Jump for Joy Music: A Musical Family

She runs the office; his performances reach an estimated 500 children every week. She plays keyboard, and he plays flute, saxophone, guitar and harmonica. This summer, Milpitas residents Wiley and Debbie Rankin and their Jump for Joy Music perform at the Fremont Main Library as well as the Los Altos Art and Wine Festival and Gilroy Garlic Festival.

Milpitas Patch: What's it like as a career to bring music to young audiences?

Debbie: It's a real honor and privilege just to be able to earn a living through music. We know so many fabulous musicians with day jobs and they do music on the side. It's humbling that we've been able to make a living out of it. It feels like a gift.
 
Wiley: It was a complete blessing and surprise that we were able to do music together. Debbie and I have been doing it together full time since 2003, and before that I've been doing it full time since 1987. 

Patch: What are your shows like?
 
Wiley: Sometimes it's a four-piece band—and we also have a dream of bringing larger groups together with a big band and even an orchestra. It depends on the circumstance. If the performance area is tiny … then sometimes it's just me. 

Debbie: He does a lot of solo work. It depends on what the need is. If it's elementary school, I'll almost always be with him for a bigger show.

Patch:  Where do you play in Milpitas?

Wiley: We've been privileged over the past two or three years to do a workshop series at the  School, which is right near the sports center. And then their sister school, , which is right near Walgreens on Milpitas Boulevard near Dixon. I've been doing some workshops as well as some evening concerts. Those schools are very near and dear to us. There's also which is near the library. They're our regular clients. And .

Patch: And who does the behind-the-scenes work that needs to get done?

Debbie: When I'm not out performing, I'm back at our home, doing the office work, taking care of the accounting, invoicing, banking, the contracts … so I guess I'm called the office manager.     

Patch: Because you work together as husband and wife, is it hard to separate your work life from your personal life?

Debbie: He'll come home from a day of doing different jobs … sometimes there are things that I need to tell him about, whether it's an email that needs to be returned … we'll still be in work mode for a while … sometimes it's hard to turn off the work mode and just be Wiley and Debbie. 
   
Patch: What are some of the best parts of the job? 

Debbie: One of the experiences that always tickles me ... every once in a while I'll go to one of the preschools with him. And when he shows up the kids yell, "It's Mr. Wiley!" And they get all excited…and even come up and grab his leg. Kids are so spontaneous and free and they're so giving. You can't outgive them in that regard. It's such a blessing.  

Patch: How did you discover that you liked playing for younger audiences?  

Wiley: So I started with high school and college and found I loved younger groups too, including K-6. And in the late '80s, early '90s I started doing elementary shows and I love that age group. And then after that I discovered preschool. And together Debbie and I love that age group as well. We really love multigenerational concerts as well. 

Patch: What are some of the experiences in your life that shaped your passion for music?

Debbie: From the very beginning, my parents instilled a love of music in me.  My dad played violin down on the St. Louis riverfront. He was sort of an eclectic person and that was one of the things he did during the '30s and '40s.

One of my earlier recollections is the Municipal Opera in St. Louis where Wiley and I grew up. You could go there Monday nights from May until August and there would be a different show every week. And frequently it was broadway type classics like Oklahoma, or something newer, Cabaret, and that kind of stuff. So we would go Monday nights and I just got this huge love for music from age 7 or age 8.

Wiley: I graduated from San Jose State with a music major in classical flute performance. And while I was going to college, I supported myself as a singing telegram messenger. It was a lot of fun and it gave me a lot of the inspiration for Jump for Joy Music. Unbeknownst to me, I found that people are, in my opinion, ready to explode with laughter at almost any moment. You just need to find a little key to unlock that.

And I found that again and again as a singing telegram messenger that people just love to laugh. And I wanted to help encourage this so people can see a different side of life. I know how helpful laughter has been for myself. 

Patch: How did you land in Milpitas from St. Louis?

Wiley: We got married in St. Louis and we moved immediately to Mountain View. When we had a chance to buy a house a year later, we found what a beautifully integrated neighborhood Milpitas is.  

It was the first planned integrated neighborhood in the country. And there's a whole history. The was central to that. We ended up buying a house in Milpitas and then we discovered quickly through the Sunnyhills Neighborhood Association that what happened in the '50s was the Ford corporation wanted to move its plant from Richmond to Milpitas. And they wanted to bring their black workers and they wanted them to be able to buy homes. And in the 1950's you can imagine how resistant a white community would be to that.

But the Ford corporation took a very progressive stance. And they brought in the American Friends and Service Committee as the mediating group, along with the AFL-CIO. So they negotiated with the local contractors and worked out a way so the black workers could buy homes and ever since it's been spearheading integration for the Bay Area and that's why Milpitas is so well integrated. And so we found, for the first time, we were moving to a town where whites were in the minority and we loved it.

Patch: What is a fond memory you have of Milpitas?

Wiley: In Milpitas we did a series of concerts and workshops for the Sunnyhills Neighborhood Association. Since we live in Sunnyhills we did a summer series [1998-2003] called Music in the Park. And it was a combination of performance and workshop so that the children. So the children learned songs that they later performed. They also learned harmonica. So they were able to perform on the harmonica having no prior instruction to this workshop series.

And one year we won the Brick Award from the United Neighborhoods Association of Santa Clara County. We would usually get about 30 people from the neighborhood. That last Saturday in June 2003 we got coverage on the front page of the arts and entertainment for the San Jose Mercury News. 100 people showed up, saying "Where's my harmonica?" [Laughs.]  I think we had 105 so we were able to give everybody a harmonica and have three left. It was really a lot of fun.

It was great for the community. Great community building. And great for the children.