That's a Wrap! Midwest Day 4

     Music lovers of all stripes were back at McCormick Place West on Saturday to attend the final day of the 2015 Midwest Clinic. After a complimentary breakfast, the first event of the day was a concert by the Tara Winds. The spokesman for the band remarked that he was pleasantly surprised to see so many in attendance for an 8:30 AM Saturday morning concert. I guess we're all just that committed. The Tara Winds is an all-adult symphonic band that hails from the great state of Georgia. Many of its members hail from the Atlanta area, but the ensemble boasts members from all across the state. The band has been performing since 1988, and a few of those founding members even were performing with the group on Saturday. After they played through their program(which even included a piece by Eric Whitacre!), the next piece on the agenda was a morning talk from Arturo Sandoval.

     Mr. Sandoval is a Jazz Trumpeter from Cuba who has played on more than 15 film soundtracks as well as numerous albums of his own. His talk mainly touched on personal anecdotes from his life, like when the first person to give him a trumpet lesson declared that he would never amount to anything musically, which led to the quote "only God could say who will make it or not". Another story revolved around his first time in the United States. When he was signed to a record deal, he went from sitting in Cuba to performing onstage at Carnegie Hall all within the space of 24 hours. He wrapped up his talk by restating the point that you have to learn music by hearing it and playing it, not by merely studying it ad nauseum. After the Sandoval talk, it was back to the Skyline Ballroom for the final event of the day: a concert from the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.

     The Civic Orchestra is a training division of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the only such relationship to exist in the entire country. The ensemble is designed to let younger musicians hone their skills, helping them to succeed as musicians. The ensemble is also known for presenting top-flight orchestral music to the people of Chicago for no charge. Saturday's concert was intended as a tribute to Arnold Jacobs in honor of the 100th Anniversary of his birth. Mr. Jacobs was a prolific tubist, who performed as part of the CSO from 1944 to 1988. To further honor Jacobs, the Vaughn Williams Tuba Concerto was performed, and recorded audio of Jacobs himself was played during the solos. As the concert ended, a representative with Midwest came onstage and thanked all of the attendees for their help in making the 69th Annual Midwest Clinic a success, setting the stage for next year's 70th Annual Convention.

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