was a single potato."

Explaining his start in music, Moore said, "I got into heavy metal when I was young. My dad loves heavy metal. The very first song I learned was "Amazing Grace," then "Walk this Way" by Aerosmith. I really started loving heavy metal, and especially Iron Maiden. I had a teacher at first," Moore said. "But then I fired my teacher when I realized I could just use the Ultimate Guitar Tabs computer application to learn."

Asked about transitions in music and life, Moore said that he moved from Oklahoma to Colorado in 2018, in the middle of his seventh-grade year. "It's not that fun to move from another state and begin middle school as a previously home-schooled kid," Moore said.

His strategy was simply to make the most of it. "If they don't like me, I don't care," Moore said. "I'm going to study and show up." Despite or maybe because of it, Moore made many friends. "I actually made friends very quickly. Going from Oklahoma to Colorado was a big learning experience for me. It's better to accept where you are rather than fight it." Quoting from the Monty Python film, "Life of Brian," Moore said, "Always look on the bright side of life."