Hi, my name is Seren, and I'm raising money in memory of Toronto musician Jeff Burke. My Dad was the kindest man, the most gentle soul, biggest hearted teddy bear of a guy I’ve ever known. He had no one single malicious bone in his body. He was also the most gifted musician I’ve ever witnessed. He understood music inside out. He could learn to play any song, any key, just give him a couple of listens. And, he could do it on bassoon of all things. He, of course, could learn to play it on almost any instrument, as long as it had a reed and/or keys. He was genre agnostic, and there was nothing out of the realm of possibility for him. I’ve never heard an improv jam as good as one my dad was participating in.

If there was one thing he loved as much as music, it was other people’s love of music. When he could participate in a really good jam session, when he could create something beautiful that other people enjoyed, when he could brighten someone's day, sometimes just by being there and playing something beautiful, or cheery, or haunting, and sometimes by looking into someone’s soul and knowing exactly what they need to hear and playing it. The world wasn’t really built for him, and he could recognise that in other people and connect with it.

When I think of the loss of my Dad, I feel it deeply, but I don’t think of it as my loss alone. I don’t even think of it as a loss felt by everyone who ever loved him, of which there are many even still. This is a profound loss felt by the universe. All of the future jams that will never include him. All of the songs that he’ll never write, or maybe more accurately, play into existence. All of the days he’ll never brighten in the subway, or at a street festival, or on stage again.

I want to raise money for a cause that would honour him. One of the things that happened right for him. He first started playing the bassoon in his high school orchestra. After he graduated, the school let him borrow the bassoon to keep playing, because no other kid needed it, and after a while, they let him keep it. I can’t imagine how different his musical trajectory would have been if he hadn’t gotten that opportunity. Depending on how much money we can raise, we will either donate the money to Siesma-Toronto, a local charity that offers musical education to underserved communities in Toronto, or set up a permanent endowment fund in his name that gets instruments into kids’ hands.