Young Artist Spotlight

Today I want to tell you all about a friend of mine. In my job, I have the opportunity to work with quite a few talented musicians. Almost all are volunteers, so I think that we see their true selves, as they are giving freely of their time, energy, and talents. One of them, a high school senior, stands out amongst his peers not only for being a solid musician, but for being a dedicated, hard-working person. Keagan Wall plays electric guitar and mandolin at our church, and he does both of those with great degrees of creativity and excellence. It is in his saxophone skills, though, that I stand amazed. Keagan is a fairly typical high school band member. He has played sax since middle school, but has yet to receive a private lesson from a teacher who teaches the instrument exclusively. His band teachers have given him the basics on how to approach the instrument (they're brass players, who don't play sax as their first instrument), but it was up to Keagan to see just how far he could take it. Keagan's love for music drove him to practice many hours each week, going above and beyond what was required of him to simply learn the notes on the page. He wanted to make art with his sax. I'm proud of this young man, who was recently accepted into Western Oregon University (my alma mater!) as an incoming freshman. He auditions for a music scholarship this coming weekend, and I believe he will perform admirably, to the best of his ability. It is inspirational to see a young person who thirsts for knowledge to the point where he realizes he needs formal training to grow further. I hope you will all join me in wishing him the best of luck with his auditions, and in wishing him well on this next phase of his life. Good luck, Keagan!