Steve’s Testimonial

I was recently revisiting the yearbook photo of my high school orchestra in the late 1960s, and as my eye scanned this assembly of old friends, I was struck by how prominent music was in the lives of so many there.  Of the sixty-seven pictured, at least nineteen went on to major in music in college, and of that number, at least half went on to professional careers as performers and teachers.  Many more played in the Louisville-Jefferson County Youth Orchestra, as well as at school, and the level of private study and practice was remarkably intense.  Attendance at LO concerts ran high among us, as well.  All of this may say something about the individuals involved, but in large part it also speaks volumes for the robustness of music education in Louisville at that time.  Music education took many sizes and shapes, with strong public school programs, private studios, the preparatory department at UL, the Louisville Academy of Music, the Youth Orchestra and the Youth Choir, all in an exciting synergy one with the other.

Fueling it all perhaps was the relatively few lines drawn between cohorts.  So many of our teachers played in LO, KOA, and the Bach Society; so many advanced students at UL taught private lessons; UL faculty members were leading figures in Louisville’s performance life, but also in teaching advanced younger students, too.  As students in the school rehearsal room, I don’t think we saw what we did there as somehow set apart from the larger musical life of which we felt a part through our teachers.  They, in turn, perhaps with a kind wink of the eye, let us “try on” being professionals before we had achieved that status, and the experience profoundly shaped so many lives.

Here's to the robust love of music-making fostered by the Louisville Academy of Music and all its companions along the way.