This year our school community has faced many challenges. We have missed many in-person experiences. Our fine and performing arts teachers are each working on a unique way to share the hard work of Everest students this year. Mr. Taylor shared his thoughts with the parents of band students.
“Well, it’s been a year. Music is meant to be heard – not just with your ears, but with your whole body. There is something about being in the same room as the performers when they play. Experiencing music is about the way the energy in a room changes when there is music in the air. It’s the acoustics. It’s the sound. The way the air gets moved around. It’s reverb and echo. Molecules are rearranged. Memories are formed. Recorded music is great. We listen in our homes, in our cars, and on our phones. But it’s not the same as hearing it live. It’s like the difference between reading a play and seeing it performed on stage.
This past year has been hard on everyone. But it’s been especially hard on the arts. Performances have been cancelled. Curtains remain closed. Instruments and voices remain silent. Our need for music has not gone away. Only our access to it. I wish things were different. I wish you could hear these students play live. I wish you could be “in the room where it happened” (to paraphrase Hamilton.) I wish you could hear what I hear every day at Everest, which is how great these kids are, how much they enjoy playing. Music is not about perfection. It’s about passion. It’s not about every note being perfect. It’s about joy. That’s what I hope you get from these videos. I hope you get a glimpse of the joy in the room. The discovery. The hope. One day, the clouds will part. The sun will come out. We will gather. It will be safe. We will share songs and stories. We will laugh. We will sing. We will hug. We will worship. We will do so without fear. It will mean more. Because we went without it for so long. And we will never take it for granted again. One day.
Yours in music, ~Mr. Taylor”
