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That Sound.
Many of you know it. Some of you are about to hear it for the first time: the screech of a violin, the squeak of a clarinet, a child’s voice scooping up and down like a siren. You may hear one or two of those sounds at a time at home, but I promise you: it is nothing like hearing more than 100 students produce them simultaneously. That is what I mean by that sound.
That sound has become the soundtrack of my last fifteen Septembers. And it is beautiful. (Though, truthfully, I could stand to have the volume reduced by about 70 percent!)
This is the time of year when our newest students begin the process of finding their voices, which is, in many ways, what school is all about. They are discovering who they are, realizing that their individual voices matter, and learning how those voices can contribute to something larger. I love this time of year because it offers such a loud, unmistakable reminder of the value of learning to make music together, whether a student’s voice is a trumpet, a cello, or their own singing voice.
So much of what motivates me comes from hearing that (obnoxiously loud) sound of more than 100 ten-year-olds trying to find those voices, both individually and together. For a little motivation and a sense of where that sound can lead, listen to our high school orchestra and chorus students here and our high school band students here.
Whether you are welcoming that sound into your home for the first time or hearing how it has developed over six, seven, or eight years, know that every note and every word is evidence that our students are learning to express themselves, to work hard without instant results, and to contribute something meaningful to a larger whole. As far as I am concerned, few lessons we can teach them matter more.
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