The genre-spanning journey to becoming Texas’ top high school bassist.

Photography by Lauren Allen

Electric bass, percussion, voice, guitar, double bass, drums, bass guitar.

Each of these instruments are part of W.T. White High School senior Jonathan Peña’s growing instrumental repertoire. The musical journey during which he mastered each of these instruments began when he was just a toddler and eventually led him to be named Texas’ top double bass player.

It was Peña’s father that first showed him the heavy metal band Metallica, which quickly became his favorite band. Inspired by Metallica’s lead guitarist, Peña decided he wanted to learn to play the electric bass. He was gifted his first electric bass at 8 years old, turning music from a hobby into a means of expressing himself. Since then, Peña has continued to pick up new instruments as a creative outlet.

“It’s a way of communicating and expressing yourself through notes and lines … You have to learn how to be musically educated so you could express how you feel,” he says.

In his freshman year of high school, Peña’s band teacher introduced him to jazz music, showing him artists like Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. Once again feeling inspired, he took on the double bass and became a jazz musician, eventually becoming drawn to classical music. During Peña’s sophomore year, however, he had to quit the double bass when his band directors requested he focus more on being a percussionist.

But the double bass had left an impression on him. Out of all the instruments he plays, Peña says the double bass is his favorite because of how versatile it is. By his junior year, he had persuaded his directors to let him play the double bass again, marking the beginning of a string of wins for Peña in regional jazz and classical music competitions.

In 2024, Peña was selected to be part of the Texas Music Educators Association’s All-State Orchestra. Close to 1,000 students auditioned for the orchestra’s 40 double bass spots. Peña not only earned one of these coveted spots but also earned the highest bass score, making him W.T. White’s first first chair in All-State Orchestra since 1989.

After graduating, Peña plans to attend the Oberlin Conservatory in Oberlin, Ohio. He hopes to later get a master’s degree then pursue a career with a professional orchestra. Peña also hopes that after college, he will be able to teach music, a passion he developed at W.T. White, where he currently helps teach music to underclassmen.

“I like showing them the music, taking them under my wing, telling them how to think as a musician and telling them what mistakes I did so they don’t do them when they get older,” he says. Most importantly, Peña says, he teaches them leadership.

With graduation looming in a few short months, Peña did not hesitate to name what he would miss the most about high school: the people.

“I grew up musically and as a person at W.T. White,” he says. “And I’m really grateful to be able to attend and meet all these kinds of people here that taught me and gave me all their wisdom.”