Tucson program reintroduces adults to instruments long put away

In 2017, the Friends expanded its outreach to adults, launching the Tucson Adult Chamber Players program aimed at reintroducing adults to the instruments they put away a lifetime ago.

“Some people are really high level. A lot of the participants played their instruments early in life and then took a break and went back to it,” said Juan Mejia, a professional cellist and one of the program’s original coaches. “Some of them even have undergraduate degrees on their instruments.”

The program is accepting applications for its spring 2023 program through Wednesday, Feb. 15. The 10-week session includes eight 90-minute coaching sessions with professional musicians, who cover the finer points of performing chamber music. At the end, the Tucson Adult Chamber Players perform a concert.

Arizona Friends recently received a $6,715 arts engagement grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts to help the Friends bolster the program.

Tucson native Kaety Byerley, who played with the Tucson Philharmonia Youth Orchestra as a kid, proposed the adult group to the Friends in 2017, a year after she and her husband relocated to Tucson following 20 years of living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Byerley had played viola through college, but after getting married, starting a family and a career, she put her musical ambitions on the backburner.

“I didn’t play very much for about 15 years until my mid-30s,” she said. “I sort of realized there was something missing in my life. It took me a little while: ‘Oh, it’s music,’ ” she said.

She got involved in an adult music program at UC Berkley aimed at folks like her who had experience playing, and amateurs who knew how to play but never pursued it.

When she and her husband came home, “I thought there has gotta be something for adult and amateur musicians here,” she said. “There wasn’t.”

She joined the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music board and immediately proposed the idea of the adult chamber program.

The goal was to bring in aspiring musicians from 18 to 80 years old under one umbrella and teach them to play together in small chamber ensembles.

“Your role is the only one and everyone has a really important part to play,” said Lyla Rothschild, who co-directs the program with Mejia. “Our goal is to make it a fun, healthy experience.”

The program is open to string, wind and piano players of all levels of experience. Participants are matched based on their experience level, which means young people could land in groups with older people. That’s where participants can make a meaningful and often lasting intergenerational connection with one another as well as with the professional musicians coaching them.

Tucson Adult Chamber Players is the only program of its kind in Tucson. The spring session runs Feb. 18-May 21, when the players will perform a recital at Holsclaw Hall at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music.

The cost is $350, which includes all materials and the eight coaching sessions. Participants also can get $10 student tickets to all Friends concerts, including its popular Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival that runs March 12-19 at Leo Rich Theater, 260 S. Church Ave.

To register, visit arizonachambermusic.org.