Stokes to Collaborate with Sedalia Symphony & SCHS for 2024 Fall Concert

Guys, I don't know about you, but music is a big deal to me. And it is to a lot of people all around the area!  I'm sure you have someone in your life who is... that person. You know, the one not just listening to music, but making music.  It's one of those things that was always encouraged by adults when we were kids.  They always told you to try something or other and see if you "have the knack".  Violin, piano, recorder, will there be a guitar? Maybe.

Well.

Let me tell you, I tried.  I did.  But I did not have "the knack".  I did not have that inner talent that just seems to seep out of your pores, no matter how you try to hide it.  I could play, but only after a lot of hard work, practice, and several disappointed looks from Mr. Harold Johnston (If you know, you know).  And honestly, I wasn't even That good. Like, mediocre, to be honest. Unlike some people.  The people that music just lived in, naturally.  Like it was just always there, and it was so obvious. You know, like people who taught themselves how to play the piano as a child using MATH.

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Yep.  You see, some people are just really really good at the thing they're actually interested in, and you just know they're going to be doing that for the rest of their lives, and succeeding at it, too.  People like this doofus, Sam Stokes.

GUYS.  He and I have known each other since small times.  I'm just giving him the razz 'cos he's my friend and he's a cool dude.

Basically Sam as always that guy in our friend group, The Music Guy.  Nobody ever questioned his talents or the hard work he put in when it came to piano or songwriting or anything, really.  And he's gone on to do big things in the music world!  He's one of those teachers that ends up working all the time and showing up just where you'd least expect him to.  Well, or rather, he will, if Beyond Good and Evil 2 ever comes out.

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No, for real, Sam has a wonderful family and career as a gifted music teacher.  And he's a Doctor of Music, ya'll.  That's fancy.   So yeah, he went off to college and then got his masters in Florida and his doctorate in Louisiana.  And now, he's coming back to Sedalia to show us how a local boy has done good.  Seriously, he's done a lot of great work in TV commercials and video games, and has even worked with Joseph Gordon Levitt's YouTube channel. And that's the stuff you heard about.  There's a lot more where that comes from, and all the stuff you couldn't possibly know, like all the great work he does to keep music alive with young people.

Or that time he wrote me a fun little song  for a play I adapted in college.  It was about France surrendering in the war and being grateful for the USA's help.  It was maybe only a minute, but did include the line "you saved our a**es in World War II", which made me very proud.

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The Sedalia Symphony is holding their fall concert in October at the Heckart Performing Arts Center, and Dr. Sam is the guest of honor!  He's going to have a solo performance after the orchestra plays, and he's been commissioned to write a concerto for mallets and orchestra, that they'll play after that. You can read more about it and find out about tickets here.

Make sure you get your tickets and attend on October 7th, not just to support Dr. Stokes, but also the great work the Sedalia Symphony is doing.  It'll be a great night.  And, you can ask Sam what the heck a Natchitoches meat pie is.  

Musically yours,
Behka