My Sister Angela - A "Band Geek" Rescued from TMJ

Angela Hartley: A “Band Geek” Rescued from TMJ

Angela Hartley grew up in a family that placed high value on learning to play musical instruments. Her mother played violin for a couple of years when she was young, and she has played piano for more than 60 years. Her father played trumpet for 20 years, and for four years in high school and college he also played French horn. He has also noodled on a harmonica for several years. Nearly every member of the family has had instrumental music training of some kind.

Angela as a budding 10-year-old classical pianist

By the time Angela was 16 years old, she had dabbled in viola and clarinet, had nine years of classical piano training, and five years of experience on the alto saxophone. Instrumental music had infused itself into her personal identity and she was proud to be a “band geek” … and an excellent geek at that. She was one of the rare students who earned a position in Murray High School’s highly-awarded jazz band as a sophomore.

Ten-year-old Angela (on the left) playing viola

Angela showing a little junior high school saxophone swagger

Angela at the 2004 state high school jazz festival in Park City, Utah

But at age 16, her life dramatically changed. Instead of basking in a joyful sweet-16 birthday celebration, she was in tears. She was cursed with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder. Intense pain coursed through her jaw from her ears to her chin. At times her jaw joint would lock making it extremely difficult and painful to eat ... and impossible to play saxophone.

Angela after jaw surgery in 2004

Her TMJ was so bad that it required surgery to reposition disks in her jaw joint and tighten the surrounding muscles. Her recovery included six weeks of painful physical therapy and a liquid diet.

But Angela’s TMJ disorder was not just painful physically. It devastated her emotionally. It permanently ended her blossoming high school saxophone career in jazz band, concert band, and pep band. It forced her to cancel her weekly private saxophone lessons with a local professional musician. It was heartbreaking when she had to sell her treasured instrument. And possibly worst of all, she lost her close associations with her band friends. Emotionally, all of that combined to wield a devastating blow to the teenager’s sense of self-worth and proud identity as a “band geek.”

Angela and her parents prayed earnestly for divine guidance and help to get her though an extremely painful and depressing time.

Rob Wilson, Murray High
School’s instrumental music director

Not long after her TMJ recovery, Angela learned that the jazz band’s pianist was graduating. Angela wondered if she could become her replacement and be part of the band’s percussion section. But, the odds of rejoining the jazz band as a pianist were highly against her because she only had two weeks to prepare for an audition—an audition with Murray High’s outstanding and very exacting instrumental music director, Rob Wilson. Furthermore, she was never trained in jazz piano. There is a huge difference between Debussy and Duke Ellington! Jazz requires a much different approach to piano than her nine years of classical music had taught her.

Her dad felt inspired to contact Dr. Ray Smith in Provo, Utah. Dr. Smith was the faculty director of Brigham Young University’s highly acclaimed jazz band, Synthesis, to see if he could recommend a teacher for Angela. Dr. Smith referred him to one of his former jazz piano students, a recent BYU music graduate named Amy Ward. Amy was working at Daynes Music in neighboring Midvale, Utah.

But when Angela’s dad telephoned Amy, he discovered that her rates for lessons were much higher than they could afford and she wasn’t willing to reduce them. Before allowing the call to end, he silently prayed for guidance, then explained Angela’s challenging situation. Out of sympathy, Amy reluctantly agreed to let them buy half of a lesson—just 30 minutes—to see how well things would go.

Angela’s “half lesson” went astonishingly well! Amy and Angela developed an instant rapport. Together they enjoyed Angela’s discovery of jazz piano so much, they seemed to lose track of time; the lesson ran more than an hour. Angela proved to be an extremely fast learner. Her dad was awestruck by what she could do after just one lesson! So was Amy!

Arturo Sandoval, Cuban-
American jazz great

Amy agreed to continue to work with Angela for the next two weeks at half her normal price. She gave Angela a very challenging audition piece to learn that was composed by the famous Cuban-American jazz great, Arturo Sandoval.

After only two weeks of tutelage from Amy Ward, combined with intense, concentrated practice, Angela sailed through the audition, totally surprising Mr. Wilson! She earned a spot in the jazz band’s percussion section, which included sharing duties on the piano. She transformed from a person out of harmony with herself into someone with confidence and purpose! She was a proud “band geek” once again!

While in the band’s percussion section, Mr. Wilson taught Angela to play a variety of instruments referred to as mallets: xylophone, vibraphone, and marimba. In the process, she expanded her musical talents and joined her school’s outstanding percussion ensemble and orchestra.

Angela’s love for mallets extended into her college years. In her first freshman semester at Brigham Young University-Idaho, she auditioned for the university’s elite percussion ensemble, Rix Stix. That audition may have been the shortest one in BYU-I’s history. Knowing she had trained under Mr. Wilson at Murray High School, and seeing her technique, the university’s music director stopped her after only one minute into her audition and declared her a member of Rix Stix! Her successful audition also generated an unexpected cash award from the school’s Music Department.

Angela (center, above the university’s percussion director)
in BYU-I’s percussion ensemble, Rix Stix

Angela was blessed to be able to turn the terrible stumbling block of TMJ into stepping stones of new opportunities and personal growth. With divine intervention, people and opportunities were placed in Angela’s life that repaired her jaw, expanded her musical talents, and perhaps more importantly, restored her sense of identity and self-worth as a proud “band geek.”

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Written by James E. Hartley, Angela's father, May 2019 and reviewed by Angela herself.