Capacity to Recover

When the life we once knew begins to settle back to us on the other side of the pandemic, it is obvious that we will never again take live music for granted. The passion that was instilled in us at a young age, mentored by great educators, transformed each of us into model performers, teachers, and clinicians. Dark performance stages and personal isolation will slowly fade as we are driven toward safely vaccinated events: the arena-filled rock concert, the local school ensemble performance, the professional orchestra, or the captivating film score screened at a local movie theatre.

I am impressed by the resilience of our state orchestra programs, and their never-ending commitment to their musicians. Professional orchestras have slowly migrated from virtual events to socially distant openings, featuring restructured repertoire that features a subsection of the entire ensemble. Seven Alabama youth orchestras never adopted an attitude of defeat, setting up virtual instruction, score study, and masterclasses to keep talented students engaged. Public school orchestra programs are slowly reintroducing instruments into classrooms. And the Alabama Orchestra Association remains committed to our talented orchestra students, as a challenging year forced us to be decisive in adapting to virtual All-State Auditions and the virtual Orchestra Music Performance Assessment. Socially-distant, vaccinated crowds can now return to the concert hall to be swept away from their daily struggles to be uplifted and fulfilled.

Please help me thank the countless orchestra educators, administrators, professors, grant writers, music librarians, stage managers, music directors, and philanthropists that ensure that orchestral music will brighten our lives again very soon.

New Orchestra Music Performance Assessment Video Deadline……May 15, 2021 Details can be found at alabamaorchestraassociation.org

Thank you for your tireless and relentless work on behalf of our students. I am inspired by your commitment to engaging communities with the value of music.

Please know that my door is always open. Please feel free to contact me at dstevens1@una.edu.

Blessings,

Daniel Stevens