Jacob Mann prides himself on being a multi-hyphenate in regards to music.

The Louisburg senior found out at the end of August that he’d been selected as the percussion alternate for the National Association of Music Educators All-National Honor Ensemble in the symphony orchestra and concert band performances, which will be held Nov. 6 at the Gaylord National Resort in Baltimore, Maryland.

“This is a tremendous honor as the NAfME honor bands are the best of the best high school musicians in the entire country,” said Zeb Tiedeman, Director of Bands at Louisburg Schools, in a press release from the high school. “To put this in perspective, being named All-National is equivalent to a high school basketball player being named to the McDonald’s High School All-America Team.”

But before that news could be shared, Mann already had more news. He self-released his first single “take a breath I” on Aug. 31. The indie hip-hop track, which Mann wrote, produced, performed and recorded, is available on music streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.

Looking at Mann's resume, he may need to follow the advice offered in the song title of his first single.

Mann, the Capitol Federal® True Blue® Student of the Week, is slated to finish high school at the top of his class with a 4.0 GPA, is a member of the National Honor Society and played on the golf team until his workload forced him to step away last year.

“Golfing has always been a really important activity for me,” Mann said. “But I was starting to work on my music and really start to grow my artistry.”

In addition to scholastic achievements, band performances and budding music career, Mann has done an extensive amount of volunteer work. He’s volunteered with multiple religious-based organizations such as the Four Corners Native American Ministry, Youthfront and has been on multiple mission projects in Costa Rica. He also participated in disaster relief efforts in Joplin, Mo., after the 2011 tornado that devastated the area.
 

“Those projects have been super impactful on the way I see the world and those trips for mission projects have been super impactful on my life,” Mann said.

Mann said visiting developing nations when he was just 5 years old opened his eyes to various hardships around the world and the need for people dedicated to helping people in need.

“I just have to thank my parents for taking me with them to these places where most parents probably wouldn’t, because they might deem it unsafe or things like that,” Mann said. “But it really opened my eyes and showed how the rest of the world lives.”

Those experiences have also influenced Mann’s music.

In “take a breath I,” Mann raps about resisting a call to grind culture and valuing materialistic pursuits, imploring his listeners to live life slow. Mann crafted the lyrics after creating a beat that he felt sounded calming and chill, yet still had a slightly aggressive aspect to it.

“What’s a message I can send that’s almost demanding something, but for their own good and in a calming way?” Mann said. “So I’m like, 'Look, just take a breath, just please take a step back and everything will be all right.'”

Mann developed the beat after taking a music theory class last year. He said the class taught him a lot about the technical aspects of music making, such as chord progression and harmonic structure.
 

“I learned a lot and started bringing that into my own music making,” Mann said. “It really taught me as a listener, 'What do you want to hear from the artist?'”

However, Mann said he had dabbled with music making well before he took that class. He begin messing around with song creation a few years ago when he collaborated with his older sister Olivia.

“We would sort of create songs and obviously I didn’t really know what I was doing,” Mann said. “I was on the learning curve, but that’s really when I started. I knew this is a really cool idea, to be able to have something that is truly mine.”

He liked the idea of creating something personal that he could also present to people and let them listen.

“Since then, I just fell in love,” Mann said.

Mann said the collaborations with his sister go all the way back to when he was a toddler. He said there’s even home video of him receiving his first guitar at 3 years old. Mann and his sister are in the video singing a John Denver song together.

“I think the song was 'Calypso,'” Mann said.
 

Mann said that he and his sister, who graduated from Louisburg in 2019, have grown up inspiring each other as musical artists.

“We would just always write stuff together. She would sing and I would play and we would come up with ideas,” Mann said.

It would be a few years after that first childhood duet before Mann really got locked in on learning how to play instruments. He got a guitar first, but it was when he got his drum set at 5 years old that he really started to improve his musical abilities. Mann started playing classic rock songs from bands like the Eagles. When he started taking paid lessons around 7 years old, he got interested in more complex songs, such as one from the band Rush.

“I think I was 12 when I started to pick up the guitar and it was very easy for me to start to learn because the rhythm side was already figured out,” he said.

Around the same time, Mann started to learn piano and keyboard as well. Since then, he’s picked up the marimba and the timpani.

Mann said music runs in the family. In addition to his sister’s skills, Mann described his father Rick as a great musician. The older Mann was a first trumpet at the University of Iowa.

“He had a huge influence on getting me into music,” Mann said.

His mom Lisen, who doesn’t play any instruments herself, also had an impact on Mann’s passion for music by showing a similar love for all types of music. Thanks to his mom’s eclectic taste, Mann’s range of styles include rock, jazz, funk, classical, Latin, R&B, hip-hop and techno. He only considers himself sufficient on the piano.

Mann's personal taste in music has seen his work influenced by well-known rappers like Tyler the Creator and Kanye West, as well as less recognizable indy rock bands such as Hippo Campus and DOUBLECAMP.
 

Another big impact on Mann’s artistry has been his time playing in multiple praise bands in and around Louisburg. Mann joined the RezLife Band at the Church of Resurrection back in 2017. He said one of his friends was already playing in the band and told him about it.

Mann said it’s been a great experience for him, getting the opportunity to play in front of thousand of people in large auditoriums, but also play in more intimate venues.

“I’ve also been able to play for people who are in rehab for drugs or alcohol,” Mann said. “It’s just been a very, very nice experience to give back with music.”

In the last year, the band has been lead by Zae Romero, who was a finalist on the 20th season of NBC’s “The Voice.” Mann said he's been able to talk with Romero about the songwriting process and working with people in the music industry. Mann also collaborated with Romero on some songwriting. He’s also been able to send Romeo some of his songs before releasing them.

Mann's other musical performances includes playing live shows with A Big D@mn Deal, the house band at Somerset Schoolhouse in Paola. Mann is also the drummer for the band Witness, which headlined Paola’s Music on the Square Summer Series in 2017. He also works as a teaching assistant for Louisburg’s middle school band.

Mann made the first chair for percussion last year as junior after making the third chair as a freshman. He has made all-district each of his three years and was the only student from Class 4-1A selected to the top Gold Band.

Mann plans to major in music performance and business in college, but has yet to choose which school he’ll attend.

Here is a link to Jake Mann’s profile on Spotify and the song "take a breath I."