This is our 9th (!) year as a TRYPO family; over the course of those nine years, our three oldest kids have participated in Symphonette, YPO, Wind Symphony, TRYPOSphere classes, and more YC² chamber groups than I can count. We feel so fortunate that TRYPO has been such a big part of our family’s life for almost a decade. Supporting TRYPO each year is our way of giving back to a program that has given our kids—and our family—so much. Here are five reasons why:
1. The opportunity to play music as part of a community.
Our son attends a school that does not offer instrumental music instruction, so TRYPO ensembles allow him to spend time each week in a community of people who value and enjoy making music as much as he does. Given that the quality and availability of music instruction can vary so widely across schools, we’ve experienced firsthand how the programs that TRYPO offers fill a critical need in our community; this is a huge part of why we chose to donate to TRYPO each year.
2. The friendships.
For our oldest daughter especially, TRYPO is where she found her people. She and I both still vividly remember the first TRYPO orientation meeting we attended before she joined Symphonette – not for the information we learned or for the excitement and nervousness she felt at getting started, but for the friendship that was formed that day. It was at that meeting that she first encountered another new SYM member who would become one of her favorite people and closest friends; they spent the next five years trading orchestra memes and hanging out with their close knit group of friends at Starbucks in the moments between SYM/YPO rehearsal and YC².
3. The concerts.
Our kids have had the opportunity to perform in so many different environments and on so many different stages during their time in TRYPO ensembles. From Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Music Hall to NYC’s Carnegie Hall, and so many locations in between (just to name a few: Heinz Hall, so many Carnegie Libraries, South Fayette High School, Chautauqua Institution, Point Park University, even the David Lawrence Convention Center when social distancing was a factor), TRYPO musicians get to experience what it’s like to make music on the same stages that so many musical greats have performed on before them.
4. The spirit of positivity and innovation.
When Lindsey Nova and her staff see an opportunity to expand or enhance how kids are experiencing music, they don’t waste a moment before getting started, even if it means really thinking outside the box. We’ve seen this over and over again over the course of the almost 10 years that our kids have been part of the TRYPO family, but it was perhaps best evidenced at the start of the pandemic. In a moment when it felt like the routine and life that kids knew was dropping out from underneath them, TRYPO shifted almost immediately into an online format that supported them and allowed them the opportunity to keep learning and playing music while also recognizing and acknowledging kids’ real feelings about the things they were missing out on.
5. The TRYPO family.
I can’t say enough about the community of musicians, teachers, and fantastic people who keep TRYPO running – they are phenomenal. Our kids have gotten to learn from some of the most amazing musicians in Pittsburgh while being coached and guided by so many adults who truly care about helping kids become not just better musicians but great people as well. Just the absolute best.