Teacher’s Family Has Musical Legacy at East

At 12 years old, Band teacher Kim Harrison won a talent show for playing the trumpet, and was rewarded $75. Soon after, he realized that he could make money off of his musical talent, and decided he wanted to play professionally.

He toured with a “Chicago” style musical group called Bridge when he finished high school, and he recorded two albums in Los Angeles and Nashville. Kim was the second chair horn player, but believed that he was not cut out for the professional business. This notion lead him to the decision that he would become a teacher; he spent the next couple years at Kansas State University (KSU) earning his undergraduate degree.

The Harrisons had a daughter named Kellyn shortly into his time teaching. About a year after that, they had a son named Cole. Now 14 years later, Kim now has both junior Kellyn and sophomore Cole in his music classes.

After going to KSU, he taught at a private school until he switched in 1982 to what is now Indian Woods Middle School. He worked there for three years, then took time off in 1985 to attend Wichita State University. While he was there earning his Master’s degree, he met his eventual wife, Gretchen, during a music class they had together. In 1986, he was hired as the band director at East, and has been working here for 25 years.

With both parents having a passion for music, the kids were surrounded by it from the day they were born. The constant submersion in music ensured that by the time Kellyn was in fourth grade, she wanted to play a band instrument.

She has been singing since before she can remember and has played the piano for ten years now. But, when she was in fifth grade she wanted to try something new. Kim has been involved in music for so long that he can tell which instrument a person will play, just by judging their personality. He told Kellyn that she would be a French horn player, and after playing it for a while she learned to how much she liked it.

“I really like how uncommon it is, not a ton of people play it,” Kellyn said. “It’s an interesting instrument, and is probably the hardest brass instrument to play.”

Cole began expressing an interest in music at a young age and the piano was his first instrument that learned to play. To this day, it is still one of his favorites. Being able to express his feelings through sound is what he considers the emotional drive behind playing an instrument.

“Piano is my favorite instrument because I can play it for hours on end and just forget about everything else going on around me,” Cole said.

Cole was same as Kellyn. He did not like the trombone when he first played, but realized he enjoyed it later. As Cole grew older, he showed interests in playing multiple instruments. These instruments including the trombone, piano and guitar. He started playing the piano at age two and has loved it ever since. Just like he had with Kellyn, Kim always said Cole would play the trombone. At first, Cole hated it. But, as years went on, he started to really like the instrument and became more talented. On top of those instruments, Cole wanted to play the guitar.

Outside of the classes Kellyn and Cole take at East, they both practice and perform out of school. Cole still loves the piano and plays up to two hours daily. He also has private lessons for all the instruments he plays once a week, alongside extensive voice lessons. He is one of two sophomores who just recently made All-State for the trombone. As for the future, Cole is planning on majoring in music in college although he is not quite positive where he’d like to go.

“I would either want to be a professional musician or some kind of music teacher,” Cole said.

Like her brother, Kellyn aspires to pursue a career in music after she finishes with high school; she would love to become a choir director. The classes she has taken in the past and her growing interest in singing gave Kellyn the idea of becoming a choir director.

“I love singing and teaching others, so when you put the two together you get a choir teacher,” Kellyn said.

Kellyn recently has been practicing a lot of the time outside of school. In December, she had 13 performances in the span of 14 days, both choir and band. She also takes private lessons and is a member of a the Kansas City Youth Symphony, where she’s in the top level of the orchestra. At school, Kellyn participates in the Chambers singers, Choraliers, orchestra and band.

At East, their father teaches their band class and music becomes an even more of a way for them to bond. They have over 20 instruments in their house, ranging from an organ to Kim’s gold-plated trumpet, made in 1899. Although they all have different instruments that they enjoy playing, the family members agree that having a strong background in music ties them together.

“It is really cool how we all have something that we can connect over,” Kellyn said.