Caught in the act between love and hate
By JEREMIAH O’HAGAN Staff Reporter
PHOTOS BY JEREMIAH O’HAGAN | STANWOOD/CAMANO NEWS Travis Hatley, 18, has a love/hate relationship with music, but you’d never know it from watching him play guitar.
With eyes half closed, pick held in lips pursed by focus, one hand dancing over the frets and the other alternately picking, slapping and strumming fluidly, he embodies passion as warm as the sounds pouring from his rich wood guitar.
“Who’s next?” his eyes ask, when he finishes.
It’s only half a joke. The five guitar students sitting on couches in front of him have been split into two groups, each group challenged to create a basic composition. They are limited to three chords Hatley chose, and they have to finger pick.
Hatley teaches guitar lessons at Davis Place on Thursday afternoons from 3-5 p.m., and for him, those afternoons are part of the love side of his relationship with music.
Travis Hatley (top) was nominated for Island County Children’s Commission’s “Caught in the Act” award for the guitar lessons he teaches at Davis Place. Above, Griffin Beeston (left) and Jonathan Spares work out one of their compositions. “I recently watched a documentary about a folk musician,” Hatley said, “who talked about playing with large groups — everyone singing along together, sharing. That’s what music is about.”
“My dad used to tell me, ‘you can be the best guitar player in the world, but it doesn’t count if you’re not getting out and sharing with people,’” he continued.
Hatley was recognized this month for his sharing. The folks at Davis Place nominated Hatley for Island County Children’s Commission’s “Caught in the Act” award, which honors “youth who make a significant contribution to their community.” Commissioner John Dean presented the award.
“Travis has consistently given his personal time and skill, as a musician, to teach other youth at Davis Place,” Dean said. “His impact … is beneficial.”
Hatley is on his fourth guitar clinic, each of which runs for six weeks. He has several repeat students, and John Soth, a Davis Place staff member, said he has seen marked improvements in the students.
The recognition might do something to alleviate, or at least help tame, the hate side of Hatley’s relationship with music.
“There are those days when I play something, and it sucks, and I’m like, ‘what have I been doing with my life?’” Hatley explained.
Hatley said there are times he buries those questions in hours of practice, shut in his room repeating strenuous exercises, but it doesn’t help.
“Those hours don’t count for anything,” he said, “not really, because in the end that’s not what it’s about. It’s about community, and sharing.”
The grand reward, Hatley said, is “when I finally have a composition worth playing for someone else. There is a difference between playing, and playing for people.”
It is a difference Hatley hopes his students will feel as they pick their three chord compositions for the small group of peers; perhaps it will tumble the the scales to the side of love.
