Strings

Growing up in D.H. (aka Denver Harbor, also affectionately know as da hood) classical music was NOT something I grew up listening to. We learned to carry a tune in church thanks to a handful of Young Women leaders as well as my dear mother, who gained her instruction from listening to Karen Carpenter and Linda Ronstadt on the radio. The majority of our little branch was tone deaf so when we sang musical numbers for the congregation you would have thought we were superstars!

It wasn't until I attended The High School for Performing & Visual Arts in Houston (HSPVA) that I heard my very first live classical violin. I'd heard my fair share of mariachis, but this was so different. I can still see the picture vividly in my mind. There was a quartet sitting on an open balcony playing Pachebel's Canon in D my first week of high school. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard. I stood there immovable between classes and just wept. It was a spiritual imprint that I would later insist on developing in the lives of my children.

Raising the kids here in Utah has afforded us the opportunity to be around some amazingly talented people. I was told early on that while there are a plethora of good kids everywhere, the majority of them stick together in band or orchestra. There is a connection between these kids that make music together that is hard to duplicate any where else. While I don't recommend taking up multiple instruments to any sane person out there, e.g.: piano & violin or piano & viola or voice & cello (yeah, I know call me CRAZY!!!) I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

Here is Analisa and a few of her pals with their beloved junior high orchestra teacher, Mr. Watson. Can't you just feel the love?

Look, they even show up to play at other peoples school productions when called upon! Aren't they beautiful?!

Life can stink, literally, when your in "the pit" but WOW do they make a show with their mad skills. They all dressed western for the show Annie Get your Gun.

Analisa is gearing up to play her viola in, count them, seventeen concerto's at Skyline on March 30th. She's dying. But it's a good kind of death. Here are a few samples of the kids playing back in November. The sound quality and filming are nothing to brag about but you get a flavor for what they do so well.