Mention the folk tune “Opa Cupa” during rehearsal in the March Madness Marching Band practice room and a melodic giggle rises from a seat on the front row.
It’s the familiar laughter of Sara Jo Schmidt, a local trumpet player who has performed with MMMB since 2014. The fun-loving instrumentalist enjoys a challenge, and the fast-tempo MMMB arrangement of the traditional Romani tune—pronounced ‘oh-pah zoo-pah”—more than delivers.
“I love playing it and seeing the dancers move to it,” Sara Jo says of the rhythm-rich melody. Arranged by MMMB music director and professional percussionist Tripp Bratton, Opa Cupa was performed as part of Mecca Live Studio and Gallery’s annual “1001 Nights” performance in 2018 after entering the MMMB repertoire earlier that year. Although the show was not an official MMMB event, several MMMB musicians—including Sara Jo—played at the performance, which was produced by MMMB co-lead choreographer and Mecca owner Teresa Tomb.
The event, and performance of Opa Cupa specifically, had a profound impact on Sara Jo.
“It seems to generate a genuine sense of wonder and excitement,” she says eagerly of the tune, as if just talking about it elicits an energy all its own.
Energy in performance is important to Sara Jo. The reaction from a crowd helps to provide that energy, but so does the music itself. For this trumpet player, the enjoyment of playing New Orleans jazz is so profound that Sara Jo takes time off work each spring to travel with friends to The Big Easy and play second line jazz in Mardi Gras parades.
“My favorite type of music to play is New Orleans style second line jazz,” she says unequivocally.
It’s hard to imagine a time when Sara Jo wasn’t making music, although the Transylvania University grad and band alum says she went several years without playing music at all after graduating from college. She credits her husband of 12 years, Jeremy, for encouraging her to join MMMB five years ago after a long hiatus from the trumpet.
“He knows how important it is to have music in my life and what it means to me, and it is actually with his encouragement that I joined MMMB,” says Sara Jo.
And she loves MMMB. Sara Jo is one of the band’s most active members: she rarely misses a gig or a rehearsal, and she has helped recruit several new band members over the years. She also likes to joke about what she calls her “non-official” MMMB roles, including “chauffeur” and “trumpet section wrangler.”
When she’s not playing with MMMB, Sara Jo can often be found playing big band and Latin-style tunes on trumpet with Lexington’s Jim Stone Jazz Band, writing poetry, or soaking up Lexington’s emerging arts and cultural scene with fellow MMMB bandies.
“I’m happy to have the band as part of my life,” she says. “We are part of what makes our town unique. It’s one of my greatest sources of joy and laughter.”