Music is supposed to be shared, and there's something special about sharing it with friends, especially when you're young.
That's where the Junior Tuesday Musical Club comes in. It's a branch of the venerable TMC, founded over a century ago by force-of-nature San Antonio ladies, and continued by force-of-nature San Antonio ladies to this day. The Junior version gives students from 1st to 12th grade a chance to get together and play and share. The results are nothing less than phenomenal.
The Club paid TPR a visit recently, and it stretched out into a nearly-an-hour session, with some stellar performances the students have been working on.
Member Michelle Liu says she got involved "pretty young," encouraged by her sister and teachers to join. Now in her senior year, she counts the Jr TMC as a favorite thing.
Cameron Weber, about to turn 18, has been doing this since first grade. He says, "There is no replacement for the ability to play without shame or worry in front of all of your peers, and it is truly a fantastic opportunity to be able to not only work on your speaking and leadership skills, and your social skills, but also your playing and performing skills."
Ramsey Kitterman has been in the club for two years now, and plans to keep it up. "People from my school," he says, have also joined, adding to the camaraderie.
And it's not just performers: Clark Haygood is a composer (whose works have been featured on TPR before), and is in his 8th year at the Club. "I have made a lot of musician friends over the years" there. You can hear him performing his original work "Based on a True Story," along with the other players and their pieces, at the above link.
Elena Xu, senior, has been involved a decade (that means she started in 2nd grade). She says, "It gives us performance opportunities every month." This means there's a reason to "make sure I have something," adding, "we just... play, and enjoy each other's music."
When it's this good, that's easy to do.
The group meets the first Saturday of each month, and registration is now open for the upcoming academic year. Email tmcjuniors@gmail.com for more information, or visit https://satmc.org/junior-tuesday-musical-club
