4. Becoming Aware That I'm A Role Model in the Community: Working With Community Members

While walking through the Music Center one day, I saw an advertisement where a man named Al McDowell was asking for someone to write piano arrangements to some melodies that he had written. I called the number on the advertisement and had a number of meetings with Al over the semester, working on his music together. I'm not sure that he always liked my arrangements, but it was good to be in contact with someone other than a GC student or professor. Al is about 75 years old, an age group that I rarely have contact with anymore. I enjoyed our conversations and the things he would tell me about his days as a math teacher. We often talked about methods and his frustrations with the curriculum as well as how he found solutions to these problems.

Here's a page from one of my arrangements of Al McDowell's melodies:
I also got in contact with Lew Naylor, an adjunct lab professor in the science department. He asked me to transcribe a song he and his wife had heard while on a boat trip with some friends. He played me a recording and invited me into his house to talk about what he wanted from the transcription. It was also an opportunity to hear the story of the song and the boat trip that he and his friends had taken. I was quite taken with his joy in music. Afterwards, he gave me some food to take home. Once I finished the piece, he invited me back to his house for a meal. I was blown away by his generosity, but couldn't take him up on his offer because I wasn't going to be around during the summer.

Through these two experiences, I've gotten to know a little bit about the Goshen community. I'm struck by these two for their kindness, knowledge and generosity.