January 2, 2021
By: Bill Conger
Josh Moon, the son of Cedron and Diana Moon, started playing trumpet his 6th grade year in school and has been a part of the high school marching band since 7th grade.
Moon is the focus of the second feature in a four part series on DCHS senior band students.
“I was in 5th grade, and the band came to Northside,” Moon recalls. “They played a concert, and I thought, ‘That’s really cool.’ My dad played trumpet, but I didn’t know that whenever I chose it. I just liked the way it sounded. They used to play super high notes. I thought that was cool.”
In previous marching seasons Josh stepped up to play solos on Phobias and Magione Magic, a solo and duet in Phantom of the Opera, and a duet in Shades of Latin. He also has been honored to perform “Taps” at several of the American Legion Memorial and Veterans Day services.
Josh has continued to strive to be a better trumpet player each season.
“Trying to play trumpet loosely all the time, have a good fluid sound, and a good tone are the harder things I’ve had to learn to play trumpet.”
With much of the marching season cancelled, Josh was disappointed but kept his chin up.
“I wanted my senior year to be normal in a sense. Ever since my 8th grade year, we’ve been one of the better marching bands that we’ve had here in the last decade. We went four straight years getting nothing less than second place in all our competitions. This year we were not able to even go to a competition, and over 15 of our band students went remote so we were a smaller band.”
Despite the pitfalls, the 17-year-old musician proved what a true leader he is.
“I told these kids, ‘Look, it might not be the way I wanted my senior year to go, but we definitely made the absolute best out of it.’ I’m trying to help them so that whenever they become big enough to be a competitive band again and go to more competitions that they’ll be ready.”
“He helped in placement of student sections,” Don Whitt said. “I used him a lot during the year. He pushed the band to be as good as they could be. He is really a driving force in the band.”
Following his high school graduation, Josh plans to follow in the footsteps of his dad and brother, Joey, and join the Navy.