Hello TRYPOfam!
My name is Alyssa Hensley, and I am the manager for Youth Chamber Connection and special projects with TRYPO!
I took on the role of YC2 manager after founder Laurie Cunningham’s retirement in 2021. I was a fresh graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, where I’d studied harp performance with principal harpist of the Pittsburgh Symphony, Gretchen Van Hoesen.
As you can imagine, coming out of the COVID shutdown, the music world for a new grad was terrifying. Auditions were on hold, everyone was out of work, and restrictions on crowd sizes made gigging (weddings, cocktail hours, dinners, and other events) almost non-existent.
All I’d ever wanted was to play music. My siblings and I had been in youth orchestras since I was 8 years old: my brother on trumpet, my sister on flute, and my little brother covering the percussion section. My mom and I would lug my harp through the strangest alleyways of Aurora, Elgin, and downtown Chicago to get to where we needed to go, often multiple times a weekend with all the activities we participated in. I couldn’t have imagined a better way to spend my weekends, and I loved the variety of music we played wherever we went.
For me, taking the harp places was the norm. I was used to doing anything if it meant I could play and be around music. When a very good friend of mine sent me the job posting for Youth Chamber Connection, his words were: “You need to apply for this, it’s perfect for you!” When I read the description, I understood what he meant.
For those who may not know, chamber music is simply small groups of musicians playing together without a conductor. Chamber music was originally written for small groups to perform in homes instead of large venues (though that has changed over time). It’s a social form of music-making by definition and should be played by groups of friends and colleagues. Chamber music exists in all types of ensemble combinations! If you put certain instruments together – there’s a good chance someone has already written music for that exact combination!
My first introduction to chamber music was probably like most students with siblings: my mom made my sister and I play together for family events. It worked out … most of the time. If you have siblings, you probably understand what these at-home rehearsals looked like. It didn’t take long before my mom sought out the youth ensembles to help referee the matches – I mean coach our rehearsals!
We were placed in so many different groups that performed throughout the Chicagoland area – harp ensembles, woodwind quintets, harp and string quartets, and many other variations. Chamber music was what sustained me when the youth orchestras didn’t program harp on every piece for a concert cycle. It allowed me to play some nuanced music and lean into musical skills I wouldn’t normally have as an orchestra section of one: cueing, following, adjusting articulation and tone to others, and so much more.
When I accepted the job managing Youth Chamber Connection, I knew it wouldn’t mean playing music with my friends 24/7. But it did mean I could share my love and enthusiasm for chamber music with a new generation of young musicians, many of whom had their experiences cut short due to COVID-19 or never had the opportunity to play with other musicians.
Registration for Youth Chamber Connection’s 10th anniversary is now open for all students, all instruments, and all playing levels! You are accepted into the program upon registration and simply need to include a short video to let us know your playing level so we can place you with other students of similar playing levels and schedule availability.
The skills you learn from playing chamber music will last you a lifetime and apply to all aspects of your life – music or not. It creates empathetic humans who know how to listen, adjust, work together, and work through challenges without leaving others behind.
These days when I’m not coordinating schedules and putting student chamber groups together, I teach privately, gig, and play in 3 different chamber groups around Pittsburgh and Chicago: Trio Cassatt – harp, cello, and flute; Wire and Reeds – harp and clarinet(s); and the Hensley Sisters – harp and flute. Yes, with my sister. We don’t require quite as much refereeing these days!