Senior Will Wheeler’s Unique and Musical Journey to DHS and Beyond

Senior Will Wheeler plays his custom bass during Jazz Band

Senior Will Wheeler plays his custom bass during Jazz Band

Alex Burruss

The band room is quiet and dimly lit when senior William Wheeler picks up his dark cherry red and shiny gold bass and carefully plugs it into his amp. Just like that, the quiet is gone.

Even though Wheeler has only been going to Delta High School for one year, his experience playing music has been very prolonged, “I really got into music when I was in the 5th grade, but then when I was in 7th grade I got signed up for band and it opened up a whole new world for me. So when I was in the 8th grade I really, really started to get into all types of music.”

Wheeler’s inspiration to start playing music came from many different places; however, one musician stands out as the person who inspires him most, “The drummer for Led Zepplin, John Bonham. He kinda inspired me to get into rock’n’roll.”

The next step of Wheeler’s musical journey is to attend college. 

“I’m going to CMU. I actually wasn’t planning to go to college at all, but when Mr. Johnson took me to Best of the West back in December, they threw this concert and it blew me away. It was one of the best showcases of music I’ve ever been to.” While attending CMU he plans to join various programs that align with his interests. “I want to try to join up with The Rowdy Brass Band because their sousaphone player is actually graduating this year. I want to play with their commercial Jazz band, maybe their wind symphony.”

After college, Wheeler plans on following his passion with a career in music, “I want to make music for movies and video games, I want my music to be in the back of something epic.”