{"id":244977,"date":"2026-03-31T12:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/244977\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T12:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:23:09","slug":"poly-highs-burgeoning-band-had-a-brass-shortage-a-rising-star-alum-came-to-the-rescue-long-beach-post-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/244977\/","title":{"rendered":"Poly High’s burgeoning band had a brass shortage. A rising-star alum came to the rescue. \u2022 Long Beach Post News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Poly High School\u2019s music directors knew they had a problem when 50 students lined up to borrow instruments at the beginning of the school year.<\/p>\n

The school\u2019s music program has recently exploded, growing to more than 800 students across over a dozen ensembles. The marching band doubled in size. \u201cWe went from one tuba player last year to seven this year,\u201d said Tom Terrell, one of the music directors.<\/p>\n

It was a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless. \u201cAll these kids are ready to play, and we didn\u2019t have the instruments,\u201d said Tom Hughes, another music director.<\/p>\n

Terrell and Hughes refused to turn anyone away.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jacob Hummel takes a short break during an early morning class as the Poly High School band gets ready for a competition in Long Beach on Friday, March 27, 2026. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

Hughes began sourcing instruments from OfferUp and Facebook Marketplace. \u201cI just drove around town buying $40 used clarinets in people\u2019s garages,\u201d he said. Many of the sellers were delighted to learn that students would be using the instruments, which Hughes began naming after the people they\u2019d belonged to \u2014 and sharing those stories with his students.<\/p>\n

Despite these efforts, students still had to share instruments and play on dented trumpets with broken valves, Hughes said. His percussion classes consist of \u201c40 kids in each class banging on five-gallon Home Depot buckets,\u201d partially to spare the ears, and also due to the instrument shortage, he said.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, they had \u201ca prayer answered,\u201d Terrell said. At a recent Poly band concert, alumna Tatiana Tate, now a renowned trumpet player, donated 20 trumpets and three trombones to the school. \u201cWe needed this desperately,\u201d Terrell said. \u201cThis came at a perfect time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Demetrious Rossi performs with the trumpet section of the Poly High School band as they get ready for a competition during an early morning class in Long Beach on Friday, March 27, 2026. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

Tate, a Long Beach native and jazz and R&B trumpeter who has played for Stevie Wonder and performed alongside Doechii<\/a>, launched her musical career at Poly. While a student, Tate served as marching band drum major and jazz combo leader, sought-after roles that took time to grow into. Hughes, an upperclassman at the time, observed that Tate arrived at Poly somewhat stressed out and still finding her place. But over her high school career, he watched her undergo \u201cthis incredible progression. She just fell in love with it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything involving music, I was a part of it,\u201d Tate said, adding that her Poly music teachers always \u201ctold me I was destined for greatness.\u201d<\/p>\n

So when the Guitar Center Music Foundation turned to Tate for somewhere to donate several dozen brass instruments, she knew she would send them to Poly \u2014 \u201cthe first place I thought of,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my mission to ensure I support the next generation the same way [Poly teachers] supported me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

On returning to Poly, Tate said she was not only surprised by the size of the band (much larger than when she was in school), but by the number of girls playing horn \u2014 \u201csomething I never really saw growing up,\u201d she said, speaking to the fact that jazz, and brass especially, has historically been dominated by men.<\/p>\n

\"\"Cybele Zeigler plays her French horn with the Poly High School band as they prepare for a competition during an early morning class in Long Beach on Friday, March 27, 2026. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

At Poly, that is changing, Hughes said. At a recent jazz festival, the school\u2019s top combo was made up of girls, he said, and the number of girls playing trumpet at Poly has grown significantly. While Tate\u2019s instrument donation offered a solution to a tangible problem, her mentorship of younger musicians, especially girls, is even more impactful, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor her to be this beacon of light who started in the same place that all these musicians have started, is really, really powerful,\u201d he said. \u201cTati is paving the way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Poly High School\u2019s music directors knew they had a problem when 50 students lined up to borrow instruments…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132,330],"class_list":["post-244977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}