Music at any age

As a person who can play only half of a handful of songs on the piano and can rock barely more than the open G on a guitar, I respect musicians. I'm not in awe of all of them, but I respect them.

I played the clarinet in high school and can tell you the difference between a whole note and a triplet, but that's about the extent of my abilities. So I am properly impressed at the musicians featured in our story about young composers at the Southeast Music Academy. These virtuosos have committed themselves to music, even though none of them has even graduated high school.

Under the direction of Sherrie Troxel and Maria Mizicko, the students developed original music compositions for more than two months as part of the Academy's Musicianship Classes.

The students usually have training in playing an instrument or singing, but like 9-year-old Bailey Schott in our story on Page 13A, they often compose pieces they cannot play yet.

Catherine Jackson, who won first place in the senior high division, has had enough practice and was able to play her own piece at the concert May 17 in Shuck Recital Hall, but more often than not, the fledgling musicians are too advanced in composing for their own skill level playing.

It seems serendipitous that in a week where we feature young composers, we also feature those continuing their craft. The municipal band started its summer season this week with many drummers, trumpeters and flutists who have decades of playing to toot their horns about. They play beside other instrumentalists who may only be warming up in their musical chairs.

I thank these musicians, young and old, for adding a melody to a sometimes mute world.