Kurt Discovers the Orchestra

“Discover the world of orchestral instruments along with Kurt Spitz, as he goes on a journey of self-discovery. Tom Beal has created a story which will inspire generations of children and ignite their passions in order to find fulfillment and acceptance. I should know—my own story is really no different from Jacob’s.”

—Erik Ralske, Principal Horn, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Faculty, The Juilliard School

About the Author

About the Illustrator

Elea Paybins is a West Virginian who’s had a lifelong love of the arts. While pursuing a BFA in Painting, and a minor in Japanese, at Marshall University, she illustrated Tom Beal’s award-winning Bara Seal & Emily, Too (2018). Upon graduation in 2019, Elea excitedly hopped on board to illustrate Tom Beal’s Kurt Discovers the Orchestra while simultaneously hopping aboard a plane to Kumamoto, Japan to teach English. She has since returned to Charleston, WV, and is an art teacher at the Mountaineer Montessori School.

Tom Beal

Tom Beal studied music at Southern Methodist University, earning a degree in French horn performance and is currently a member of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. He supports the West Virginia Youth Symphony as well as music outreach in the surrounding communities. His first book, Bara Seal & Emily, Too is a Mom’s Choice Award Winner and won Honorable Mentions at the Hollywood and New York Book Festivals. He is the Senior Vice President of a chemical manufacturing company and resides in Charleston, WV, with his family.

Kurt Discovers the Orchestra

“Kurt Discovers the Orchestra is a story of a child’s life challenge, the discovery of passion, and eventually reaching of their goal. My horn teacher in college, Richard ‘Dick’ Mackey, was physically challenged and no one thought of him as limited. Thank you for a wonderful book and a reminder of the important influences in our lives.”

—William “Bill” Caballero, Principal Horn, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Kurt Discovers the Orchestra

by Tom Beal illustrated by Elea Paybins copyright ©2023 Tom Beal All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents, except where noted otherwise, are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any other resemblance to actual people, places or events is entirely coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any other form or for any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage system, without written permission from Headline Books.

To order additional copies of this book, or for book publishing information, or to contact the author: Headline Kids P. O. Box 52 Terra Alta, WV 26764 Email: mybook@headlinebooks.com www.headlinebooks.com Lucas Kelly—Design/Layout Published by Headline Books Headline Kids is an imprint of Headline Books ISBN-13: 9781951556587 Library of Congress Control Number: 2022934013

PR I N T E D I N T H E U N I T E D STAT E S OF A M E R IC A

This book is dedicated to my teacher, Richard “Dick” Mackey and to all who “just plunge on” despite their challenges. His life lessons that we are “our own best teacher” and “no one else is going to fix it except one’s self” are invaluable inspirations.

It was an exciting day for Kurt Spitz! His third grade class was going to hear the symphony perform.

Kurt’s father worked as a stage manager for the orchestra making sure all the stands, chairs, and large instruments were in just the right place for the musicians. He was excited to see where his dad worked.

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The class sat in the auditorium with students from many other schools. The lights dimmed, everyone got quiet.

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A violinist walked out to applause and signaled the oboist to play a note. Everyone in the orchestra played the same note!

Then the conductor walked to the front of the orchestra and, with his baton, gave a graceful motion for the orchestra to begin playing. It was then that something wonderful and unexpected happened.

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The strings began alone, soft and sonorous. Soon a lone violin emerged from the sound with a beautiful melody.

The conductor motioned to the flutes and oboes to take over and expand the melody.

Clarinets and bassoons joined in, adding depth and complexity to the now hymn-like chorale.

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As the musicians played louder, the trumpets joined, high and clear.

Now the trombones and horns, with full rich tones, climbing high and loud with punctuations from the percussion!

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With a great roll from the timpani the sound began to fade away as nobly as it had begun and gave way to a simple march rhythm from the percussion section.

With a flourish, the orchestra joined the march with melody in strings and woodwinds and outbursts of fanfares from the brass. All got faster and louder, building into powerful and affirming final chords.

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The students applauded wildly. Kurt sat with tears of elation in his eyes, for he now wanted more than anything to be a musician in just such an orchestra!

His classmates continued to clap loudly. Kurt, with a sadness equal to his elation, looked down at his too short right arm and misshaped hand.

His friends were always nice about it, but there were others who teased him and called him mean names. Certainly playing an instrument would take two good hands, so becoming an orchestral musician could only be a dream.

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Kurt decided if he could not be a great musician, he would be a great listener!

He went to as many concerts as he could and read lots of books about composers and their works. He learned to read music and studied the scores of great compositions.

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One day in spring, it was take-your-child-to-work day.

This was a fateful day for Kurt. He helped his father place the stands, but the chairs were just too much for one hand.

The orchestra musicians arrived for the morning rehearsal. Listening to the music from backstage, Kurt was amazed how even more exciting it was! This renewed the ache in his heart that he could never join these musicians on stage.

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During the break in rehearsal, some of the musicians left their instruments on their chairs. To his great delight, Kurt was taken on stage by his father to see the instruments close up. The strings were of beautiful wood with black fingerboards and graceful carvings.

The silver flutes and wooden oboes and clarinets had well-ordered and numerous keys.

The bassoons were a cacophony of pads and keys that looked as funny as they sometimes sounded!

