This week, Trinity is opening her doors to TAPA (Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts) and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. Three students have competed and won the opportunity to play with the Symphony, and it is in our spiritual home that their dreams will become a reality. We are ecstatic to have them here, and even with the hard work it takes to prepare our space for this event, we know the fruit of this labor is beyond just the event itself; it is for the future of the meditative practice of making music through inspiring and investing in the time and space the young ones need in our community, who will become forces for music for the future. 

This topic, and event, are both dear to me. I have been shaped both personally and professionally by my connection to this very same organization. As a young person, it was here that I built my foundation for the love and respect of the hard work of music creation (especially in classical and art music.)    

There I was; an awkward teen shuffling down the sidewalk toward the Toledo Museum of Art. The French horn case in my hand knocked hard against my shin, and the oversized black folder holding my scores was grasped precariously by the other hand. In gold lettering, the folder read “Toledo Symphony Youth Orchestra” (Or TYO) across the front. I had auditioned for this group after being encouraged by my excellent band director Mrs. Disbrow, and a bit to my disbelief, I was accepted. Participation in this group required I take private lessons, and my horn teacher, Ms. Sandra Clark, was the principal horn player for the Toledo Symphony. It was a privilege to be a part of this group, and I felt that pressure as my case continued to knock into my shin. 

I worked my way into the peristyle, one of the most beautiful performance venues my young heart had witnessed to that day, and looked across the seating arrangement set for the orchestra. The seats began filling up with all kinds of people and their instruments of choice. I found my seat in the back; there were six horn players that year, and my place was in the second chair. 

For the rest of the school year, I always looked forward to my days at the TYO rehearsals. Due to many factors, some I understood then and many others I now understand as an adult, the music was high quality those evenings, and I was surrounded by other nerdy, geeky kids like me, who loved big boisterous classical music. Playing the horn part during “Swan Lake” was magical, and so was this beautiful section during “One Last Shot” of the Pirate of the Caribbean medley we did. TYO is one of the places my love for classical music was cemented. As I studied through school, it was experiences like the one with the TSO that lead me to conducting classes, listening to choral music, and building my identity as a musician, and who I wanted to be when I stood on the podium as well. I still chase the ideals of the high quality music making- now I’m the one who has the baton, forever working to create opportunities for others like I had in TSO. 

The young ones who have won this competition (and the ones who did not) are the future of music creation. By investing in their experience and preparing a lovely space with radical welcome, we not only invite a relationship with the symphony to be a community partner, but also we give space and honor the future of music with raising up the ones who will make it. So as these music makers continue their paths, they too will have had the opportunity to experience something magical, and when they stand on their podiums in the future, their reference and love for musical excellence will be solidified. And we, with the radical love of God behind us, will have been a part of it. 

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