Brenden Archer, a senior majoring in Percussion Performance, had a wide variety of musical opportunities during the fall of 2023. Read his reflection on these different events, how they helped him grow, and how they will play into his future. 

I’ve begun to find out, as a budding musical professional, that there are quite a lot of musical opportunities out there for someone who has good skills and the right connections. Throughout the course of this semester, I’ve found out that it’s not as hard as I originally thought to continually bring music and foster the bringing of music into the larger community, since music, by its very nature, is communal.

One of the most interesting musical opportunities I had this semester was the chance to record the majority of the music for a student play at Whitworth called “Gruesome Playground Injuries.” The composer of the pieces and producer of the music was able to get in touch with me, knew that I was a practiced vibraphone player, and told me about the opportunity. Before I knew it, I was sight-reading some playful yet mysterious melodies in the music building’s recording studio, getting to experience and practice an actual recording experience for a tangible product. While I did not have the opportunity to go see the play, I was told that the music we recorded for it went over really well with the audience and contributed to a great performance. I was pleased.

Another wonderful opportunity I had was the chance to play cajon (a modern box drum), djembe, and other Latin auxiliary percussion for a World Relief event at the Davenport Hotel. I accompanied a group of Whitworth choral students as we sung and celebrated the work World Relief was doing to care for and house refugees in the Spokane area. Because music can stir so many emotions, it was no wonder that our celebration in song was received well by the community leaders that were there. We played an integral part in the celebration of a good humanitarian cause, which served an uplifting role to the community, even when the musical material itself wasn’t very challenging.

Additionally, I (as an individual musician/soloist) got some good performance opportunities in a more public setting. I was a featured soloist at the Whitworth String Orchestra Concerto Concert at the Fox Theatre, and I was able to put on my own elective jazz recital at the Whitworth music building, for the enjoyment of the public. I even got to open for Stoplight Observers as a part of the indie rock band Spilt Milk. Each of these different performance experiences shows the versatility that musical contributions to the community can come in, since I got to play across three very different genres: classical, jazz, and rock. These experiences also helped me realize that as a musician, the more versatile I can be with the types of music that I play, the more I can be involved with giving to and benefiting the community.

As part of my jazz recital, I also arranged some tunes for the performance (I took a recording of a jazz tune, and then transcribed it onto sheet music, making it more easily readable and playable for musicians, and making it more accessible to the musical public). One of the tunes I transcribed was “Vibe” by Steps Ahead, and my jazz band and I got to play that tune for my jazz recital because of my efforts in listening to the recording and transferring what I heard into the notations musicians use. It helped us play a good rendition of that tune, and I now have some sheet music to my name that I can share with others if they ever want to play it.

Another musical opportunity was my seemingly mundane leadership of the Children’s Worship Ministry at Indian Trail Church, my home church. I’ve been leading them in song almost every Sunday for about a year and a half. Through it, I have not only learned effective ways to lead worship in song, but I have also realized how much of an impact this has on my church community. Over that eighteen months, I have seen the kids grow in their knowledge of what it means to worship their Creator through the songs that we sing, and other adults that help have told me that it helps in their teaching ministry to the kids as well. Even though I do this every week, for free, and not on my primary instrument (I lead on acoustic guitar), I see the effect that musical diligence and commitment has with a community. They grow and flourish into closer reflections of what God would have them be, which is incredibly edifying.