The Holidays and the Power of Music in a Community

This weekend saw huge crowds for the Third Annual DePauw University School of Music Holiday Gala. Nearly every member of the School of Music was on stage and it seemed as if every member of the community was in the house– a great weekend indeed. As I listened to the poignant and joyous and sometimes humorous performances, I looked around at the hundreds of rapt faces around me. This community loves to gather in this grand space to be edified, entertained, enraptured by what this School of Music can do. Whether it is an opera or musical, a symphony or band concert, the a capella voices of our choirs, the swing of our jazz groups or any number of brilliant solo or guest performers, we have become a place. A place to be, a place to come full of expectations– expectations that will be fulfilled in marvelous ways.

On the heels of this great weekend, we welcome our next set of auditionees, high school students ready to take that next step, ready to train to find their place in the world. I think they have come to a good place. A place that knows the value of the arts in the life well-lived and knows the incredible power of music to inform and even transform a community.

The holidays are a time for giving thanks. In Greencastle, Indiana and in the DePauw School of Music, we have much to be thankful for.