Music for All: By The Youth

With the weather getting warmer I can't help but think of summer. Summer reminds me of a trip I took in the summer of 2014 to Italy with a great organization called the Youth Orchestra of Bucks County, YOBC. I was a member of this group throughout most of high school as a clarinetist and while belonging I always helped volunteer with the organization.

YOBC Italy Tour

The Cause:
YOBC is an audition based youth orchestra organization that rehearses at the Bucks County Community College on Sundays and holds a Winter and Spring concert. Every other year the organization takes a tour, around 12 days long, to a European country where they perform in global festivals and concerts featuring them.

Outdoor Performance in Florence, Italy for an Audience of Over 2,000

YOBC is split into 3 divisions- junior, intermediate, and advanced- which is made up of 13 different ensembles with a total of around 300 students. These ensembles include small groups, bands, and orchestras. 

In addition to working with all the students to improve their musical skills, the organization creates a friendly environment for music outside of school and works as an outreach group to get young kids interested in music. It also helps people with less money afford instruments so they too can play music. 

What I Did:
Every week, I would help set up and break down our rehearsal space. This would involve getting other kids to help me so I didn't have to do it alone and to all show our respect for the space we were generously given to rehearse in.

At the end of the Italy tour, on the bus ride between two towns, I interviewed everyone on the bus to see what their highlights of the trip were. These video interviews were then put together by our videographer to document everyone's take on the trip.

Recently I returned to YOBC for one of my brother's concerts and helped check students in and chaperone them with my parents.

The biggest project I volunteered with YOBC for was during my final year in the organization. I worked closely with the Executive Director, Colleen Sweetsir, on an outreach project. The goal of this project was to spike interest about music in little kids. Our goal age group was preschool age. The event was held at our local Barnes and Noble in the children's section where some fellow musicians and I "performed" the book. We had a narrator and I was the organizer and conductor. As the book was read and certain instruments were talked about those instruments were played for the children to hear. It went something like this...

After the performance, the kids got to participate in an instrumental "petting zoo." Where they could touch the instruments and talk to the musicians to learn more about the instruments.

To prep for this event, I worked with the Executive director to figure out what instruments were needed and what musicians we would ask to participate. Then, we both meant with the individual instrumentalists to work out how we wanted each instrument to sound. Then, we had a rehearsal with everyone participating where we read and played through the book to make sure everyone understood how it would go. At the actual event, I helped set up and make sure everyone and everything was where we needed it.

What I Learned:
Throughout all of my volunteering with YOBC I have learned the importance of gaining respect and trust from others. Working closely with the Executive Director, I observed how everyone was always attentive in her presence and willing to do whatever she asked of them. I wanted to become a leader like her. I learned that to gain respect of others you need to respect them and show them you respect them. You must treat people with common decency and show them you are willing to listen to them and work with them to make whatever you are doing a better experience better for everyone. I got a chance to practice this with Farkle McBride and learned how to take all ideas into consideration but still deciding what would work best for the group.

Also, it is important to show your respect for others even when you aren't trying to gain them as followers. This was shown in how we had to keep our rehearsal space clean and correct, as we were just borrowing the space.

Photo By: Patrick Marione

I also learned that yelling is not the best way to get attention, make everyone hear you, and listen to you. Sometimes you need to be quiet and wait for others.

By doing all this, I learned that you gain trust from your equals and superiors. This is really important to success and being allowed to do more to enhance your experiences.

Finally, I learned/was reminded of the importance in sharing your passion. I spent lots of time playing music in high school. When I saw the pure joy and amazement on the faces of kids who were hearing some of these instruments for the first time it reminded me of what made me start playing in the first place. It was really cool to see these kids become interested in something for the first time that I had been working hard at for the past 9 years.

It's important to be reminded of the beauty and even amazement for others in something you do everyday and that has become normal for you to do.