Naturally Brass plays for students at Decatur school

February 7, 2018 at 5:00 a.m.

by Mike Eckels

Bob Shaw, a member of the quintet Naturally Brass, demonstrates how the slide works on his trombone to students at Decatur Northside Elementary Jan. 22. Shaw and his fellow musicians were on hand to expose the young Decatur students to different types of instruments and musical styles.
Bob Shaw, a member of the quintet Naturally Brass, demonstrates how the slide works on his trombone to students at Decatur Northside Elementary Jan. 22. Shaw and his fellow musicians were on hand to expose the young Decatur students to different types of instruments and musical styles.

DECATUR -- What do you get when you take two trumpets, add a trombone, French horn and tuba in the mix and blend in drums for flavoring? The Naturally Brass Quintet, a group of local musicians from northwest Arkansas that performs in area schools.

Naturally Brass was at Decatur Northside Elementary to play a host of different types of musical styles from classical period to show tunes for students in grades K-4. The group consists of Bob Shaw -- trombone, Keith Wood -- trumpet, Katy Luker -- French horn, Gentry Collier -- percussion, Matt McCool -- tuba and Brian Karp -- trumpet.

The brass ensemble began the program with a little swing music which had kids moving to the beat.

Halfway through the musical journey, the students received a visit from a very familiar face in the cartoon world. Patchy the Pirate from the popular kids' cartoon, Spongebob Squarepants, appeared on stage to sing the theme from the show. He did the lyrics while the kids did the chorus, "Spongebob Squarepants."

In all, the group played several musical forms, including the jazz beat, marches and a popular rock tune from the 1970s.

In 1979, the Village People's hit single "YMCA" climbed to No. 2 on the pop charts and No. 7 on VH1's list of The 100 Greatest Dance Songs of the 20th Century. One of the song's signature moves is forming out the letters "YMCA" with the arms and body. Led by Kristin Wages, Northside music coordinator, the kids performed the moves as Naturally Brass performed the music.

Naturally Brass quintet concluded the day's musical journey with the popular theme from the Lone Ranger series, the William Tell Overture, by Gioachino Rossini.

General News on 02/07/2018