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Subscribe to RSSThe McGill brothers grew up in a tough Chicago neighborhood, but their parents never gave up on helping them follow their dream – now both brothers are not only accomplished musicians in major orchestras, they are also giving back to their hometown. NBC's Ron Allen reports.
By Ron Allen, Correspondent, NBC News
The McGill brothers are a rare phenomenon. They're young African-American men from the Chicago's South Side, who are very accomplished classical musicians. Anthony, 33, who has been called "one of the best clarinet players in the country," is the principle clarinet player for the New York Metropolitan Opera. He says his best role model has been his older brother Demarre, 37, who is the lead flute player for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
Click here for more profiles of African Americans making history from theGrio's 100
I'm not an expert on classical music. In fact, I much prefer jazz. But I know enough to understand that what they've accomplished is a pretty big deal! We did some checking, and as far as we can determine only four percent of the musicians in major orchestras are African-American or Latino. Hundreds of musicians audition for leading roles, some 30 or 40 times. The McGill brothers occupy two of those so-called "first chairs." It's a place few musicians ever reach, and certainly even fewer brothers or sisters together.
Their mom, Ira McGill, is a retired teacher who also has a flair for singing and acting. Demarre, Sr., their father, is a retired deputy fire chief who also played music as a hobby back in the day. They say their boys' careers started the day Demarre, then just 7, found an old flute tucked away in a closet. Mom had given it to Dad in the '60s as a birthday gift.
For reasons he now can't explain, young Demarre was fascinated by the instrument. His dad told him to blow across the mouth piece like it's the top of a soda bottle. The rest, as they say, is history. Now Demarre's flute is made of 14-karat gold.
As you might expect, Ira and Demarre, Sr. are quite proud of their boys. They have refinanced the house five times to pay for music lessons over the years, and worked hard to steer them clear of negative things in the neighborhood that could have derailed them.
NBC's Ron Allen spoke to the McGill brothers: Anthony the principal clarinetist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Demarre, lead flutist with the Seattle Symphony, about their passion, artistry and mutual admiration.
One of the biggest ironies of this story, is that the McGill sons learned to play at a time when the Chicago public schools they were attending pretty much eliminated music and arts programs. The city didn't have the money. That was some 30 years ago. It was also a time when a nonprofit called the Merit School of Music was first getting started, offering after-school lessons to thousands of kids from disadvantaged neighborhoods for free. It’s a program still going strong to this day.
Our broadcast story features the Merit School, but even more importantly, you'll get a chance to meet the McGill brothers and hear their music. They really put their heart and soul into it. The passion, energy and artistry that's brought them to a rare place in the rarefied world of classical music.
To learn more about the Merit School of Music, please click here to visit their website.
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Why do 95% of stories involving Americans with brown, beige, tan or white skin ("black people"), need to have the 'made it out of the ghetto/dodged bullets going to kindergarten/civil rights', angle????
Why can't the story simply be about a person who's doing something productive.
Why is it when an article involves merely mentioning "escape from Ghettoland", do 95% of commenters bitching about it? This article did this to setup the fact that Chicago decimated too much arts education from its curriculum years ago. True, schools should emphasize the basics, but if arts and performance education and programs are not put out there to help deter kids from "gangsta shiz", then being a "G" will happen way more often. It also helps if a parent/the parents have decent enough job skills to avoid working 80+ hrs/wk to provide for the basic neccessities or if they have those skills, they at least have enough of a support system to help their kids avoid "tha G lyfestyle" &/or the pitfalls of getting "sexed up" and becoming parents too early. But if I hadn't gone through my high school's band program, I would have been more likely to have experimented with sex earlier back then and probably dropped out of high school. I probably would have knocked some crazy redneck girl up. I probably would have dropped out of high school and gotten a horrible crap job at Mickey Don'ts or Hel-Mart. It's a fact, students involved in arts, especially performance art, are less likely to experiment with sex, slightly less likely to smoke weed or drink alcohol early, and far less likely to mess with meth or pills. They generally make better grades and go to college more often. This is even more true with minority students.
I guess the person who wrote the article mentioned race to troll people like you. If that's the case, mission accomplished. Maybe you should stop feeding the troll.