Jonathan Reycraft, Northport High School alumnus, has built a distinguished career as a trombonist, currently performing with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Before joining the SLSO in 2006, he served as Assistant Principal Trombone with the United States Naval Academy Band and performed with the Baltimore and National Symphony Orchestras. A dedicated educator and chamber musician, he is a member of the Trombones of the St. Louis Symphony and teaches at Washington University and St. Louis University. We spoke with him about his time at Northport, his musical journey, and his advice for students today.
How did you start your music training and what was that like in Northport?
I am actually not from Northport originally, so I started music before I got there. I started on violin with Suzuki training. I was living in Staten Island, and after a few years of elementary school, it was clear that it wasn’t the best school environment for me. So my parents, who were both music teachers, actually had Northport specifically picked out. When I moved to Long Island, the timing coincided with when you start playing an instrument for school in summer music. My grandfather was a police officer who played the euphonium in the police band. He passed away and the horn was left in our family, so I just started to play euphonium when it came time to start. I used the way that the Suzuki method trains, which emphasizes playing by ear. I wrote down the number combinations of tunes that I was learning. From there, I did go into summer music and then at Northport High School I also sang in the choir. I also should include my euphonium teacher Don Sherman, who is a retired Northport Band director. I studied with him for 8 years.
I had an artistic temperament. I really also a little bit of a blend. I didn’t really belong anywhere, so I sort of was like a floating person in high school. I would do each intramural basketball you know and then at one point I started to go to the weight room before the school day started. Aside from other things that I did, I was pretty involved with everything schedule-wise and I took a lot of art classes in the A-Wing.
How did you decide to pursue music as a career?
The way that I came to decide that I was going to be in music was from going to a lot of cultural things around New York and the tri-state area. There were also experiences from Northport, like the concept of projection from being in the Northport High School choir with Sandy Valerio that really impacted me and my understanding of music. These experiences are what formed my idea of wanting to play like trombone in an orchestra.
I decided that I would try to get into this and study music as a major. I was kind of a late bloomer, if you would. I was in the Long Island Youth Orchestra, but I never did any other prestigious programs, like Julliard Prep for example. It was really after high school that I started to have a realization that I had potential to be successful.
What advice do you have for high school students who want to pursue a career in music?
I would just say to use your resources. There’s one thing that I did in high school that reminds me of this. I knew that my trombone study was a little new, and I hadn’t been taking trombone lessons for that long. And so I thought it would be a good idea to reach out to the Principal Trombone of the New York Philharmonic and call him backstage to get a listen. And that’s what I did. At that time, he was teaching at Juilliard and he’s one of the teachers that has had the students go on to careers in American symphony orchestras and orchestras internationally as well. We got the brochure to the New York Philharmonic and I just kind of used logic to figure out he would be at the hall. I called backstage and asked for him to come to the phone. And when he got on the phone, he said, “Yeah, you should have come to me sooner!” That was while I was in high school and that was kind of a crazy thing to do but I’m glad I did it.
Do you have anything that you would say to your high school self based on your perspective today?
I would say that what you’re experiencing is temporary and also kind of a fabrication. It’s not real life, so stay the course.
