ROCHELLE — Rochelle Township High School senior Chris Hansen is working to make his dream job as a music teacher a reality.

Hansen plays the trombone in the school’s jazz and concert bands. He also is a member of the concert choir.

Recently accepted into the honors program at North Central College in Naperville, Hansen spoke about his role models that have helped to inspire his love for music beginning with one of the earliest musical memories of his grandpa, a former music teacher and band director.

“My grandpa started teaching me trombone when I was in fourth grade. He would always play his older records of his high school band,” Hansen reflected. “When I was a kid he directed the community band in DeKalb. Walking up on stage after the concert and seeing him was my first musical memory.”

Another of Hansen’s role models is his father who directs his family’s church choir.

“Sometimes during the week we will go to the church, we will sing or I’ll play,” Hansen said. “When I did my auditions at North Central, I did trombone and vocal. He helped me learn some of the vocals and showed me things I could do better with.”

The list of role models didn’t stop there. As most people are fortunate to have at least one or two, Hansen said along with his trombone teacher, he named two RTHS teachers, Ron Duval and Cory Jones, as his role models.

Graduation nearing

As his days at RTHS are coming to a close, Hansen said he has many happy memories from marching band, but recalls one of the best memories was during the three-day trip to Peoria to play in the All-State Band. It started with auditions followed by practices and finally on the last day playing a concert.

Along with his academic classes, Hansen spends much of his day in the band and choir rooms and because of that, he has developed plenty of friendships along the way.

“I will miss a lot of the people,” Hansen said on life after graduation. “To think especially the music, the people I work with I have worked with two, three, four years. I will miss the support and the relationships I have built over the years.”

Hansen said he sees himself teaching at a high school, somewhere the same size as RTHS. Since he would like to major in music education, Hansen will be learning to play many instruments, including the flute his mother is now teaching him to play. With his music preference mostly in big band jazz, Hansen admits he does enjoy listening to classic rock. On his “must-do” list, Hansen says he would like to spend time in New Orleans and he the Northern Lights up north.

Looking more to the near future, Hansen is excited to conduct the final concert at RTHS in May.

“I’d like to give an extra thank you to Mr. Duval for giving me the opportunity to conduct,” Hansen said. “He is giving me the whole experience of what it’s going to be. I will pick the music and I will be teaching to the band.”