Staunton, JMU graduate composes music for Shelburne Middle School's award-winning band

Talking with Joe Jaxson, it’s not hard to see the excitement music brings him. He’ll start answering a simple question that should take two seconds, for instance, “When will you graduate from the University of Texas?” and end up taking you on a journey of finding his voice, the entrepreneurial side of the industry, the music and artists that impacted his life and the importance of staying persistent.

More than two minutes later he takes a pause before saying, “I can’t remember if I answered your question.” He eventually does — this spring with his master’s in music composition, but there may be more school in his future. Jaxson hopes to stick around Austin to earn his doctorate.

Born in New York, Jaxson moved to Augusta County when he was 2. He attended both Beverley Manor elementary and middle schools before his family moved into Staunton's city limits. Jaxson is a 2018 graduate of what is now known as Staunton High School.

Music filled his home, everything from smooth jazz to soul to classical to gospel. He played in the high school marching band, but beyond playing, Jaxson wanted to write music. He went to James Madison University for his bachelor’s in music theory and composition, although he admits the Marching Royal Dukes was a big draw.

“Once you’re a band geek it never leaves you,” Jaxson said.

Now he’s continuing his education at the University of Texas at Austin. He went there for one specific reason — Omar Thomas, an assistant professor of composition in Texas’s Butler School of Music.

Thomas has taught at the Berklee College of Music and the The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University. His music was featured on a Grammy winning album, his 18-piece ensemble’s first album debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes Jazz Charts and he was named Boston Music Award’s “Jazz Artist of the Year” in 2012.

Like Jaxson, Thomas is also a graduate of James Madison University and that’s how Jaxson first heard about him.

“We were doing a new piece of his, ‘Come Sunday,’ a famous piece of his now, it won pretty much the Pulitzer of band music, the Revelli Award,” Jaxson said. “I was one of the people who premiered it with the JMU wind symphony on French horn. Gosh, that was awesome.”

It was also the first time Jaxson had heard of a Black band composer, prompting him to further research Thomas.

It never fazed Jaxson that he was one of just a few Black students in high school band. And it didn’t concern him that he’s pursuing a profession where African-Americans are underrepresented as musicians, conductors and composers.

Still, seeing the success that Thomas was experiencing inspired Jaxson and, two years after playing that piece at JMU, he saw that Thomas had landed a teaching job at Texas. Jaxson connected with Thomas.

“Thankfully he saw my potential and let me in on a prestige fellowship that covered everything,” Jaxson said.

Jaxson has written a variety of pieces, even getting a commission for the Allentown Symphony Orchestra based in Pennsylvania. That will debut in April, 2024 and will involve him teaching master classes and a pre-concert lecture. He called it "fast and lively," saying the piece would be "electrifying."

There’s another commission — he said it’s his biggest yet — that he’s very excited about but can’t discuss until probably early next year. He really wanted to talk about it but said, legally, he can't yet.

And he wrote a piece that the JMU symphonic band debuted in 2022. Called "Safety, A Fluttered Heart", it was Jaxson's response to the afflictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This fall, he has a piece debuting that’s near and dear to him. As Thomas did for him, Jaxson will have a chance to inspire younger musicians in Staunton.

Shelburne was one of two middle school bands in the state to receive an invitation to play at the Virginia Music Educators Association Conference in Richmond this November. It’s the first time a concert band, middle or high school, from this district has ever been selected to perform at the state conference.

Even though Jaxson didn’t attend Shelburne Middle School, he got to know the school’s two band directors, Charlie Nesmith and Jon Wilson, in his time in Staunton. That led to the two directors commissioning a piece from the young composer for their band’s performance this fall.

“In a lot of ways we want to celebrate not just our band but our town,” Nesmith said about one of the reasons behind reaching out to Jaxson. “A lot of the support we get comes from the whole city of Staunton and I think it’s very meaningful. So we thought it would be really cool to commission a work from somebody who went here.”

While Jaxson hasn’t done many pieces for this age group, he did do a piece for a Connecticut middle school. He did another for Music Murphy Press in 2021, a piece called, “Until Next Time,” for beginning bands.

Then Nesmith and Wilson reached out to him for a middle school piece.

“I was all for it,” Jaxson said. “It’s actually a very marketable area (of music composition). There are a lot of requests. Bands are very hungry for new music.”

Because the musicians are just beginning their musical journey, writing for middle schoolers isn’t easy.

“It’s hard to write easy music,” Jaxson said, understanding there is an irony in that statement. He played alto saxophone in middle school band, so for this piece Jaxson had to try to remember what it was like for him at that age.

“I knew what the limitations were, but I was like, ‘How can I sound like me with all these limitations?’” Jaxson said. “That’s the challenge. How can I still sound like myself but with a lot less?”

Jaxson was putting the finishing touches on the piece last week. He has been getting feedback from Wilson and Nesmith throughout the process, saying he wanted it to be an “appropriate challenge” so they could show off the band to everyone listening.

The piece is called “Wake Up and Focus,” although he wasn’t 100% certain that would be the final title. The title came long after he started writing.

“I want to see what the music wants to do first,” he said. “Sometimes you see pieces as a blank canvas and you’re just letting the music tell you where to paint.”

He can't wait to hear what the piece sounds like with the band playing it. He's heard it through a computer, using software as he works on the piece. But there's nothing quite like an actual live performance of something you created.

"It's a feeling I hope never leaves," Jaxson said. "It just takes you to a different world."

More: New zoning district for Uniontown? Planning commission takes first steps

More: Augusta Expo to host regional ACL cornhole tournaments starting in October

— Patrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Staunton, JMU graduate composes music for Shelburne Middle School's band