Cool Cat: Jacob Batchelder
Jacob Batchelder By Elliott Watkins
The Jacob Collier of Ellensburg, Jacob Batchelder, is a CWU alum and Yamaha Young Performing Artist. Despite music being his passion, Batchelder was not drawn to music from a young age. He merely picked up instruments in the fourth grade band class, and never stopped practicing. Batchelder grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska, and moved to Washington to attend CWU.
What does Jacob Batchelder do?
Batchelder, “Batch” for short, is a local musician that performs solo shows and takes part in playing in bands. One of the bands he is a part of is called “The Ranch Dawgs”. He is one of the founders of this group. “I think I had the idea to call ourselves something kind of dumb, like The Ranch Dawgs, and it was kind of just a joke at first, but it kind of stuck,” says Batchelder. The Ranch Dawgs have played during Jazz in the Valley, Farmers Markets, and many other shows around town.
Batchelder also plays the guitar in The BPM Trio, which is a jazz trio based in Ellensburg.
What instruments can he play?
His primary instruments are trumpet and guitar. He is most confident in his trumpet talents, and finds it interesting that he is most often playing gigs on the guitar. “A lot of people ask me how long I’ve played guitar, and I don’t really know because I didn’t take guitar lessons. I guess I’m, what people call, self-taught,” says Batchelder.
Batchelder doesn’t like to say that he “plays” a certain instrument unless he believes he is good at it. “I also ‘play’ some bass, some piano, the ukulele, and I sing but I don’t consider myself a singer or a ukulele player, or a bass player, or even a piano player,” says Batchelder.
How did his music career start?
“When I decided to do it [start playing music], I think it was just because it was something exciting as a fourth grader I thought was kind of interesting. And then, I just never quit,” says Batchelder. Music became a hobby for him, and in highschool it became a passion. He realized that he wanted to go to college to pursue a music career, and ended up going to CWU.
“Even after my audition when I got in, I still thought “Eh, I don’t really know if I’ll come”, and then one of the trumpet players here said, “You should really come”, and they kind of convinced me,” says Batchelder.
What is next for Batchelder?
“Well, I just auditioned for a school in Florida and I don’t really want to go to Florida, because I don’t really like the idea of living in Florida with the weather and with crocodiles,” says Batchelder.
He has auditioned for a few schools, and is waiting to hear back from them.
“If I don’t go somewhere, then I’ll probably just stay in Washington, either in Ellensburg or try to move somewhere on the westside,” says Batchelder, “but I mean, I kind of like Ellensburg.”
No matter where he is, his goal is to get better at playing his instruments, specifically his trumpet.
What is Batchelders end goal?
“My favorite thing about playing the trumpet, well for one thing, is that it brings people together. Music does that in general, but also, I guess kind of the same thing, I think hopefully, a lot of the time, it makes people happy to hear music,” says Batchelder.
Batchelder aims to make people happy, and make money doing so.
“The ultimate goal is to try and make money doing it [playing music] so that I can keep doing it [playing music] because I think that it should be something that is done. Trumpet playing is a thing that should exist and people should be doing it and if I can do it, it’s fun for me and it can also kind of bring a joyful thing into the world,” says Batchelder.
(Photos Courtesy of Jacob Batchelder)