Hitting the high notes

  • Jennifer Aaby<br>Enterprise writer
  • Monday, March 3, 2008 6:50am

Jackson High School senior Aubrey Logan is determined to become a professional musician.

The 17-year-old is on her way. Next fall, she’s headed to Boston and the Berklee College of Music, on board with a full-ride scholarship to pursue her passion.

Someday, her name could be listed with the likes of such famous Berklee alumni as Quincy Jones, Steve Vai, Branford Marsalis and Diana Krall, to name a few.

But in meeting Logan, most wouldn’t expect the unassuming teenager would be such a natural singer and instrumentalist.

“She’s highly capable and yet extremely humble about her talent,” said Janet Hitt, Logan’s choir director of four years.

Hitt said it can be easy for talented musicians to not work as well with peers, but that’s not the case with Logan.

“She never comes across as being better than somebody else,” Hitt said. “She really just enjoys music.”

Logan said she respects her fellow students and has learned a lot from them throughout her experiences in both band and choir.

Logan began singing at an early age and started performing at church when she was 8 years old.

By the age of 9, she was a member of the Seattle Children’s Chorus, and soon after became a Snohomish Children’s Choir member. She picked up trombone and joined band when she was in seventh grade.

And next fall, the accomplished jazz vocalist and trombonist will be studying with the best in Boston.

This past summer, she was invited to be the vocalist in Berklee’s summer jazz workshop – which consisted of an ensemble of eight. At that time, she had been offered a $14,000 scholarship to Berklee, and recently the scholarship was bumped up to cover the whole package – more than $21,000.

In addition, Logan was also the 2005 Outstanding Soprano Soloist at the University of Idaho’s acclaimed Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, and she was accepted as one of eight vocalists to compete in the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland last summer, an opportunity she had to pass up so she could participate in Berklee’s summer program.

Hitt, as well as her fellow students, admire Logan for her talent and her dedication to the group.

Hitt said it’s been a joy working with Logan, and she feels it’s been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to oversee her choral work at Jackson.

“We won’t see another one like her,” Hitt said.

Determination, and perhaps good genes, has helped Logan reach some of her musical goals.

Both of Logan’s parents are musicians and educators, so they have helped her along the way, which she said she is thankful for.

At the same time, it’s been Logan’s dream that she’s followed, not her parents’.

“The determination was all mine,” Logan said.

“They didn’t try to push me, I’ve been the one pushing them.”

In addition, Hitt and band director Lesley Moffat have been encouraging these past few years, and she said she considers them her second mothers.

The road ahead of her may be difficult, and she knows that it can be tough to make it in such a competitive profession. Logan is thinking about focusing her studies on jazz composition, but there are a dozen majors she can choose from. She has time to change her mind in the next couple of years if she is pulled in another direction at Berklee.

“It’s feast or famine – but I still want to do it,” Logan said.

Logan said she loves music because she will always be able to improve and learn new things.

“It’s not like a sport, where you have to retire,” Logan said.

While music takes up most of her time – she’s a member of Jackson’s jazz band, wind ensemble and symphonic choir, teaches four music students privately and also works at Mill Creek’s Mills Music – other academic subjects are important to her.

She’s taken a number of honors and Advanced Placement classes, and this year she particularly enjoys her “College in the High School” English class, which gives students college credit while completing the class at Jackson.

“Music is a big part of my life, but it’s not my whole life,” Logan said. “It isn’t what I’m made of, it’s what I’ve made.”

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