It all began in the state of Texas, where one boy, influenced by his neighbor, began to play the clarinet. Through the difficulties of school life, he realized something: his increasing passion and interest for music. From there, he spread his love for music to his students as well as his children. From the guidance of their father, the children found their passion for music for their different instruments. Through the exposure of music, Josh Thompson, band director, not only pursued his dream but continued to spread it to his family.

Josh Thompson states his “unique” taste of music. While his family did not appreciate his music choices at first, he soon notice their adaptation. His family began to show and develop an interest.

“We all love doing it. For me, it’s my job. I listen to music differently than they do. I like a variety of music. I don’t like listening to the same music over and over again. I do enjoy listening to a lot of very unique music. My family doesn’t always appreciate my unique music styles,” Josh Thompson said. “But over the years, I’ve seen their ears grow and change and what they listen to. Growing up, I would take them all to pep band and J.T. would drag around his trumpet and even Dane has said, ‘I don’t want to be in basketball. I want to do pep band.’ That’s just a part of our lives.”

As early as J.T. Thompson, junior, can remember, music has always been a part of his life. While he may have started music from the influence of his dad, he later learned to develop the love for it himself and enjoys it strongly, much like the rest of the family.

“I picked trumpet, mostly because when I was younger, my dad had this really crappy silver trumpet that he would give me, and I would drag it to the football and basketball games and pretend to fake-play with them,” J.T. Thompson said.

However, having a band director as a teacher has not always worked out for the family. Sharing the same interest of music as her brother, Kate Thompson, freshman, occasionally finds her dad useful during her practice, and other times, not.

“He comes in while I’m practicing in my room and a lot of times it’s helpful,” Kate Thompson said. “But sometimes, because he’s my dad, I don’t always listen. If it was a teacher, I’d probably listen more.”

For Kate Thompson, music is more than attending high school classes. It is an important part of her life and has shaped her to the person she is now. She is involved with two band classes and she states her enjoyment of taking those classes.

“I’ve grown to like music this year than ever. It’s a huge part of our family. My aunt on my dad’s side is also into music a lot and there’s a lot of music coming from there too. So at every event, we’re basically playing music with our family.” Kate Thompson said.

They may be a musically-involved family, but Josh Thompson notes that he never forced his children to play an instrument. Understanding that they could lose the passion for music, he allowed them to pursue what they wished. Besides music, they discovered extra hobbies but managed to still love music.

“I didn’t push them. The only thing I ever did was when J.T. came in fourth grade and said, ‘Dad, I want to play the violin in orchestra.’ I said, ‘Eh, why don’t we wait until fifth grade?’ I figured if he really wanted to play a string instrument, I’d hear about it again. But I never did,” Josh Thompson, the band director said. “Call me crazy, but I’m partial to the band. They all pick their own instruments, they really did.”

Their reputation may come off as a devoted musical family, but they also spend time with each other much like any normal family. They hold an interest in sports, and host their own Game Night. There is more to the family than what it seems.

“We’re not just music. I think that the younger two are not as committed as me and Kate are. For the most part, we all love music and different kinds of it. We all have other interests. My brother has baseball, Kate has cross country. We’re not just music. We all love music, we’ve all played music. We all learned an instrument.” J.T. Thompson said.