Alumni Spotlight: Jonathan Keith MM '23

A born and raised Texan, Jonathan Keith (B.M. Applied Music ‘20, M.M. Church Music) hails from Houston. He began his Baylor journey as an applied music major with a concentration in bass performance. After graduating with his bachelor’s in 2020, he began his master’s in church music which he earned in 2023. 

Below is a recent conversation with Jonathan as he begins his time with "The President's Own" Marine Band and Chamber Orchestra. 

Sic 'em, Jonathan. 

Question: What has your Baylor journey been?

I've been at Baylor, a total of seven years, and I've been involved primarily in the performances with the Baylor Symphony Orchestra. And then I've always also been a member of the Baylor Jazz Ensemble and the Baylor Concert Jazz Ensemble a lot during my undergrad and did a bunch of little jazz combos. In addition to that? I didn't add the wind ensemble until the end of my junior year when I got asked to play because I guess I knew how to play electric bass and the bass and Dr. Wilson was like, Hey, we have an electric bass part for this cycle you want to play and I'm like, Sure. And then kind of the rest is history.

I guess somehow at Baylor, I learned how to play jazz. So, I see that as a big plus for kind of diversifying the skill set. 

What was the audition process like, for auditioning for the President's own? 

It's very much conducted in the same way that any professional symphony orchestra might conduct their auditions. Although the nature of being a bassist in the military band...there's a different skill set required for being able to succeed in this type of job because you not only have to know how to play the classical stuff at a very high level, but you also have to be prepared to, you know, pick up an electric bass and play a rock tune or pop tune or, you know, sight read country songs and upright or play jazz with a combo. We had a preliminary round, where they asked us to play a classical solo, three excerpts, and an unaccompanied jazz standard by the great Charlie Parker. And then after that, we played to isolate red to standards, jazz standards, with the jazz combo. 

From there, we went to the interview stage, because there was only a few candidates. And then, so they took my height and weight, because it's part being a part of the military band, you have to adhere to the height and weight standards.

At about 30 or so minutes past [while the committee was deliberating] they bring us into a room, the assistant director, Capt. Darren Y. Lin comes in he thanks us both for our playing and you know, and says that ‘the committee really enjoyed all your playing. Then [says], "At this point, we'd like to offer the position to you," and so they pointed to me and I'm like, "What?’"

How have your experiences here at Baylor, specifically church music, prepared you for the audition process?

Thinking back to what my experiences with church music prepared me for, especially because I come from a church background that emphasizes has an equal emphasis on both the contemporary styles of worship and the traditional styles of worship. I think, over my years of being familiar and able to play contemporary worship music, especially because a lot of it tends to vary, tends to sound a lot similar to like, what you might hear with traditional rock and roll and you know, some of these more rock-oriented praise bands, I think those experiences got me really prepared to be comfortable enough on my electric bass that I can, I can lay down a groove like that.

So I've been blessed to have that freedom, as a church music major to be able to not just pursue, you know, the stuff that we have to study, but also continue to pursue the stuff that makes me more well-rounded, because I see the church, the church requires people who are versatile in a lot of different ways, you have to be able to wear a lot of different hats and a lot of different times. And so sometimes you might be on the accompanying performing site, sometimes you might be conducting the choirs or sometimes you might be going to make copies or reworking or re-voicing stuff, to make it work with your ensemble. And making sure they sound good. 

So I think having that freedom to pursue those different interests while learning about the ins and outs of why we do what we do as musicians and how we can maximize our effectiveness as people who preach the Gospel through our craft, I think was the biggest thing for me in my takeaway for why church music really helped me prepare for this position.

Why did you decide to audition?

As a performance-oriented person, this has always been kind of a position I didn't know much about like when band stuff until I really got involved with the Baylor Wind Ensemble. And there was a particular concert in the year 2020 right before that pandemic hit, where like, basically two-thirds of The entire school of music was invited to the centennial anniversary of the Texas Music Educators Association … of all the performances I've had as a Baylor student, and there have been a number of very memorable performances that I've been a part of, but one that really stuck with me, and cemented my interest in wanting to pursue something like this was our Baylor Wind Ensemble Performance in 2020 [at TMEA]. 

I've always had a bunch of friends through Baylor who have gone off and won these military band positions. And I've always been part of the combo comping them and in providing some recordings for them, and helping them I'm like, I've always been, I've always kept it in the back of my mind that I think this is something I could see myself doing, especially given the, the amount of different styles that you're required to play and the amount of versatility that you have to have, as a musician, it's a skill set, that doesn't come very easy for a lot of bassist.

Then I found out about President's own, everybody keeps talking to me, like, ‘Oh, these are all the premier recordings of all the military bands in the world.’ … so for young old me who's kind of a hippie with the long hair and the goatee, I thought I’ll shoot my shot and see what happens…. the end of the day, I want God to lead me where he wants to lead me. And, you know, that was pretty much I guess, where he made his path clear for me.

What advice would you give to a younger Baylor music student starting early in their career?

I think the biggest thing that I have taken away from my Baylor experience, and something I would encourage everybody to do is don't be afraid to try learning new styles. At Baylor, you have such a unique opportunity to be able to explore different styles of music and different types of music in a relatively safe environment. I've always encouraged you know, my classical colleagues, hey, go learn jazz improvisation because it's going to help with your confidence. It's going to help with your stage presence. Even singers understand that too because they're learning how to do stuff on the fly and that really helps them in their performances to see. That way, you're not just always glued to the page or always glued to the lead sheet that you're seeing or, or what you're reading off of that you can.

College is the time to really figure out what you want to do, but also learn how to expand your skill set in a way that makes you much more marketable and much more desirable. When you get out here in the real world. And you're looking for jobs. So, learn as much as you can say yes, to as much as you can. And just, you know, love what you play. That's the big thing. And do it for the glory of God.