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WALLACEBURG ARTS: The music room was a place where I belonged

There are moments in life that quietly change the direction of everything that follows. 

For me, one of those moments happened in Grade 8 when the SCITS high school concert band came to perform at my elementary school gymnasium. 

WALLACEBURG ARTS: The music room was a place where I belonged Back to video

I still remember it vividly. 

The sound filled the room in a way I had never experienced before. What I remember most was the tuba. I could feel it physically — a deep vibration rumbling in my gut. 

It helped that I already knew one of the players. Don Beryl, a friend from Air Cadets, played tuba in the band. Suddenly the musicians on stage didn’t seem distant or unreachable. They were people I could imagine becoming. 

When I entered high school the following year, life outside the music room was not particularly stable. By the end of Grade 9, I had run away from home and never returned. 

There were plenty of directions my life could have taken at that point, and not all of them would have ended well. 

But music became my anchor. 

Every day after school, I wandered down to the music room to practise until the late bus arrived. Not only did it help me avoid going home, but I also got to know my music teacher, Mr. Jolley as a person and I started to develop some ability on the horn.  

On weekends I hauled my tuba onto the bus and took it home to practise. It was a recording bass tuba that travelled in two........

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