Bingham band: Nathan Swallow profile

In early January, I interviewed Nathan Swallow, who was the section leader of the Bingham High School (Utah) tuba group. He has found an instrument he really likes to play and it has been a huge part of his life for a long time. Here is the article that will appear in the Bingham 2012 Marching Band yearbook.

Nathan Swallow:

 Once he started playing the tuba,

he has found it hard to put it down

By Bruce Smith

Matchup

             Nathan Swallow’s mother is a middle school choir teacher. It’s only natural that her offspring would have musical talents, too.

           “I have a really musical family,” said Swallow, the Bingham Marching Band’s tuba section leader. “It has been around my whole life. My brother plays the violin and my sister plays the cello. It’s awkward that none of us are singers, but that’s how it has worked out.”
            Swallow can sing, and has been part of his Ward choirs, but it’s not as big of a priority as playing the tuba. He started in the fifth grade at Murray’s Twin Peaks Elementary and, these days, it’s rare that he’s not holding it.
            “It’s not a marching band without trumpets, and Nate was one of the best players in the building,” said band director Darin Graber. “His was a pretty young section and had a lot of new kids. He was a monster player and is on the horn non-stop.”
            While his main interests are the tuba and being involved in Bingham’s political science club, the musical aspect of his life has taken the most hours. He spent countless hours practicing while being part of the Jordan (School) District’s Honor Band and symphony, Bingham’s Jazz Band and Wind Symphony. He has played at Abravanel Hall in downtown Salt Lake City and even has stood alongside a Granite District group.
            “I have a lot of songs in my book,” he said. “At any given time, I’m playing 10 or 11 songs, depending on how many groups I’m in. I like to go out and see what I can play in the community.”
            Swallow was a good candidate to be the section leader because he was one of just two seniors this year in the group. He said the highlight of the marching band’s season was definitely at the Bands of America competition. He felt Bingham’s rise to 5A’s upper echelon is the first of many to come.
                “We were super excited to make the BOA finals,” he said. “People would ask if we would make it and we were never really sure. We would sometimes talk a little bit about beating Davis and AF (American Fork), but we mainly talked about trying to beat own scores. As long as we showed growth in the competition, that’s all that mattered.
            “We can beat those teams but we just need people to come back and want to be here and try. I don’t think it’s the number (of members) that matter, but the people who want to be there. You can get the same sound from 135 people as 230 or however many you have.”
            Swallow said his best friends in the band were Annie Ahlstrom, Nicholas Lilly and Alex Romero. He also admitted that, Ahlstrom is not really his twin sister. Some people might think they have similar looks, but it’s not true.
            “We started to tell people that we were twins as part of a prank,” he said. “For a while, the entire guard believed it. It was funny to have them look at it us and say, ‘Oh, I see it now,’”
            Swallow said he will continue to follow the Bingham Marching Band’s rise, but expects to leave on an LDS Church mission by next Fall. He also planned to attend college somewhere in Utah afterward, and focus on music, perhaps studying to be a music teacher.
            “I can’t see music not being part of my life,” he said.