At age 18, North Bergen High School senior Benny Diaz is well on his way to a career as a professional musician. In 2014 alone he was selected to play trumpet with the New Jersey Region Band, the All State Band, and the All State Orchestra, making him the sole student instrumentalist in Hudson County to achieve that honor.
“Only the top five trumpet players in the state get to perform in the All State,” said North Bergen High School Band Director Mike Connor, who works with Diaz. “New Jersey is actually one of the more competitive programs for All State. They have one of the best in the country. Just to be selected as one of those top 5 pretty much says it all.”
Diaz hopes to major in music performance in college and build a career in the music business. “I would love to be a performer,” he said. His favorite music to play is jazz, although currently he performs mostly classical pieces with various ensembles.
“The band is all wind and percussion instruments,” said Connor, “and the orchestra is set up like the New York Philharmonic, with string and then smaller sections of wind instruments. The music is contemporary classical, and also Mozart, Beethoven, things like that.”
Star player
Diaz has been playing trumpet for about nine years. The teacher who first put a trumpet in his hands? Mike Connor.
“When Benny first started I was teaching elementary school so I actually started him as a fourth grader in Lincoln School,” said Connor. “Eventually I became the high school band director and I have him again in high school.”
“As a fourth grader I wasn’t really that knowledgeable about instruments but I wanted to get into music,” recalled Diaz. “Connor suggested the trumpet and with my little kid mind when I heard trumpet I said, ‘Why not?’”
“Benny was a star player immediately. I handed him the book and he just blew through it.” –Mike Connor
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“Benny was a star player immediately,” said Connor. “I handed him the book and he just blew through it. A lot of that is his practice ethic. Benny works really hard at everything he does. He has this drive to be the best at anything he does and trumpet is no different.”
“I have funny memories,” Diaz laughed in response. “He says that I had this talent naturally and what that made me remember is how the other kids would get annoyed at me.”
In fact, Connor had to reassure the other students that they weren’t slackers in comparison to the star pupil. “You gotta remind the other kids it’s not normal how quickly he takes to it so don’t worry, you’re doing just fine,” Connor said.
The next level
Playing with different groups has exposed Diaz to a new level of musicians – more professional and more serious.
“The kids from Regional and All State, they know what they’re doing and they really like what they play,” said Diaz. “I’m very happy that I’m getting to do this with other people who are very experienced. I’ve got a real taste for something that I’d most likely do in the future at a much higher level.”
Even the audition process was a new level of challenge. To begin with, students are expected to play a section of a particularly difficult piece.
“Then there’s a section where they have to play scales,” said Connor. “And there’s a section where they have to sight-read. One of the judges puts a piece of music in front them and they do the best they can.”
Among the colleges Diaz is considering are New Jersey City University and William Paterson University. “I’m also thinking possibly Montclair or Rutgers,” he said. “Obviously something with a music program but also the best I can find.”
“A lot of kids start off the way he did,” said Connor. “They hit the ground running and then hit high school and we call it plateauing. They stay at the level they hit. Other interests pop up or they get the big head and they think that they don’t need to practice. But Benny never stopped growing as a musician. He’s developed far more.”
Earlier this year Diaz performed in the Hudson County Teen Arts Festival where he won a judge’s award as a soloist and a Top Honors award as the principal trumpet player for the NBHS Wind Ensemble. He was also invited to play with the prestigious Bloomfield Youth Band.
“I don’t start kids off and say you’re going to be an all state player one day,” said Connor. “That’s a ridiculous expectation. I knew Benny was going to be good but he’s exceeded where I thought he was going to be and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Art Schwartz may be reached at arts@hudsonreporter.com.