The Legacy of the Symphony
I love orchestral music. I count the melding of dozens of different instruments of varying timbres and pitches to emotionally move the listener as one of God's greatest gifts. Because of my deeply held affection, I seek the symphonic experience across the country in my travels and have been fortunate enough to hear some of the nation's preeminent orchestras. Each time I soak in the beauty of the music, I find my mind wandering to study the orchestra personnel and the glaringly low percentage of young players. I'm distracted by the astounding reality that there seems to be a universal consistency that the legacy of classically trained professional musicians is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. In 2017, few children cite musical instrument lessons as part of their extracurricular…