Indiana University Jacobs School of Music prof honored at National Puerto Rican Day parade

Bloomington resident and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music cello professor Emilio Colon is the first classical music instrumentalist to be honored by Manhattan's National Puerto Rican Day parade.

There are several reasons for the honor; one may be that he plays only happy music for a particular subset of kids.

"Our (Emilio's and his cellist wife, Cara Elise Colon's) mission is to provide access to music for all, especially children. Many children have no idea what opportunities are available to them," Emilio Colon explained over the phone.

Colons founded, direct International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico

The couple is approaching the 10th anniversary of the International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico, which they founded and continue to direct. 

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The Colons give free concerts and other educational experiences to tens of thousands of people throughout Puerto Rico, including some of that commonwealth's poorest regions. Aguadilla, Bayamon and Culebra are among locations that have welcomed the Colons' ebullient — never gloomy — music.  

"When I play music for 5-year-olds I constantly talk with them," Colon said. "I'm not there just to play a concert. In elementary and middle school it's easier to change a child. By high school it's much more difficult."

Only joyful music for children, Emilio Colon says

All children live in search mode. A new baby's brain houses 100 billion neurons, nearly all the neurons her brain will ever have, according to Judith Graham, a Kaiser Health News reporter wrote for the University of Maine. During a baby's first year, the brain changes in many ways. As the baby grows, the brain normally dispenses with connections that aren't used much. The child has “windows of opportunity,” periods when certain kinds of learning occur.

There's a reason Colon doesn't play sad music for young children.

"Many of these children are dealing with debilitating situations. For a majority of them poverty is extreme," Colon said. "For these (musical) moments the joy is there for every child."

The Colons' International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico uses films to introduce Puerto Rico to the rest of the world, reaching people across the Caribbean, mainland U.S., Canada and Guam on regional TV stations.

As host-producer of the TV series "Beethoven in the Caribbean" and "Music and Puerto Rico," Colon, who is also a conductor, advocates for making classical music accessible. 

The orchestra is a project of the American Cello Institute, a 501(c)3 charitable organization registered in Indiana and Puerto Rico.

Colon gives kids first live classical music performances

Puerto Rico, by federal guides, remains the poorest jurisdiction in the U.S., according to https://institutodelibertadeconomica.org. A four-member family that earns $26,500 or less annually is considered living in poverty. So, data-wise, four of every 10 families in Puerto Rico struggle to buy what they need. Bayamon, San Juan and Ponce are in Puerto Rico's top six areas with the worst poverty, according to www.homearea.com/rankings/place-in-pr/poverty_rate/.

In Bayamon a core family's median income is $25,000. Twenty-two percent of its population is younger than 18.

"Music is there for every child," Colon said. "It's society that provides the negative input."

Colon said that most if not all of the children in his Puerto Rico audiences hadn't known that live classical music concerts existed. 

Growing up in San Juan: avocados to arpeggios 

Colon grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico, one of its 341,000 residents. He began visiting his father's tiny hometown in the mountains, where the young Colon experimented with agriculture and its digging, weeding and planting.

"I learned about farming and went door-to-door selling cilantro, pumpkins and avocados." In other words, he learned how to make money to fund his forthcoming music studies.

Those studies took him, among other places, to the Special School for Strings at the Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico and to IU Jacobs School of Music. Colon was part of the first class of the Special School for Strings at the Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico and earned the Pablo Casals Medal upon earning his bachelor’s degree there. A humanitarian as well as a musician, he won the Sor Isolina Ferré Award for Excellence in Service to Others.

At 26, Colon joined the Jacobs School faculty, where he has taught for more than three decades. He has also been invited to teach at, among others, the Paris Conservatoire, Geneva Conservatoire, Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary and the Royal Academy of Music in London.

National Puerto Rican Day parade in Manhattan 

On June 9, in a convertible, Colon and family members breezed up Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. They were reveling in Emilio's having been honored as “Orgullo (pride or honor) Puertorriqueno” for his work as a globally renowned artist and his providing children and other community members free entrance to the arts

"I had no idea what to expect emotionally," Colon said about the New York City parade that carried him "from 43d Street to 79th Street. There wasn't an empty spot anywhere. They were cheering for joy and community."

After hurricane María (2017) the Colons provided 750 families with food and water as well as materials to restore homes of five families in Puerto Rico. 

The Colons' dedication to arts access has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, Humanidades Puerto Rico, National Endowment for the Humanities, Titín Foundation, Fundación Ángel Ramos and Candid’s Platinum Seal of Transparency. 

"Do anything; just don't talk"

When Colon regales the unsuspecting children with his carefree classical tunes, there's only one rule: "I tell them, 'You can do anything you want during the concerts. Dance, stand up, move around. Just don't talk.'"