“What does the HHS music department mean to me, you ask? For me personally, I am closing in on a 40-year semiprofessional music career in Charlotte and the surrounding area. I have never had a music class, performance or theory, beyond HHS graduation. The music faculty in Hamburg, including elementary and junior high school teachers, prepared me well for this. I have played with some amazing players over the years, and have been asked numerous times where I studied and who did I study under. My answer surprises everyone. This has been the most perfect outlet for the stresses of my other job (I often tell people I’m a musician that does accounting and taxes on the side). On a much larger scale, what would the world be like without music – live music; real people playing real instruments? It all begins with children learning and growing up at least being exposed to it.”
-Mac Willet, 1973 Band President
