I get more out of connecting people to music than critiquing it. Our Tiny Desk Contest, for example, forges small communities as friends get together to make a music video in hopes of playing a Tiny Desk Concert. This year's winner, a singer and violinist from Duluth, Minn. named Gaelynn Lea, was encouraged by her fiddle students to submit her winning video. Two of the contest judges, Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig from the band Lucius, who helped Gaelynn Lea, said they were completely overwhelmed by her submission.

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