Thaddeus Tukes, 27, did not think once about becoming an established vibraphonist as a Poe Elementary School student in Reach Teach Play’s Music Discovery Program, but what did stem from the program was an inspiration and burst of creativity in music, something that he loved.
“The first day I remember with Mr. Lewis, we were talking about what we wanted to be when we grew up. I think I said I wanted to be president or a doctor or both and we later turned that into a song,” Tukes reminisced alongside his former Music Discovery Teaching Artist, Matt Lewis, who is still a part of the program today.
Tukes recalls being a part of songwriting sessions, which at the time he thought were fun activities, but in reality were giving him a space to explore music while learning sentence structure, rhyme schemes, perspective, and more.
“It went, ‘If I could change the world, I’d change so many things. Make this world a better place if I follow my dreams. Starts with me, starts with you, starts with everyone, so tell us how much you would change; it’s only just begun,’ ” the pair sang.
The Music Discovery Program was one of the first to be established among Ravinia’s Reach Teach Play programs, which serve more than 75,000 community members each year, ensuring that music education remains accessible to all. The program enhances students’ musical skills by providing resident teaching artists for multi-week, interactive music lessons in the classroom. Students are also given the opportunity to perform onstage at Ravinia for their friends, teachers, and families.
“Music Discovery is special in that a core part of the mission is value and respect, and teachers get that,” Lewis said. “I have been able to put music education to practice in a really meaningful and impactful way. I’ve worked with thousands of students, and I genuinely love working with the teachers; I don’t know, it just feels like home.”
Tukes’s love for music continued to grow after his time in the Music Discovery Program ended in third grade.
“I remember Thaddeus. As a teacher, I often see certain students stand out as kids who are bright, inquisitive, and really musically talented. Thaddeus was all those things—him and his sister— they were really standout students. That was 20-plus years ago, and I could see how important music was to him,” Lewis said.
Over the years, he showed prodigious musical talent, and a visit to his great-grandmother’s house had him looking through her album collection, where he stumbled upon a Lionel Hampton jazz recording. He played the track “Flying Home” and was instantly hooked.
During his time at Whitney Young High School, he was awarded by the ILMEA as the top high school vibraphonist in the state at 16 years old. During this time, he was also accepted into Ravinia’s Jazz Mentor Program, which provides Jazz Scholars like him intensive year-round training with some of Chicago’s finest jazz musicians, as well as scholarships and opportunities to perform. Each summer the Jazz Scholars are sent to the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Workshop in Louisville, KY, a prestigious training center for pre-professionals. Many Jazz Scholars alumni have gone on to study music at such colleges as Juilliard, Oberlin, the Manhattan School of Music, and NYU.
“The Ravinia jazz program is one of the reasons I was actually able to go to school for jazz and develop a career. The stuff we learned and were exposed to all year long, having that match with my school curriculum, and the support from teachers were the reasons I was able to visualize what a career as a professional musician would look like,” Tukes said.
Not only did Tukes learn about music during his time as a Jazz Scholar, but also how to be a musician in all types of environments and with all types of musicians.
“When I was coming up, I was hanging out with the older musicians, and I was learning and taking things in. In the jazz program, we not only teach music but also how to be a musician. This gentleman just walked right in and he was definitely able to adjust and become one of the musicians. And, now he’s passing it on,” said drummer Ernie Adams, a Ravinia Jazz Mentor since the program’s founding in 1995.
“Isn’t that crazy?” Tukes responded.
After graduating high school, Tukes matriculated at Northwestern University, where he pioneered the first degree in jazz vibraphone studies. Today, he performs as a bandleader and special guest with various ensembles throughout the country. Although busy with his career, he still makes time for organizations that provided him with opportunities and support as a young musician.
“I feel very honored to be at Ravinia today, to be myself, and to be celebrated. It’s been overwhelming going back to memories, really formative moments in my life as a third grader with Mr. Lewis. But they’re things I will never forget because if it wasn’t for those moments I would not have had the confidence to do this, which led to this, which led to today, you know?” Tukes reflected.
This summer, Tukes was a keynote speaker at Ravinia’s annual Professional Development Institute for elementary school teachers. Participants in the institute took part in interactive music workshops in hopes of learning various teaching methods to incorporate music into their classroom curriculum.
“Thank you all for everything that you are doing, thank you for coming into the classrooms because hopefully, thanks to you, there will be another one of me that feels like they're living their dreams as a professional musician. And, I want to say, this has been a heck of a life—I’m only 27, and I still have a long way to go, but I’m grateful,” Tukes closed his speech to the room full of teachers at the keynote.