On Thursday, Oct. 16, concert band finished their first piece, “Her Majesty’s Delight.” As they waited in silence, director Shane Nelson stepped onto stage and made his way to the podium. There, he raised his baton as the band begun its next piece, “Escape from the Deep.”

Nelson joined the band staff beginning the 2025-26 school year. As a percussionist, he works with the jazz ensemble, concert band, wind symphony and marching band at DGS, but also at DGN with their percussion ensemble and wind symphony.

While Nelson is involved with many of the different bands in Downers Grove, he finds himself most drawn to the jazz ensemble. He appreciates how the transition is passed down from generation to generation, learning and building upon what each person had learned before them.

“Jazz is passed down to the next person [through] mentoring upcoming and rising musicians so that way it can keep growing. So that’s why I became a teacher,” Nelson said.

Growing up, Nelson learned a lot from his own mentors. In high school, he was close with his band director who, like him, loved jazz. He also learned from his private lesson teacher who played the jazz drum set. “[My private lesson teacher] played with a lot of famous people and he had his own big band, so that influenced me a lot,” Nelson said.

Towards the end of the interview process for assistant band director, the final candidates worked with the top jazz ensemble. There, they were able to conduct and instruct the students, showcasing their work style. Fine Arts Department Chair Justin Barnish believes this is an important part of the hiring process to get to see directors in their element

“It’s important to us to be able to see all of our finalist candidates come in and work with the students. We [wanted to] see how they interact with the students and get a gauge on how their teaching style is,” Barnish said.

Nelson’s passion for jazz and music in general, shines through in his teaching style. At times when teaching, Nelson will be hands-on and use the drum set to demonstrate what he wants the students to do or to explain something in depth. Junior trumpet player O’Reily Dixon recounts a memory like this.

“Sometimes what [Nelson] will do is when someone’s on the drum set, he’ll just hop on the drum set himself and demonstrate his playing,” Dixon said.

Since Nelson is a jazz musician, he understands the wide range of jazz music and picks pieces that give students a thorough dive into jazz. The students enjoy this range and feel there’s a lot of conscious decision making when choosing music for students to play. Junior clarinet and saxophone player Ellie Penevic appreciates Nelson’s choices in music.

“He’s picking Duke Ellington songs and some newer charts, but there’s a lot of intent behind it and what he’s trying to do with each piece,” Penevic said.

At the end of the day, Nelson just wants his students to do their best. He aims to give them the assets to help move themselves forward, not just as a band, but also as individual musicians. No matter how long it takes, he is committed to helping students reach their musical goals.

“I want to give them all the resources and I want them to push themselves so much that they can play whatever they want. There [are] no limitations and that takes a lot of time and practice,” Nelson said.