New Horizons is the only program of its kind in central Ohio. Anyone age 50 or up who wants to get back into the band or orchestra, or?start an instrument for the very first?time,?can join.
WESTERVILLE, Ohio --
It happens all the time; you play a musical instrument in elementary school, maybe junior high. Then you shove it in your closet and forget about it. A program in Westerville is letting people pick back up right where they left off -- decades later.
It's the only program of its kind in Central Ohio. The model works like this: anyone age 50 or up who wants to get back into the band or orchestra -- or play for the first time ever --?can join.
They want you to drop the apprehension at the door and play like you know what you're doing, even if you feel like you don't.?
Wes Miller is the owner of the Columbus Music Academy and helped start the program a few years ago. It's grown from three members to 16. Former music teacher Dee Smith was one of the first to join.
?I was a piano player,? Smith said. ?I majored in piano at college and I just realized as I got ready to retire, I?ve never been in a band."
So at age 63, she picked up the clarinet for the first time ever, seeing this as the right time and place to try.
?I just always have felt safe and so even though I hadn't played a clarinet before it was just fun and easy and I knew if I had mistakes it was OK," she said.
Mary Lee Bendig, on the other hand, decided she wanted to re-visit an old friend. She picked up her bow for the first time in decades.
?When I got to high school, I decided I was too mature for the violin. I was going to be a majorette," Bendig said.
Now, her re-discovered love for music serves as an escape.
"I work full-time and still try to get everything done. Family, elderly mother, grandkids, kids. So it's a time that I can just stop the merry-go-round, get off and have some fun," she said.
Both ladies also credit the program with health benefits. Bendig is seeing her bone spurs improve and Smith is hoping to counteract the effects of Alzheimer?s -- a disease her mother is battling.
Whatever the reason for joining, Miller is just hoping more people give it a chance.
"The model of New Horizons is your best is good enough,? said Miller. ?There?s a lot of apprehension in how they think they'll sound and that is not a worry."
The New Horizons rehearse Thursday afternoons at one. It's $85 for an eight-week session. ??
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