Arts Student of the Week Alex Fick

Although jazz guitarist Alex Fick has a busy schedule, with classes and performances in Marching Band, Advanced Jazz Band, Tenor/Bass Choir, and Drama, he still finds time to pursue a wide variety of other interests that engage his attention to detail and his passion to create.

At the moment, he is inventing a card game. In addition, he is a volunteer gargoyle for Niwot's Rock & Rails summer concert series, and he recently made his own guitar.

Over the summer. Fick built the guitar from scratch. "That was the first woodworking experience I had," he said. "Building an acoustic guitar. Woodworking is a form of art that I really enjoy. It has an intricate fretboard that I designed digitally and then laser cut, to engrave it. It's a mountain range with stars across it all."

At NHS, Fick is best known for his musical talent. "Music is about creating community between people," Fick said. "But also being able to individually express more than you can with words. Music is something you can get into even if you don't play as a group. But in a group setting I feel like it's one of the best communities I've been a part of, especially in settings where you don't improvise."

Initially, Fick took up flute at Sunset Middle School, "but that didn't really work out," he said. "I started as a percussionist. I liked the melodic side of it, and I decided I wanted to play a melodic instrument. So I learned flute. It didn't really push me at all, but it introduced me to the instrument. I preferred the rhythm of percussion, so I learned the guitar. And that's what got me into pursuing jazz."

Wade Hendricks, Director of Bands at Niwot High School, selected Fick as Arts Student of the Week. "Alex is a fearless performer who is undaunted by the spotlight," Hendricks said. "One of my favorite memories of this fall will be, I'm sure, half of the student comments from our performance at the Greeley Invitational Marching Festival mentioned Alex and his accordion."

Fick loves many guitarists, but Django Reinhardt is one of his biggest inspirations. He also loves gypsy jazz and rock music. Another inspiration is Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer and songwriter of the rock band Weezer. "He has an amazing voice and I aspire to sing like he does," Fick said. "And be able to play guitar like he does." Fick has many drummer friends at NHS who inspire him. "Owen Powers, Merrick Blondeau, Jasper Allison, they're all in Jazz Band. And they really inspire me, how passionate they are about music. Currently, everyone in the Advanced Jazz Band is really a joy to be around and they all inspire me. Because they're all really talented musicians, every one of them."

"Alex is having an amazing senior year performing with several NHS groups in a multitude of ways," Hendricks added. "Alex was also selected to perform as a guitar player with the Combined League Honor Jazz Band, where he took several solos in the evening performance."

Participation in the Combined League Honor Jazz Band at Frederick High School was an interesting experience for Fick. "I've never really met people who play jazz music outside of my high school sphere," he said. "It was nice hearing the wonderful musicians from all the schools in the district.

"I met this pianist, and he was extremely talented. It was interesting to hear a completely different style of piano playing than I'm used to. And the same thing with the drummer. So many talented musicians. It was great to know there are people not even that far from here, who all have their own way of playing. All these people are so unique and talented. And since we all play the same style of music, we are able to play together."

For Fick, improvisation is a great way to make music his own. "Make your own voice shine," he said. "Shine as you perform. In jazz, you're not trying to see who is better at playing, who is better at singing. You are just creating."

Creating music has also been a part of his experience in Marching Band. "Alex also finished performing with the NHS marching band where he wrote his own parts and performed our 'Star Wars' show on guitar and accordion," Hendricks said.

Hendricks acknowledged that Fick has many other talents. "He just recently finished playing one of the lead roles in the fall production of 'Puffs,'" Hendricks said.

It was his experience playing Dungeons & Dragons that encouraged Fick to pursue acting. Although he had not had any drama classes, he auditioned for the musical "Mamma Mia!" in his sophomore year, and was selected to play the role of Eddie.

It was his first time on stage. "This was my first real experience feeling what it is to be an actor. Because I've never actually done drama before. And it was difficult to manage the schedule of this production along with Marching Band. It conflicted a lot, but I managed. And that was a lot of fun. It was more of a comedic role. And I enjoyed the acting side of it as much as the singing side."

This year he decided to audition for "Puffs." "I wasn't really into Harry Potter, but then when I watched a recording of it, it was very entertaining. And I wanted to be in a comedic play. So I auditioned for it and got the role, Oliver Rivers, who is this nerdy guy who is really into math, which is something that I kind of relate to. The whole production was a huge grind, every day of every week. We stayed in the drama room from 3 p.m. when school ended, until 6 p.m., and as it got closer to production that turned into 3 to 8 p.m. And when the actual production came along, it was exhausting. But it was so much fun, because the cast really bonded. And most of these people I barely knew, but doing the production with them really made me feel connected to them. Because drama is something that is not easy and really pushes you to sort of live two lives at once with how you can focus so much on acting every night and then you still have to worry about your academics and everything in the normal school day."

Currently, Fick is still deciding where he would like to attend college, but he is hoping to become a music engineer. Fick said, "I want to major in mechanical engineering and become a music producer. Hopefully." In the meantime, he is always looking for other musicians to play with. "I love hanging out with other musicians and even if you are someone who isn't super confident in your musical skills, I'd love to jam out with you," he said.

"He has a bright future ahead of him." Hendricks said.