Taking Center Stage with Grant Behrens: Love of music

Behrens caught the passion for tones early on

The love of music can easily be traced to a childhood memory for Grant Behrens.

While in kindergarten, the Fort Dodge Senior High School senior was at a cousin's wedding and gazed upon a string quartet.

The young Behrens was enamored with the sounds and lit the flame to his music obsession.

"I became fascinated with their music (string quartet) and begged my mom for violin lessons, which I played until fourth grade when I switched to alto sax and found the instrument I loved," Behrens said. "With the help of my lesson teacher Mrs. (Kristin) Bodholdt, who helped push me to improve week after week and Mrs (Tara) Smith for helping me get into Middle School Honor Bands and introducing me to jazz band."

Behrens, who is in the marching, jazz and concert bands, has kept himself busy through his career. Through his love of music and his work in the fine arts, Behrens was honored as the lead drum major for the Fort Dodge All-American Marching Band.

"Being named head drum major is the biggest honor I have received in my high school career. It is a task I do not take lightly and I have had some great role models to learn from," Behrens said. "The role comes with a lot of different responsibilities that I have taken on to the best of my abilities. I want to make the band a great place to be and help make everyone's high school experience the best it can be.

"I am fortunate to be working with the best band directors, drum majors, and section leaders. It helps make my job fun and worth the effort that's put into it."

Being part of different bands comes with adapting to the different styles.

"As I have grown as a musician I have learned how to adapt to each band and how it functions," Behrens said. "Concert Band is a lot more formal and structured. Jazz Band is more of a fun and free setting, where you can improv solos and get a chance to express yourself as a player.

"Marching Band is more strict and requires more focus and attention. It is all about having the right music memorized, the right drill set, and staying on time and together with the rest of the band."

While playing an instrument or singing, music has always been a passion for Behrens.

"I have always loved music. My family has introduced me to so many different genres and eras of music from a young age," Behrens said. "Band and choir really build off of each other, so by doing both I can expand my music knowledge and ability to perform.

"Most importantly it is just outright fun, having a bad day or a stressful day can instantly be turned around by participating in either band or choir at the high school. A special thanks to Mr. (Matt) Drees for always making the choir room such a great place to be every day."

Along with being part of all the bands, Behrens is involved in numerous activities as a Dodger. He is part of Ambassadors, National Honor Society, Performers Club, Large Group Speech, Individual Speech, track, golf, Silver Cord, St. Paul HS/College Youth Group and St. Paul Teen Praise Team.

"I like to be busy and I like to try new things. I love to learn," Behrens said. "All of the activities I'm involved in bring something new to the table for me. For example, Pastor Kendal Meyer and his wife Lynn, have done so much for my church youth group, which has allowed me to be a part of our Teen Praise, English as a Second Language classes and doing community projects like making beds and packing food boxes for the homeless shelters at our National Youth Gathering."

Even with a packed schedule growing up, Behrens decided he needed more to do, adding theater to his slate.

"I wanted to step out of my comfort zone in middle school and try the seventh-grade musical," Behrens said. "I was "The Messenger" in "King Artie and Knights of the Rad Table" and Uncle Henry in "The Wizard of Oz."

"A huge thank you to Mrs. Ascherl for helping me try something new and finding something I really liked. Unfortunately COVID-19 hit and it limited what we could do in the first years of high school.

"When I got to high school doing the musical seemed daunting, so I worked backstage to get a new perspective and learn a new set of skills. Then Mrs. Krug and Mrs Rose encouraged me to get back into performing with Large Group and Individual Speech. I loved it, so this year I'm including debate and fall play."

Showing his artistic side and branching out is something Behrens loves on stage.

"It allows me to be creative, have fun, and you are never confined to just being you, you can be whoever is on stage," Behrens said. "It also allows me to meet new people I otherwise would not have met, some of these people are now some of my closest friends."

Along with the fine arts Behrens has also been involved in baseball, football, basketball and track.

"I played football until this year, but by playing football I missed out on some of the band experiences, and looking forward to college, I realized I wanted to focus less on sports in my future and more on music, which I can do for the rest of my life," said Behrens, whose favorite memory was the night he was named head drum major. "I want to thank Mr. (Al) Paulson for always working with me and my busy sports schedules and giving me the time to grow into the person I am today. He was always there to help me, and he didn't make me choose between the two things I loved, and always had my back in all my schedule craziness."

After graduation Behrens plans on attending the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls and Loras College in Dubuque.

"I plan on becoming a history major with an emphasis on secondary education," Behrens said. "This is because of my love of history and some of the great teachers I have had in the past including, Mr. (Mike) Pavik, Mrs. (Glenda) Paulson and Mr. (Aaron) Champagne. I want to help students understand how history can be fun and what we can learn from it, while hopefully making a difference in some kids' lives."