What happens when you put seven music-loving 13-year-old boys together? They make beautiful music.
Meet Deep Treble, a jazz band out of Lindero Canyon Middle School, the result of an eighth grade English honors class project.
The ensemble, led and organized by Micah Moss, was created to fulfill a community service requirement for the class. Moss recruited six other boys, a combination of old buddies from elementary school and some new-found ones like Cameron Audras, the group’s keyboardist.
“I’m one of the new guys but we’re all friends now, practicing every time we can, enjoying ourselves and hanging out,” said Audras.
“We love the school band so much that we found a way to give back through this project,” said Moss, who has been playing the trumpet since third grade.
It’s not the first time that a band was formed at the school for a community service project, according to Moss. “But it’s the first full jazz band I believe,” he said, noting that past projects have included everything from trash clean up to stuffed animal collecting for orphanages.
The band name came about during a “flash of brilliance” moment, he said.
“We were thinking of something creative to call ourselves when our band teacher, Mr. McKagan, came in and told us to hurry up or we’ll be in ‘deep trouble,'” said Moss, recalling the day they christened the group “Deep Treble.”
The group does not charge for performances, but 100 percent of donations received so far go directly to the LCMS Band Program, said Laura Moss, Micah’s mom.
“The band program doesn’t get a lot of financial support so they do fundraising throughout the year to maintain instruments, purchase music or supplies and pay for travel expenses to performances,” said Laura.
Recently, the boys gave their debut performance at the Reyes Adobe Days festival closely followed by a charity event for Haiti held at the Malibou Lake Mountain Club.
“We were so psyched when we played at the lake club; people were complimenting us and shaking our hands, thinking we were professionals,” Moss said.
Even with their hectic schedules, the boys try to get together and practice at least twice a week during their lunch hour. Some even hang out after school like Moss and Jeffrey King, friends since their kindergarten days.
“I’ve done community service and fundraising projects like this before,” said King, who plays alto sax and who's been taking music lessons since fourth grade.
Moss hopes there will be more opportunities for them to perform locally.
“We’ll see how it goes but I want us to perform at school events and senior centers. We’re getting a bigger set of songs ready for those types of gigs,” he said.
King is already looking beyond English honors class. “I hope we can continue playing together through high school and even beyond that, bringing jazz music to the community,” he said.
The other Deep Treble band members are: Jeremy Jacobs (bari sax), Jared Arroyo (tenor sax), Nick DeLaurentis (bass) and Adam Karp (drums).
