Kindness makes hearts sing at Sequim Community Orchestra performance

Featuring a range of musical compositions from Beethoven to “Game of Thrones,” the Sequim Community Orchestra welcomed the community to a concert at the Trinity Methodist Church on Feb. 11.

The new instructor for the orchestra’s Sequim Strings Kids, Sarah Baldwin, conducted the three classes — beginner, intermediate and advanced — in their performances to kick off the concert.

The church was full for the approximately one-hour long free/by donation concert.

A bake sale at the event brought in $575, according to Amanda Westman, family coordinator for the strings program. The money will help purchase quarter- and half-sized instruments for use by the students. (The SCO has, since its inception, maintained a selection of loaner instruments that are borrowed at no cost to families.)

Two additional youth from the Singing Strings Orchestra program in Quilcene, Eliana and Claire Montgomery, participated in the last three pieces with the Sequim Orchestra. Their teacher, Joann Judd, recently wrote to the Gazette about the series of events that precipitated their inclusion, which follows the Sequim motto of “Be Kind”:

”It was exactly 3 years ago, before Covid,” wrote Judd. “My husband and I (LeRoy Judd) had just begun the Singing Strings program for music-starved Quilcene. We invited students to attend the Sequim Community Orchestra concert where we would be performing. We asked the students to get orchestra members and the conductor to sign their programs. Only two of our students attended.

“After the concert, we took this photo and stood around hoping to see the conductor. Each girl was clutching a concert program and we were some of the last people in the building. Then he walked up. ‘So you must be the girls who wanted me to sign your programs!’ He smiled and reached out for them.

“We had seen the great physical energy he put into his conducting and we knew he was exhausted. He was probably so late leaving because he wanted to make sure all equipment was properly accounted for and stored. Yet even in his exhaustion he was KIND. And that kindness has paid off.

“Three years have passed. Eliana Montgomery is now our first violinist and her sister, Claire is our first cellist for our Singing Strings Orchestra. Both girls also play piano. Eliana accompanies the homeschool group for singing, and Claire often accompanies some orchestra pieces.

“When I discovered the ‘Ashokan Farewell’ was to be played by SCO in the February concert, I contacted our conductor and told him the girls had performed that same arrangement in our summer concert! Would he allow them to join the SCO at the February concert? He readily agreed.

“They came and sight read all the music but the Beethoven finale! After seeing their ability to play, he generously invited them to join SCO!

“I had to ask myself, ‘What gave these girls the courage to agree to audition by sight reading the music where they had only seen one piece in advance?” I think it was that episode three years ago when an exhausted conductor saw two new music students waiting and hoping to get him to sign their programs.

“Little things can have big consequences. Small deeds of kindness can produce lasting results.

“Two words say it all. Be kind!”

For more information about the Sequim Community Orchestra or Sequim Community Youth Orchestra, visit sequimcommunityorchestra.org or contact Justin Knobel at president@sequimcommunityorchestra.org.

For more about the Quilcene Strings progrm, email to quilcenebiblechurch@gmail.com.