A moving tribute

Sharing your experience can inspire others

On Sunday at the Carey Basilica, I had the incredible opportunity to witness something special.

Matt Armstrong, a local composer who has been making music since 1992, shared something he’d been working on for 30 years, a piece called “Requiem for Mother and Child,” which was dedicated to his late mother and brother.

The finished product was a combined hour of music featuring a church organ, a 25-piece orchestra and a near-50-person chorus. It included 30 minutes of organ music to set the scene, then concluded with an eight-movement requiem that shared the story of Armstrong’s family and the massive amount of emotions they felt through their tragic history.

Armstrong’s brother Mike died in 1978 along with three other people in a horrific drowning accident on the Blanchard River in Findlay. His mother never got over it, grieving for 37 years before her death in 2015.

“Requiem for Mother and Child” tells the story of terrible loss and anguish before concluding on a high note, with a beautiful pair of solos between a mother and child as the child calls the mother home, signifying Armstrong’s mother finally reuniting with Mike in heaven.

It was incredibly moving witnessing the performance, not just because of the emotions that Armstrong was able to articulate in his music, but also because of how the requiem came together. Armstrong has taught music all over the country and when he announced he’d finished his requiem, he received commitments from former students and colleagues from all over the country, including Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and even from London, England, to perform the piece for him.

I was reminded of just how beautiful things can be when people from around the world come together to create something. We’re so much stronger when we work together to build something instead of tearing down or destroying something.

I don’t know if Armstrong will have another opportunity to conduct the requiem again because of all the things that had to come together perfectly to allow for this first performance, but I’m glad I was able to witness it first-hand.

In an interview before the performance, Armstrong told me that his music can bring out several emotions in the listeners, and he wasn’t wrong. I especially was moved early when the rage, agony and sorrow was being articulated by the chorus at full volume. It took me back to 1996 and my feelings when I lost my father when I was just 12 years old.

I thought Armstrong’s work was a tremendous tribute to his loved ones, and you could tell his family felt the same way as his other brother embraced him lovingly following the conclusion of the requiem.

As moving as “Requiem for Mother and Child” was, it also was motivating. I was encouraged to not be afraid to put myself out there more. Sure, I share personal anecdotes with readers in my weekly columns, but I have been slowly and steadily working on my book over the past year and a half and I’m getting close to finishing it.

My book will be a collection of autobiographical essays, some taken from my columns over the past three years, but also several new ones that will be book exclusive, some of which are deeply personal, including the title piece about the weekend my father died called “The Unkept Promise,” which also will be the name of the book.

I actually sat down and wrote that specific piece on a night where I was particularly motivated to accomplish something, and it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I remember tears rolling down my cheeks while I was putting it together. I haven’t even had the guts to go back and proofread it since completing it.

But seeing Armstrong put himself out there and share his feelings, his pain, his love with the community, it encouraged me to get back on the saddle and finish what I’ve started. I don’t have too much more to write to finish my book. What exactly have I been waiting for?

And once the book actually is complete, the hardest part of all will begin, sharing it with others for proofing and then eventually sharing it with the world.

But if Armstrong can do it, I can too.