Trump Canceled Their Concert. The Band Played On.

This story is syndicated from The Rubicon, the newspaper of St. Paul Academy and Summit School in Saint Paul, MN. The original version of the story ran here.

When Caleb Colton, a high school freshman and percussionist at St. Paul Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota, auditioned to play with “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, he thought the most challenging part would be perfecting his music. He did not expect an executive order to attempt to silence the entire concert.

Colton, a student at St. Paul Academy and Summit School in Minnesota, was one of 30 students chosen nationwide to perform at the event, originally scheduled for May 4. However, because the program marked a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion partnership between the Equity Arc Foundation in Chicago and the Marine Band to engage underrepresented groups, the Trump administration cancelled the program.

On Jan. 20, Trump issued an executive order banning DEI programs, dismantling initiatives across the federal government and the nation. However, despite the cancellation, a form of the performance went on — organized by veterans of military bands, an early, improvised concert took place on March 9.

Colton participates in the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies, where he first heard about Equity Arc. 

“It was for underrepresented races and ethnicities in the orchestra field, which is why I got the email — my mom is Filipino,” Colton said.

When he received the news that the concert was canceled, Colton was more surprised than disappointed. 

“After Trump got elected, he [issued] his DEI executive orders. So he ordered the Marine Band to cancel the thing, which was pretty surprising for me because I’ve never been directly impacted by a lot of the decisions made by the government,” Colton said.

A couple of weeks later, he and his parents received an email stating the event would still occur. There was a new self-organized approach and timeline to the concert:  the new organizers asked him to fly out the next week to appear on an episode of 60 Minutes featuring the event.

“They had partnered with some retired military musicians, and they were gonna still make it happen,” he said.

Now, not only was Colton going to meet musicians from all over the country, but he was also going to be featured on national television. He was especially impressed by the profound pool of musical talent surrounding him.

“While I was there, I got to meet a ton of really impressive young musicians,” he said. “I was pretty outclassed by a lot of them.”

Colton found it a great learning experience, as the students were deeply immersed in rehearsals for two days straight. 

Since the makeup concert came together quickly, students didn’t have time to practice their music prior to their arrival. The day before the concert, organizers shifted from a plan to perform only two songs from the original program to asking students to perform the entire six-song lineup.

“Originally, when it was planned for May, we were supposed to get the music ahead of time so we’d have a few months to practice. Then it got canceled and rescheduled. So we didn’t get the music till the day before we got there, he said. It was like a lot of music in a very short time.”

He also learned from the best in the field, he said. 

“There were military musicians from all the different military bands. The Marine Band, Air Force Band and Army Band musicians,” Colton said. “That was really cool, because instead of them just coaching you, you also got to hear them play.” 

Colton admired the passion behind the project. He said it particularly showed in his fellow performers. Contrary to what the Trump administration suggested in the cancellation, Colton believes this concert did not damage the United States or the students who participated. Instead, it showcased the best the country has to offer: a diverse array of people coming together to create a unified symphony.

“You could tell from the other people playing,” he said, “that they definitely cared a lot.”