Brock Facts

The Source

Chances are, you’ve heard him play. And if you’ve heard him play, you won’t be surprised to learn that Jacksonville’s Brock Gwaltney, a senior at Routt Catholic High School, is now one of the three elite high school pianists in the State of Illinois. Each year the music educators in the state nominate then choose the cream of the musical crop to be named All-State in the Jazz Band competition, and next week Brock will travel to Peoria to perform in a series of contests with the best high school jazz musicians in Illinois. To the best of anyone’s knowledge at Routt, Brock will be the first student from that school chosen for such an honor. His Routt music instructor is Kris Cox. “I started lessons in third grade,” said Gwaltney. “Mom made me choose piano or guitar but my dad already played guitar so I figured I’d do the piano.” He said he took lessons for about a year then stopped. One of Brock’s fellow music makers, Roger Wainwright, a professional pianist and composer from Chatham, said, “The guy’s phenomenal. He’s got the ear for the music…whatever “it” is, he’s got the “it.” Gwaltney has performed with the Routt Catholic band as well as several other groups including his own band, Vienna. Fellow band member Kyle Cummings said, “Sometimes he looses me. When he takes off on a riff he’s just out there and I’m sitting there trying to find out where he’s going.” Anyone who’s heard Brock play has a good idea of where he’s going and he’s already been given attractive scholarship enticements from Illinois College and Millikin University. He recently auditioned for an I.C. scholarship with an eclectic mix of music including the Third Movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, and the Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin. He said, “Boy, my hands were tired…running my arms for four hours.” The opening night ceremony for Illinois’ All State Jazz Band is Wednesday, January 25th, with All State Jazz night on January 27th, and the Grand Finale Concert on January 28th at the Peoria Civic Center. •