With 2016 coming to a close, many have reflected on how a sad and difficult this year has been. So in an effort to bring some light to the year, here is my favorite magical moment of 2016.

If you know anything about me, you know that music is very important to me. I also believe it is important to introduce kids to the world of music, because of how much music helped me grow and become who I am as a person.

Multiple times a day, Frontierland is filled with the music of the Notorious Banjo Brothers & Bob. These lovely, talented men come about and play Disney tunes with a little country twang. However, as I was working across the way at Big Al’s, I noticed a fourth member of the trio, a 3 year-old I later learned was named Braiden, who was playing a little plastic trumpet alongside them. The crowd in the land absolutely loved him, and I eagerly pointed him out to two of my coordinators. We immediately wanted to recognize the little guy for his musical talent, and as I created a celebrating button naming him “Best Trumpeter in the West,” my coordinators took it to the next level and found our 2016 pin and lanyard set, which just so happened to feature one of the Fab 4 playing the trumpet! The three of us walked over and watched them all play, and when Banjos Bros noticed we had a gift, they invited me over to present him with button and lanyard. Seeing his face light up with a huge smile, and turning back seeing his parents with even bigger smiles as they were recording the whole thing, gave me a case of the feels. One of the Banjo Bros cheered and exclaimed, “it’s your first paid gig!” to little Braiden. Afterwards, they concluded the set with “The Mickey Mouse Club March,” and the crowd cheered as they all took a bow. We spoke to the family afterwards and found out that Braiden insists on seeing the Banjo Brothers’ every performance, and he had actually played two other times with them – so he’s almost a regular guest star! They thanked us for making this performance even more special for them.

As I walked away from this experience, I was so happy. Seeing the joy that music was bringing to this amazing three-year-old, and how supportive his parents were, is what I hope for every child with a dream, because that’s what I had at his age and all through my life. Music is powerful, no matter how young or old you are.