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The Murray Symphony Orchestra has provided an artistic outlet for hundreds of people over the past 36 years, and for 20 of them Clinton Frohm was the musician's biggest cheerleader and tutor.

Maestro Frohm, the longtime conductor and youth music educator, died last year, but now his memory will live on in a piece of music that the organization has commissioned for a Jan. 27 concert.

"He dedicated his entire life to music education, and the last 20 to Murray Symphony," said Clarissa Andersen, the group's vice president and a flute player. So to honor him, the symphony commissioned a piece that will be somewhat jazzy — reflecting the late trumpet player's musical taste — and not somber.

"We did not want to mourn his death," Andersen said, "but to celebrate his life. And, as he was a trumpet player, we wanted a trumpet solo."

For now, though, even the symphony hasn't seen the piece. They will take possession of it from a local composer in early January and practice for a few weeks before the commemorative concert at Murray High School. The Granite Youth Symphony, which he directed in his job with the school district, will perform that night, too, along with two combos in which Frohm performed: Top Brass and Gabriel, a trumpet ensemble.

Frohm was part of an organization that keeps people with day jobs engaged in the arts, and with a passion for life. It does so as one of many organizations benefitting from Salt Lake County's Zoo, Arts and Parks tax, this year gaining a $4,259 appropriation from the County Council.

The money goes into everything from costly percussion instruments to rehearsal space rentals, but also for constant purchase or rental of sheet music. "We can't keep playing the same concert!" Andersen said.

The organization usually performs six concerts a year, including a free Christmas concert like the one it performed Dec. 10. The tribute concert also will be free. Other concerts generally cost $6, though children under 10 attend free.

The ZAP tax has generated about $12 million a year, on average, during the past decade. Next year, those dollars will reach more than 160 organizations.

Beverly Dalling, a French horn player and past symphony president, has been with the organization from the start. Now 70, she said the music is a joy, but so are the people. The players, usually about 70 of them, range from high school kids to people older than her, she said, and come from around the valley and as far away as Evanston, Wyo., for weekly rehearsals.

Though she had been a music manager at Brigham Young University, she remembers being "scared to death" for her audition nearly a decade later, by which time she had moved on to family rearing and had four of her five children.

"I'm not the world's best French horn player, but I'm certainly committed to whatever I'm doing," she said. "What an accomplishment, to play a Beethoven song, or to play Mozart, or whatever."

The players all take their music seriously, she said, but the friendships and teamwork are equally important. She meets a fellow French horn player for practice once a week, she said.

Dalling remembers Frohm as a "cheerleader" for the group, but one who also helped individuals improve.

"We all just fell in love with Clint from the start," she said. "He made me feel special, and that my part was important." —

Concert for Clinton Frohm

Jan. 27, 7 p.m.

Murray High School Auditorium, 5440 S. State St.

Concert followed by jazz jam session and reception in lobby.