Naperville Central Sophomore Cole Jackson enlightens the audience with his talent on the double bass. He has both passion and poise, from the way that he handles the bow with such energy and precision.
Jackson’s music journey began before picking up the bass. He experimented with playing the ukulele and piano before deciding to focus on the bass.
“I first started playing music when I was probably between the ages of five and eight,” Jackson said. “My babysitter played ukulele in an ensemble group, and she brought it one day. She played it for me, and I really liked it, [so] she started teaching me.”
From then on, Jackson continued to practice music in his elementary school, enhancing his journey with the bass in fourth grade. His teachers could see that his talent was destined for more than an elementary school concert in a gymnasium.
“I joined the Naperville Youth Symphony orchestra in sixth grade after a recommendation from my elementary school music teacher,” Jackson said.
Jesse Gross, the co-director of all orchestra ensembles at Central, met Jackson as a freshman.
“He’s an amazing kid, he’s so gifted and smart, easy to work with,” Gross said. “He just loves music.”
It isn’t just talent that keeps Jackson as an enthusiastic presence in the music community. He preaches extreme diligence, spending almost 20 hours a week practicing in orchestra class, outside music groups, and independent study.
“You can’t just practice for five minutes a day and expect to get better,” Jackson said. “You have to set aside dedicated time, you have to go to lessons [and] you have to find extracurricular groups to get involved in.”
Jackson’s industriousness paid off at this year’s Illinois Music Education Association (ILMEA) contest. High school musicians across Illinois have the opportunity to audition to be selected for district recognition. After musicians meet and perform together at the district level, the all-state musicians are selected from the entire state. Finally, after all-state, the honors of all state members are awarded.
“I placed fifth chair in the honors ILMEA orchestra last January,” Jackson said. “We got to go to this massive, three-day festival with a really awesome performance. We got to spend close to seven hours a day rehearsing and practicing.”
Jackson was the only orchestra member to make it to the honors all-state ILMEA level, but two other string instruments qualified for the All-state level. In total, Central had around five people from band, instrumental band, choir and orchestra qualify for the honors all-state ILMEA orchestra.
“Cole is a musician,” Gross said. “This is a very high praise coming from someone who’s another musician. [Some] people can play an instrument, and [some] people are musicians.”
Even though Jackson has had some truly extraordinary successes, he’s also had to learn to deal with intense mistakes and rough patches throughout his musical career.
“You’re going to have bad auditions, you’re going to have performances that go bad, you make mistakes,” Jackson said. “You use that motivation from doing something badly to practice and do it better. You can just stop and quit; [instead,] you [should] practice more, [therefore]you won’t do it again.”
Jackson doesn’t plan on pursuing music as a profession, but hopes to keep music as an important part of his future.
“I’m more centered around science, but I definitely want to major in music, double-majoring somehow in both programs,” Jackson said.
Beyond his career, Jackson hopes to keep music as an integral part of his life. As a musician, he finds that music is more than just performing, but a lifestyle.
“You’ve got to find programs that are like-minded people, the educators, the people who will keep teaching you to get better,” Jackson said. “You’ve got to keep listening to music, all the forms that you’re interested in. Even if you’re studying classical music, listen to jazz, listen to choral stuff, it all comes together.”
