Photograph by Caleb Kenna
Simon Broucke
Celebrating our ten year anniversary, we are excited for the opportunity to look back on some of the people who have shaped and been shaped by the Middlebury Community Music Center (MCMC). Simon Broucke was one of the first students to take lessons at MCMC, and his journey through the program offers an example of the transformational power of music.
Growing up in Middlebury, Simon started piano lessons a little late by his standards - at age 8. By the time he met Sadie Brightman, he had hopped around between a handful of teachers. Before beginning his work with Sadie, Simon reflects that he would get distracted from practicing and “didn’t have a strong sense of… how I was working to improve.”
Meeting Sadie in 2011 pointed Simon in a new direction. In eighth grade, Simon wasn’t aware of the vision of a home for music education and community in Middlebury that Sadie was beginning to develop. As a teacher, Sadie believed that music should be less about achieving a perfect product and more about creating a unique process, tailored to each individual student. She envisioned MCMC as a place that reflected this commitment and created new opportunities for potential students to find their unique musical expression.
Simon quickly grew to love his lessons with Sadie and was inspired by the mission of the Center. With Sadie, he not only learned to see his practice as a pianist differently but also became engaged as a student worker at MCMC, which exposed him to new conceptions of performance and career which would have a lasting impact on him.
Simon recalls that Sadie worked with him to develop “a healthier relationship to the idea of practice, performance, and musicianship in general.” From this patient and supportive practice, Simon was encouraged to take his musicianship and creativity more seriously. His musical study with Sadie expanded to include original compositions and ensemble performances as well as work as a camp counselor and administrative aide to the organization. It was this work that Simon sees as having a direct impact on his work today, as a freelance composer in New York.
Now, Simon traces the roots of his professional journey to the types of work he was invited to participate in at MCMC. He believes that MCMC provided opportunities that “led towards those kinds of things that made me the most excited” and allowed his passion for music to grow into a sustainable career.
Initially, MCMC helped Simon overcome his insecurities about pursuing a musical education. He remembers shaking before recitals, and not liking playing music. For Simon, learning how to decouple his enjoyment of music from self-judgment led him to pursue new avenues of performance, including chamber ensembles and bands. Discovering the world of music that incorporated collaboration would have a lasting impact on Simon’s creative and professional growth.
This community orientation and collaborative approach has been reflected in MCMC’s growth as well. Remaining an active member of the community via social media and creative collaborations, Simon has observed how MCMC is working towards “bridging the gap” between offering a wide range of individual, one-on-one instruction opportunities and the creative and collective opportunities that are available when those individuals are brought together.
Simon believes that the community element is what distinguishes MCMC from traditional music education experiences he has had in the past. Approaching ten years in the community, MCMC has shaped “an entire generation” of students who, like Simon, have a sense of music as something for everyone and an art form that brings people together. Simon believes that MCMC rejects the idea that music can be “an isolated, gatekept, or in any way exclusive thing,” and adds that “anything that pushes against the sense of music education and creativity being this exclusive thing for a chosen few… I think that’s such a net positive for the world and the arts in general.”
Looking towards the next ten years, Simon is “excited to see how MCMC is able to keep reaching out to people, hopefully in larger and larger circles.” To Simon, that means preserving the core commitments of MCMC to enriching the lives of students through music while looking to share that vision with more and more people.
Simon knows firsthand how music can change someone’s life. MCMC helped Simon find a unique voice that led him to a multifaceted career in the arts. Today, he credits Sadie’s teaching and MCMC’s vision of diversity and access as being the turning point in his growth as an artist and his professional development. By removing barriers to music education, MCMC is making this transformative experience available to anyone, regardless of skill, age, or background. As Simon says, “There’s never a wrong time to start being interested in music or engage with it.”