Grammy Band offers senior trombone player Lindsay Dobbs new opportunities

The 57th Annual Grammy Awards were broadcasted across millions of television screens on Feb. 8, but Aragon senior Lindsay Dobbs had the opportunity to watch the show from an insider’s perspective.

Dobbs, a trombone player, submitted an application for the 2015 Grammy Jazz Band last fall. The Grammy Foundation selected Dobbs from an applicant pool of thousands of high school musicians, reserving a seat for her to attend the Grammys and perform at the aftershow.

Dobbs says, “Even a few weeks after getting in, I would just think about it and my stomach would feel like it was on fire.”

The idea of applying for Grammy Band first came to mind during Dobbs’s freshman year. “Three years ago, I saw a picture of one of my friends walking down the red carpet in a long gown with the Grammy banner behind her, and I learned about Grammy Band by hearing about her experience. However, at that age, I thought it was too out of reach for me, so I never thought much of it,” she says.

But it stayed in the back of Dobbs’s mind. Last year, Dobbs realized that senior year was her last opportunity to be eligible for Grammy Band. “I didn’t want Grammy Band to be something I always thought about but never had the courage to find for myself, and my friends encouraged me to apply, so we recorded my audition here [at Aragon] a few days before the deadline,” says Dobbs.

Because of the program, Dobbs had the opportunity to fly out to Los Angeles for a week to make a full-length album with Capitol Records. On her experience, Dobbs says, “Being in the recording studio where musicians such as Frank Sinatra, [The Beatles] and Katy Perry recorded in really humbled me.”

At the Grammys, Dobbs met many famous artists that had impacted her as an musician. Dobbs says, “I was excited to see Ambrose Akinmusire, a trumpet player. He is my biggest influence because he is taking jazz into a new place and not confining it to the old standards. I really like the idea of being independent and doing whatever you want with music without being specific to one specific genre.”

Besides musicians in the jazz industry, Dobbs also met artists of other genres whom she admired. “I was freaking out when Kanye West performed,” she recalls. “I really like listening to his albums because he [uses] raw emotion in his songs and I appreciate that in an artist.”

After her experience with Grammy Jazz Band, Dobbs sees music as a possible career path. She says, “Because of Grammy Band, I’ve been accepted to a number of music schools without having to audition. I have been accepted to Berklee College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and USC Thornton School of Music because those schools are partners with The Grammy Foundation. Grammy Band also provides scholarship money, so I’m hoping they will provide me with enough money for my tuition.”

Dobbs also credits Aragon’s jazz band for helping her achieve her goals. She says, “With all the programs that Aragon has to offer, I gained opportunities such as the jazz festivals, which taught me how jazz is all about learning to work with people, more so than any other art form. My job as a musician is to make other students sound good, which allowed me to build a deeper understanding of jazz as well as with other students. It’s just a community that I have never found anywhere else.”

Music director Troy Davis recognizes how the music department shapes students like Lindsay, saying, ”We have a culture here where students are really passionate and encouraging to one another about making music, including Lindsay. She is very hardworking and I learn a lot about myself and my role as a teacher from her.”

After Aragon, Dobbs will continue her journey with music. She hopes to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston next fall and New York University for a master’s degree afterwards. Ten years into the future, she still sees herself exploring music, saying, “I have this big crazy dream of opening up a music venue with a library where musicians can play all different genres of music as kids can pick out pieces and take classes.”

Davis applauds Dobbs for choosing to stay with music as she moves on from Aragon, saying, “I’ve witnessed Lindsay grow throughout her four years of high school, and I look forward to following her career as she discovers what great opportunities the world has to offer her.”