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When Kurt reached the back of the orchestra, he saw the round-bottomed timpani were much larger than he imagined. There was a snare drum and xylophone, as well as many other percussion instruments.

The trumpets were shiny and rather small, making it hard to imagine how they could make such a big sound.

The tuba and trombones were large with flaring bells, so it was easy to understand why their sound could be so powerful.

The French horns were as pleasing to look at as to hear.

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As Kurt was admiring the French horns, he noticed a red water bottle beside one of the French horn chairs and thought how out of place it looked.

Still only half aware of any significance, he noted it was on the left side of the chair. Then it struck him! The keys of the French horn are on the left and just the bell on the right! Maybe he could play this instrument without a normal right hand! Almost unable to contain his excitement, he watched the French horn players for the rest of the rehearsal and determined that he could indeed play such an instrument.

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Kurt began to learn how to play the French horn. The first few months were pretty painful for his family because, though he practiced several hours a day, not many of the sounds he made could be considered at all pleasant.

But, soon enough, he learned his scales and etudes and even some famous horn parts from the great compositions. By the time he graduated from high school, he was good enough to be accepted to the great Juilliard School of Music. He practiced long hours there and was thrilled to play much chamber music and in the school orchestra.

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When Kurt was a senior, it was announced that there was an opening for a French horn player in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He was one of the few players accepted to take the audition and traveled to Chicago to compete with the best French horn players from around the world.

When it was almost his turn at the audition, he was standing backstage waiting to go on stage to play. Thoughts of all the teasing and hurtful names he had been called came flooding back to him. He thought to himself, What am I doing here? How can I be good enough? But then, his name was called and he had to play.

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As he walked on stage, memories of his friends and of all the great music he had heard, studied, and played washed away the doubt that had filled his heart.

With renewed confidence, he sat down and played his best. He did not know, however, if his best was enough to win. Kurt waited anxiously with the other players for the auditions to be over and the winner announced.

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Finally the orchestra manager came in and announced that the winner of the audition was Kurt Spitz!

Elation as great as when he had first heard a symphony orchestra filled Kurt. And this time, there was no sadness.

With self-confidence and determination, Kurt had overcome painful childhood teasing, and his physical challenge, and accomplished his dream of becoming a great musician in a great orchestra.

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Audition: a short performance to show the talents of someone (such as an actor or a musician) who is being considered for a role in a play, a position in an orchestra, etc.

Baton: A slender wooden stick or rod used by a conductor to direct an orchestra, band, or other musical group.

Chorale: a musical composition (or part of one) consisting of or resembling a harmonized version of a simple, stately hymn

tune.

Chord: A group of typically three or more notes sounded together.

Cacophony: an unpleasant mixture of loud sounds.

Composer: a person who writes music.

Conductor: a person who stands in front of an orchestra or choir and directs its performance.

Elation: the quality or state of being filled with joy or pride.

Etude: a short musical composition, typically for one instrument, designed as an exercise to improve the technique or

demonstrate the skill of the player.

Fanfare: A short ceremonial tune or flourish played on brass instruments.

Harmony: The simultaneous sounding of notes, especially when blended into chords pleasing to the ear.

Octave: two notes whose pitch is the same, but whose frequency is different.

Orchestra: A group of instrumentalists, especially one combining strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion.

Scales: any graduated sequence of notes, tones, or intervals dividing what is called an octave.

Stage Manager: the Stage Manager has primary responsibility for coordinating and arranging all physical and logistical

elements of performances, rehearsals of the orchestra....Responsible for ensuring the physical and safety conditions for optimal performances by the musicians and guest artists.

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“Discover the world of orchestral instruments along with Kurt Spitz, as he goes on a journey of self-discovery. Tom Beal has created a story which will inspire generations of children and ignite their passions in order to find fulfillment and acceptance. I should know—my own story is really no different from Kurt’s.”

—Erik Ralske, Principal Horn, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Faculty, The Juilliard School

About the Author

About the Illustrator

Elea Paybins is a West Virginian who’s had a lifelong love of the arts. While pursuing a BFA in Painting, and a minor in Japanese, at Marshall University, she illustrated Tom Beal’s award-winning Bara Seal & Emily, Too (2018). Upon graduation in 2019, Elea excitedly hopped on board to illustrate Tom Beal’s Kurt Discovers the Orchestra while simultaneously hopping aboard a plane to Kumamoto, Japan to teach English. She has since returned to Charleston, WV, and is an art teacher at the Mountaineer Montessori School.

Tom Beal

Tom Beal studied music at Southern Methodist University, earning a degree in French horn performance and is currently a member of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. He supports the West Virginia Youth Symphony as well as music outreach in the surrounding communities. His first book, Bara Seal & Emily, Too is a Mom’s Choice Award Winner and won Honorable Mentions at the Hollywood and New York Book Festivals. He is the Senior Vice President of a chemical manufacturing company and resides in Charleston, WV, with his family.

Kurt Discovers the Orchestra

“Kurt Discovers the Orchestra is a story of a child’s life challenge, the discovery of passion, and eventually reaching of their goal. My horn teacher in college, Richard ‘Dick’ Mackey, was physically challenged and no one thought of him as limited. Thank you for a wonderful book and a reminder of the important influences in our lives.”

—William “Bill” Caballero, Principal Horn, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra