Ambler's Charles Salinger is a winner. In June Salinger was honored by winning the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Music Institute Ovation Award. Salinger won out over a field of 50 music teachers – and eventually 10 finalists – all nominated by current and former music students.

On receiving the award, Salinger, who is also a professional clarinet player, PYO alumnus and teacher of private lessons, said, “This is such a surprise and surreal. The fact that music has made such an imprint on my students' lives that they want to talk about it and take the time to write about me is a wonderful feeling.

“When I teach, I don't care if the students become professional musicians. I just hope they love music for the rest of their lives and that they support the arts. After all, that's what really matters.”

Salinger, 68, said he first came to music because of a rather lonely childhood. “I'm from Easton, Pennsylvania, and didn't have many friends growing up. I had buck teeth and was little and scrawny. And in my neighborhood I guess I was looked at as kind of a nerd. I couldn't ride up my street without being hassled by a group of kids. So in order to make myself feel better, I used to play the piano. Music made me feel more secure and happier. So that's really how it all started.”

Later, because he wanted to be with other people, the idea of being in a school band appealed to him.

“The clarinet was then handed to me because I think that's the only instrument they had available at the time,” Salinger recalled. He went off to study at Temple University and next accepted a full scholarship to Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, eventually moving here and becoming a member of the Curtis Institute Symphony.

“My wife and I met at Temple in the marching band. She is from Philadelphia, so when we married, we decided to stay here,” Salinger said. “At first we lived in the Northeast, and then we moved to Ambler because we really liked the neighborhood with its small town feel. And we liked the schools out here as well. With two small children, we really liked the Upper Dublin School District, so it worked out perfectly.”

Over the years, Salinger, who is no relation to J.D. Salinger, famed late author of the classic teenage novel, “Catcher in the Rye,” has displayed his musical talent in many ways. He is the principal clarinetist with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra, Opera Delaware Orchestra and others. Additionally, he freelances in the area with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Philly Pops and more. As well as performing with classical groups, Salinger plays with Ed Wise and his New Orleans Jazz Band, as well as several Pop and Klezmer bands.

“I just enjoy music, all kinds of music,” Salinger said. “It all stirs inside of me. Even after 50 years, I still feel that way. It just means so much to me now and to my students as well. I'm so happy to be passing all this on. In fact, every week I ask them just why they are studying music. And sometimes those answers last a long, long time.”

For example, he once asked Terry Gross, one of his past students and host of “Fresh Air” on National Public Radio, if she still played the clarinet. “What she told me overwhelmed me. While she admitted to not playing it anymore, she said that what she learned from me helped her understand what to ask in her interviews with musicians. Right there, that's what teaching is all about!”

Rita Charleston is a local freelancer who has been writing about people in the arts for the Local and other publications for many years.