Performer of the Year: Justin Horton

Performer of the Year: Justin Horton


By Ron Espinola Posted June 10, 2021

Justin Horton has an eclectic taste in interests ranging from baseball to the piano. According to his band instructor he serves as both a leader and inspiration. These are the traits that make this future mechanical engineer the Performer of the Year.

“Justin does more for the band than anyone could really know,” said band director Ms. Harlie Coney. “Without any hesitation, he is always ready to help his fellow percussionists with anything that they need. He goes out of his way to make sure his classmates sound good and are playing at their best.”

Horton has been involved in music since the fifth grade. In middle school, he began playing percussion instruments such as drums, cymbals, xylophone and bells because he thought it would be easy.

“I started it because I just liked music and it seemed like the easiest thing going into it of course later I learned that it wasn’t,” said Horton. “It’s a lot more complicated than it seems, especially because you have to learn music to play pitched instruments and then also be able to keep rhythm. You have to keep the rhythm for the whole band.”
Horton attributes his social development to his involvement with music.

“It’s also really helped me in my social life because I’ve met many of my friends through band. Many of my longtime friends I’ve only met through band so I definitely think it helps out socially and it definitely gives you more of a chance to branch out.”

Like many musicians, Justin has a variety of influences stemming from the type of music he has been exposed to.

“I like all sorts of music,” said Horton. “I listen to a lot of country with my dad and then my mom; she listens to a lot of pop and just through friends I’ve learned about more stuff like jazz and through band I’ve learned about classical musicians like Mozart and Bach. It’s really just a big amalgamation of stuff that provides whatever sort of musical influence I have.”

Horton’s work ethic is evident in all of his activities. He excels in most of his endeavors whether it is in the classroom, field or studio. He attributes this to his parents.

“They [parents] definitely value hard work,” said Horton. “My dad, he’s been in the mining industry for about 25 years now. He worked his way up to becoming a general foreman over the time that he did. And then my mom, she grew up on a ranch and she’s…just kind of both of them valued hard work their entire lives so that’s kind of been instilled upon me and it’s kind of like the mentality of if you’re going to do something, you might as well do your best at it and not half-ass it.”

Justin does not only work hard for himself but he also tries to help those around him.

“There have been many times throughout the year where he finds time to work one on one with another student in what little free time he has,” said Ms. Harlie Coney. “Justin is a great leader and an inspiration to many other musicians.”

Although Horton is going to Washington State University, because he wants to get out of Nevada, to study mechanical engineering he intends to continue his involvement with music. This will likely come in the form of an independent group or band.

With many options to choose from, Horton is satisfied with his choice of percussion. It was a good choice for someone who didn’t know how to play notes at first and it has lead to him to a group of people who share a common interest.

“In percussion, we start out by learning drums which is only rhythms so it’s a lot easier to start out than it becomes more complex,” said Horton. “The kind of people that are just more inclined to play percussion just seem to mesh a lot more with me. There are very definite subgroups of people that will choose the same instrument and I just think that the people that I’m playing with right now are some of my best friends that I’ve had.”

Since his introduction to music at French Ford Middle School, Horton has experienced the teaching and leadership styles of several different band directors. To Justin, each teacher brought a different strength that helped him along his path.

“With percussion when we started out French Ford it was a lot more of Mrs. Munk working with us and she gave us a really solid foundation,” said Horton. “When we went to junior high we had [Mr.] Munk our first year and then my second year I actually had a fourth band director named Mrs. Simonsen and she was kind of a little bit in over her head. She was a choir teacher that was kind of forced to teach band so that I think kind of was a little bit of a setback but then after that, once I rolled into high school, [Sean] Whalen. He was honestly a very good teacher. He had a really good you know way of taking songs that would challenge us but wouldn’t discourage us and I think if you would have been able to stay here that would have been great but Ms. Coney for her credit, she’s done a great job. It’s sad that she’s only going to be here for one year.”

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