Thornapple Kellogg — Long before she became Thornapple Kellogg High School’s band director, young Clair Jansma attended TKHS jazz band concerts with her grandparents.
Growing up in Middleville, Jansma said, she was “obsessed” with the jazz band and fell in love with its various instruments, formerly under the direction of longtime teacher Ray Rickert.
When it came time for Jansma to choose the instrument she most wanted to play in TK Middle’s band class, she credited Rickert for influencing her decision.
“I was choosing between the flute and the trombone, and Mr. Rickert told me I couldn’t play in the jazz band with the flute, so I chose trombone,” she said. “It was the easiest decision I’ve ever made.”
Jansma played trombone all through middle school; in high school, she began thinking seriously about studying music in college.
“I knew I wanted to work with kids and was thinking about going into music, so I asked Mr. Rickert when he planned to retire, and he told me, ‘If you want my job, you’ve got four years to do it,’” she recalled.
Rickert retired at the end of the 2023-24 school year and passed the baton to Jansma, who also served as his student teacher during her final months at Grand Valley State University.
“It’s really full circle, and very surreal,” Jansma said. “I keep having these moments where I’ll be leading an exercise or teaching a song that I played (as a high school band student), or leading the marching band in playing the fight song, and I can’t believe this is my job.”
At his final TKHS band concert this past May, Rickert said he “couldn’t be happier or prouder to pass the baton to my former student and now colleague.”
Leading the Next Generation of Musicians, Teachers
Jansma graduated from TKHS in 2020, with accumulated college credits from dual enrollment. She continued working toward a degree in music education at GVSU and finished the program early in four years.
Her program required student teaching at different grade levels, so Jansma spent half-days alongside music teacher Meghan Furney at Marshall Elementary in Byron Center.
“From K-12, we’re very much teaching how to work together, and how you can make your part connect with other people and blend in a unified sound,” Jansma said.
In January 2024, she started her student teaching at TKHS with Rickert and said her desire to come back and teach music at her alma mater pushed her to do her best in school.
“(Becoming a teacher) was on my mind from day one stepping into this building as a student teacher,” she said. “When (Rickert) put in for retirement, I applied for the job and got the offer the day I walked at graduation.”
Since following in her former teacher’s footsteps, Jansma now leads the concert, symphonic, jazz and marching bands and said there have been good and bad days, but continues to build trust and relationships with her students.
“They’re really patient with me and I’m really transparent with them,” she said. “I tell them when I had a bad day and they tell me what music they want to play.”
The new band director also spoke enthusiastically about her first year leading band camp for the Trojan marching band, with support from TKHS band alumni to help lead sectionals and field rehearsals.
“There were a lot of moving parts but the season went well,” she said. “I feel like the kids did really well and I’m really proud of them.”
Jansma studied hard to become an educator, but said one of things she was not prepared for was how she would impact her students’ future plans.
“I’ve had a lot of students come up to me and say they want to go into teaching,” she said. “For kids to … say I inspired them, it melts my heart.”
Her advice for aspiring music teachers: “A lot of people are going to tell you there is not enough time and you have to choose (between playing music and another career path).
“I don’t want any kid to feel like they have to give up something they are really passionate about to follow something else. I would love it if every student played their horn after graduating.”
Read more from Thornapple Kellogg:
• ‘They teach me to be a better version of myself’
• Competitor to coach, senior reflects on Odyssey of the Mind
