Last night, Mark Wolfe, of Argyle, Texas was killed while riding his motorcycle on his way home.Mark was a husband and a father of three, a wonderfully generous human being and one of the most talented musicians I have had the pleasure of knowing.
I studied with Mark for a year in 1995, and it was a formative period for me. His outlook on performing and his approach to the instrument opened up new worlds of musical expression for me. Music was a joy to be projected from deep within to everyone listening, or just for yourself. You were cheating yourself and the world if you didn't play with conviction and heart every time you touched your instrument.
His sense of humor and approach to teaching made every lesson, and every rehearsal, every meeting for a beer or conversation a joy. His smile and his funny anecdotes have stayed with me all these last ten years since I last saw him.
In the beginning of that year he was teaching at University of North Texas, he gave a recital. I remember he wore a bow tie. A red one. As our tuxes can tend to be, it was just a little tight around his neck. Every so often as he was playing, especially as he moved from low to high register and visa versa, that tie would flick up and down. One person in the audience noticed it, and told someone else. Soon the giggles were moving up and down the aisles of the recital hall like dominoes as Mark played on stage.
Of course he finished up with the beautiful "Morning Song" and the music's spontaneity and light melody were perfect for the moment.
God Bless you Mark. I was glad to have counted you as a friend. Go well.
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