Listen to the interview here!
Joe Tackett
Toni Reece: Hi there. Welcome to Berks County Living’s Get Inspired! Project. Today I am with Joe Tackett, who is the Executive Director of the Reading Symphony. Hi, Joe.
Joe Tackett: Glad to be here.
Toni: So Joe, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Joe: Sure. I was actually born somewhere else, outside of Berks County.
Toni: Hmm …
Joe: I know, judge me already! I was born in Lexington, Kentucky, which is the largest city in the world not on a body of water.
Toni: Oh, didn’t know that – thank you!
Joe: Pretty strange, yes. In Lexington, I discovered the joy of making music. I became a musician in a public school music setting. Guess what instrument I play?
Toni: Tuba.
Joe: Oh my gosh – so insulting! I play the bass, the coolest of the instruments – a big, tall string bass. I actually got handed the bass because I was the largest kid in my class, so the instrument picked me, I guess. I really loved playing music. I loved making music. It was a wonderful environment.
Outside of school orchestra, I joined the local youth orchestra as well. I got to meet kids from all walks of life from all over the county, and it was really an eye opening experience to me. Not only was I enjoying making music, but through this act of being in the youth orchestra, I met a lot of people that I wouldn’t have gotten to know otherwise. I got to travel a lot.
Then, I got to go to college for free, which was great, because I grew up fairly poor, so it was good to have that music experience to pay for my college. I matriculated (that’s my new word) to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music where I did a Bachelor’s of Music. Through that, I began playing all over the country, and then I moved to New York City and got to play in some Broadway pits and got to do some studio recordings. I was in a Super Bowl commercial; I played in one of those.
Toni: No way!
Joe: That was kind of hip. From New York City, I got a position with an orchestra in the Washington, D.C. area, and music really wasn’t fun anymore. It was not a pleasant experience. I began teaching, which reenergized my life. I was teaching music. Sharing music with young kids really rejuvenated me. It made me whole again.
From that, I moved on to orchestra administration, where I became a Director of Education with an orchestra actually back in Kentucky. I moved from being a musician to a teacher, then to an administrator, so I felt like I was able to share the joy of music with a larger and larger audience.
From that, I went on and became Executive Director of the Lexington Ballet, which was an interesting experience. Ballerinas are weird; they cry a lot.
Toni: They do?
Joe: Yeah.
Toni: Well, did you make them cry?
Joe: Yeah. Musicians, yes, I can handle the anger, but it’s the crying I can't handle. I decided to go back into music, and I was offered a position to be Executive Director of the Reading Symphony. I’ve been here three seasons, and I’ve loved every minute of it. This is an amazing place and an amazing institution to work for.
Toni: Fantastic. Thank you for being part of the Get Inspired! Project.
Joe: This is a really interesting project. You guys are awesome!
Toni: Thank you. Let’s go into the first question of the Project.
Joe: Sure.
Toni: What does inspiration mean to you?
Joe: Inspiration in some ways is more about motivation and more about making people believe in themselves. Really, the work that the Reading Symphony Orchestra does with our youth orchestra, which has 200 kids from around the county in it, going to the rehearsals and seeing them work under their Director, Peter Brye, that’s what really is inspiration – seeing these young minds discovering music for the first time.
Music is really hip, because it’s got all the elements of everything else you want kids to do. It’s got, of course, a creative side to it where kids are actually creating something of interest. It’s got very much a physical side, very much a craftsman side, where kids are almost building things with their fingers, and also it provides very much a social scene where kids interact with each other in a positive environment. It’s really like the perfect storm of good things for kids. I’m going off the topic, I know …
Toni: No, no, that’s okay. So inspiration really, you said it’s motivation, but yet there’s multi-prongs to that as far as you’re concerned, right?
Joe: Absolutely.
Toni: It’s actually a great segue into the second question, which is, how do you put what inspires you into practice here in Berks County?
Joe: See, I should have read these questions before I came. That would have helped!
Toni: That’s okay.
Joe: It’s interesting you should say that, because a lot of my job is very much raising money for the orchestra and putting into place the different concerts, the different artists, the logistics behind it. There’s so many different facets to this job that sometimes it is only when I get to the concert – and I say this every concert to myself and on my Facebook page – “Oh yeah, this is why I love my job!” It’s seeing that final product in place, seeing that kid pick up a viola and be able to demonstrate for people in a way that words can't convey that, “I’m here; I’m someone special; I have something to share and convey.” All the implementation I do is all worth that final product. I guess that’s how I put this into practice.
Toni: I love the way you described it as the “perfect storm” so the inspiration for you and all the facets and moving parts with this, it becomes that “perfect storm” to the final product which inspires you, which is the concert.
Joe: Absolutely.
Toni: Can you give a brief example of what goes into the “perfect storm” so that that inspiration occurs here in Berks County?
Joe: We have this program called “The Orchestra’s Own.” The Orchestra’s Own is basically only for the Reading School District where kids get free lessons. What we discovered is kids in the Reading School District tend to stop playing an instrument in the middle school level. We said, “How can we target these kids?” We set up free lessons, free group lessons. Our teachers are going into the school district giving lessons, specifically to these kids that are in very impoverished areas.
One of the things that I really love is we have one high school student still in the program who has dropped out of school, but yet he still sneaks into the school … I shouldn’t be saying this on the air … but he sneaks into the school every day to still take these lessons.
Toni: Wow.
Joe: That’s the power of music, and that’s the kind of thing that inspires me to continue doing my job, to go out there and be knocking on the doors for funding for the institution, because it’s not just about the concert, but it’s also about the lives we’re empowering.
Toni: What’s really amazing about what you said as well is that out of the gate, what does inspiration mean to you, and you said it’s about motivation – so you are inspired and motivated to stay doing what you’re doing based on what you watch and what you see occurring.
Joe: Absolutely.
Toni: Who in Berks County inspires you?
Joe: Well myself, of course!
Toni: Of course! But other than you?
Joe: I have to say the musicians of the Reading Symphony Orchestra are the most amazing artists I’ve ever witnessed, and I can say this having worked with orchestras all up and down the East Coast. We have musicians that care more about this community and want to be involved in this community. A lot of orchestras, especially union orchestras like ours, the musicians look at it as a job – they show up; they play; they leave. Our musicians are always doing things outside of what they’re required to do for free. They’ll do lectures to the public. They’ll go out to nursing homes and talk about the orchestra when people can't come into the concert hall. They work with kids after school for free. It’s an amazing thing. I would have to say the musicians of the Reading Symphony are what really inspire me.
Toni: What a great answer. What do you want your legacy to be?
Joe: My legacy …
Toni: Your legacy, Joe …
Joe: Wow … that’s hard. To be honest, the Reading Symphony Orchestra is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and my name will probably be erased from its history books at some point – unless I run it into the ground – but it doesn’t matter, because this institution has been going on for so long, and it’s had such a strong support from the entire community that it will live on regardless of what I do. I want the legacy to be the Reading Symphony Orchestra continuing on to its 200th anniversary and being an important part of the community as well.
Toni: What a great legacy, and what a great answer. Thank you so much for being part of the Get Inspired! Project.
Joe: Thank you. This is awesome!
Toni: Thank you.
