Andrew McCandless, Trumpet

A little while ago I had the opportunity to hear the Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra play a symphony concert. To be honest I mostly went because I wanted to hear my former student and designer of this website Stephanie Lavoie play principal trumpet on Pictures at an Exhibition. The Etokicoke Philharmonic, (pronounced eee-toe-bee-co), is a local orchestra that does just a few concerts a year, and man do they play them! Most of the musicians are volunteers although a few get paid. I don’t know how the staffing works, but I imagine there is a lot of volunteering going on there as well.

I always love attending semi-professional orchestra concerts. The playing isn’t at the highest level, but you can tell by watching that they love what they are doing. Every time I hear these kinds of concerts it reminds me why I started playing. It wasn’t to make money, or to have a website. It was the privilege to perform on the trumpet and being surrounded by musicians who loved what they were doing also.

The concert took place in a local high school auditorium. To say it was not the most flattering acoustic would be a gross understatement. It didn’t dim the spirit of this orchestra at all. I was walking around after the concert and I heard a young violinist saying to one of her friends how exciting the concert had been. She couldn’t believe she had just played Pictures at an Exhibition. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see her giving high fives to her colleagues. (I can’t remember the last time I gave one of my colleagues a high five?)

Now I’m not saying that professionals don’t love what they do. Or that we are so jaded that we no longer enjoy playing such great music. I think all I’m saying is that sometimes it’s good to be reminded what a special gift performing can be. It doesn’t really matter what level you are playing at, what matters is that you have the opportunity to express yourself in a way that not everyone can. I think that’s worth a high five or two.

Andrew

Ps. For those of you who are wondering Stephanie played great!