SPEAKER 1: Welcome to the Towson University College of Fine Arts and Communications What's Your Story podcast. In today's story, we hear from Jim McFalls, professor of jazz and music industry in the Department of Music. He talks about an experience he had that profoundly influenced him as an artist. 

SPEAKER 2: So as a trombonist, I've been involved in actually playing music and listening to music live and on recordings my whole life. And I've enjoyed some great experiences doing that. But something incredible happened to me in 2003. My wife and I had an opportunity to do a tour of a couple of places in Europe. And one of the places was Rome. And while I'd been to Europe and Italy many times in the past, I'd never been to Rome. And part of the tour was a package deal of a tour of the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. 

In preparation for that, I read a couple of books by an author, Ross King, one of which was titled "Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling." You know, it was a fascinating book. And the photographs in the book were just mind blowing. And I saw a documentary about the restoration of the Sistine Chapel and how that was done, and how vibrant the colors are now. So I was so looking forward to checking this out. 

So, throughout the tour of t he Vatican, it was awesome, and all the great frescoes we got a chance to see, it was fantastic. And we were traveling with a relatively small group, about 30 musicians. And when we got into the Sistine Chapel, there was no one else in there except the security guards. And right away, I was stunned by what I was seeing. And I basically just sat on the floor and took this whole thing in, realizing that there was a good chance that this may be the only opportunity I'll ever get to see something like this so beautiful, created by one man. 

And I just sat on the floor, taking it all in for about 20 minutes. We were by ourselves as the group in there in the Sistine Chapel. And I just-- I was weeping. It was such a beautiful sight. And knowing that one man conceived of this and did this work. And you know, I'm thinking to myself, well, I'm a creator too. I play music and I improvise. And Michelangelo is an artist and he creates things. 

So it kind of made me feel like, for a brief moment, maybe we were brothers in the art of creativity. And you know, that stuck with me. That stuck with me for, well, forever. For right now, thinking about that, I get shivers. Just being able to witness such a beautiful-- such a beautiful thing. And really taking in all the details knowing that I may not get a chance to see that ever again.