Angelo Sanders is headed to the School of Music at State University of New York at Fredonia on a full scholarship from Nat King Cole Generation Hope. Photo provided
By Faran Fagen
Music saved his life.
That’s the first thing Angelo Sanders thinks of when asked what playing his oboe has meant to him during his teenage years.
For the 18-year-old recent graduate of FAU High School in Boca Raton, music and the oboe fueled his emotional expression, creativity and purpose to overcome disabilities that could have threatened his musical potential and dreams.
“Without music, I don’t know if I’d be alive,” said Sanders, of Coral Springs. “I was in a dark space a lot of the time and music became my source of joy.”
Raised by a widowed mother on limited income, he suffered debilitating pain and complications of undiagnosed hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, along with anxiety and a sleep disorder that compounded physical and mental health issues.
The genetically based illness was finally identified only two years ago.
Despite that, Sanders earned a 3.83 grade-point average in high school, where he excelled on the oboe and English horn.
His musical exploits, along with his academic prowess, earned him the 2024 Nat and Maria Cole Memorial Scholarship, a full four-year grant sponsored by Nat King Cole Generation Hope, the Palm Beach County-based provider of music education for underserved children and teens.
“As our 2024 scholarship recipient, Angelo Sanders embodies the ideals of Nat King Cole, who cherished the privilege of bringing harmony to people with his music,” said Shanna St. John, executive director of Nat King Cole Generation Hope. “Music always motivated Angelo to keep going, and without a doubt, it always will.”
This fall, Sanders, now on a path to a classical music career, will attend the renowned School of Music at State University of New York at Fredonia, a training ground for the next generation of music professionals.
He aims to become a distinguished, first-chair professional oboist who will perform with leading national orchestras and chamber ensembles, as well as a college professor who will educate and inspire future virtuosos of his instrument.
“Music is my whole life and I hope to help others and do what I enjoy,” he said, adding that he wants to impart his favorite mantra of instruction when he plays — response, pitch, tone. Those are the three most important facets of oboe playing, in that order, he said.
Another way Sanders hopes to give back is through the reeds he uses to play the oboe. According to Sanders, if you don’t have a good reed, you won’t be able to play.
Sanders, who learned to scrimp and save at a young age (he did his own car repairs at age 16 so he had a ride to school), began making his own reeds to save money. Since his sophomore year, Sanders has bought wood and sculpted it with a knife for the desired reed shape.
He hopes to mass produce the woodwind reeds and provide them to young musicians for free.
“I like my reeds to be narrow and soft,” Sanders said. “Not sure why that works best for me, but it does.”
While attending FAU High School, Sanders participated in the school’s Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Band, Chamber Winds and Summer Concert Band, and volunteered more than 500 hours of school/music community service.
He also volunteered with Equine-Assisted Therapies of South Florida, preparing and tending to the horses and assisting the instructors.
His main goal is to become a professional oboe player, but as he begins his college journey, as long as it involves music, he knows he’ll be a success.
“I had to do music because I was miserable otherwise,” Sanders said. “When I didn’t know what to do or how to keep going, music gave me a place to belong.”
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