Issuu

Jonathan Fragale, Tenor Saxophone Jonathan was born on September 29th, 2003. Since the beginning, music has always been a large part of his life. His family is full of musicians. His father has been playing bass guitar in rock bands for more than thirty years. His grandfather was in a singing group. On his mother’s side, many of them either sang or played guitar. One of his mother’s cousins also went to West Chester for music and was even drum major of the Ram Band. Even before he was born, Jonthan was always responsive to music. A story his mother loves to tell from the time when she was pregnant with him, she was sitting out on the deck of the house one night. His father’s band was rehearsing in the garage. When they would start playing, Jonathan would stir about. When the band stopped, so would he. From then on, his family knew that music would likely be part of his life. And right they were. Jonathan went to school in Roxbury, New Jersey, where he joined band in fifth grade. He started on clarinet. Initially, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to keep playing and thought about switching instruments. Luckily, he got the opportunity to switch to the alto saxophone the following year. This decision set him on the path he has been following ever since. He fell in love with the saxophone and making music as a whole. He played all through middle school and even joined the school’s Honor Band in eighth grade. Once Jonathan got to high school, his passion for music only grew. He played in concert band, jazz band, Indoor Percussion, took lessons, and played in the Eastern Wind Symphony Youth Band. He knew then that he wanted to pursue music as a career. But his biggest musical passion turned out to be marching band. Jonathan fell in love with the marching arts. Something about the activity just felt right. Spending time with friends, the feeling of being “in” the music, long hours of everyone working together to achieve excellence, and the feeling of putting out a product months in the making that everyone can feel proud of. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to everything during Jonathan’s junior year of high school. Like everyone else, he went from a life full of different ensembles and rehearsals to being stuck at home and attending virtual classes. Without band, Jonathan’s life felt empty. Luckily, school returned for his senior year, but with all the strange schedules, masks, and COVID protocol. There wasn’t really a marching band season other than playing at football games. Indoor Percussion didn’t run that year. School wasn’t the same. Band wasn’t the same. Life wasn’t the same. However, once Jonathan got to college, things started to change. He showed up to the pre-camp rehearsals, things changed for the better. The first time all 250 or so wind players got together in the loading dock of Swope. The winds warmed up and then got to play the Chorale. That was the moment that reignited Jonathan’s passion for music that had been dulled by the pandemic. Throughout college, Jonathan has been fortunate enough to be part of many new musical experiences. He has participated in the Incomparable Golden Rams Marching Band, Basketball Band, Concert Band, Sax Ensemble, Jazz combos, Men’s Chorus, saxophone lessons with Professor Ragonese and Dr. Granger, and a number of other opportunities. Jonathan also took the opportunity to learn to play tuba for marching band and had been participating in drum corps since 2022. This summer will be his age-out season with the Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps. Jonathan is also a brother of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a national men’s music fraternity, in which he was initiated in the spring of 2022. He is currently the Fraternity Education Officer for the Rho Sigma chapter here at West Chester University. Jonathan has also had the opportunity to help teach high school marching band in his time as an upperclassman. Throughout his time as a member of the Wells School of Music, Jonathan has been able to learn a great deal of new information about the saxophone, music as a whole, teaching techniques, and teaching philosophies. In an environment where music can seem more like a chore and no longer a passion, he has lately had to remind himself why he enjoys music. For him, music is meant to be fun. Making music with friends is fun. The process of making music with others is what Jonathan fell in love with. That’s why he took to the marching arts. As an educator, that philosophy is what he hopes to instill in his future students. Most of the students that will enroll in his music classes and ensembles will not pursue music as a career. Jonathan often says, “I want kids to enjoy band. I want them to enjoy making music with their friends. I know that ninety-nine percent of the students that will enroll in my classes