January 2021 Students of the Month!

Aylin T.

Using music to redeem a social condition and leave the world a bit better is profoundly meaningful to me. I especially love composing music and expressing my heart’s feelings to bring social connections to my audience. Giving classical guitar concerts for nursing homes, I saw how music boosted the moods of elders by linking our souls and communicating profound feelings we couldn’t verbalize. I am very thankful to be part of the Orpheus community to do social good through music. My teacher, Dr. Klondike Steadman, has been particularly influential on my growth not only as a musician but also as a human being, as he has emphasized many times that “music is a form of social bonding, a gift we give not only ourselves, but also the world.” Over the past 12 years, he has inspired me to develop as a complete guitarist—excelling in technique, music theory, composition, heartfelt expression—and to share music with global communities. I will remain forever grateful to him and the Orpheus community for enabling me to experience life more deeply and spreading the gift of music to society.
-Aylin

Aylin has been a guitar student at Orpheus for twelve years, and during that time she has participated in private lessons, group musicianship, honors guitar quartet and trio, guitar ensemble, dozens of summer camps and so much more.  
But it was the arrival of our greatest challenge as a music school this past March that brought out the best in Aylin. Completely on her own, she came up with several powerful ideas that have become central to our mission at Orpheus during this pandemic. Aylin wrote to me and said, “I know that Orpheus values giving the gift of music to the community. Especially during this stressful time, I think retirement homes, for example, might need us most." And, since my entire staff was consumed with moving nearly 700 students from in-person to online instruction, Aylin took the lead in crafting what was to eventually become the Musical Postcards for Seniors initiative. This program has motivated our students to invest themselves deeply in practicing music because they know that they can submit a video that will make a difference in the lives of residents of over 750 retirement homes across the US, Canada and Australia. 
In addition to starting and running the Postcards program, Aylin also started our "Practice Buddies" system -- all this while applying to college (she already has early acceptance to the UT Neuroscience Department!), keeping straight A's, and helping out with the Orpheus Guitar Ensemble. Aylin truly exemplifies what it means to be a member of this community through her own learning and service to others!
-​Mr. Klondike

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