violin memories

My Senior Picture

      I began playing violin the summer after fourth grade.  I always knew I would play violin.  When Mom and Dad had their third child (me), they chose to have me play violin.  My older sister Patty played violin too and my other older sister Kimberly played cello.  Patty was six years older than me, so by the time I started violin, I had already heard her practicing each day with my mom.  Mom was very dedicated to helping us practice each day.  Once David was born (three years after me) and started taking viola lessons, there was a lot of practicing going on!  We had to practice piano for 30 minutes a day and violin for 30 minutes a day.  I took voice lessons for a couple years too and practiced that 30 minutes a day and David took trombone and he practiced for MORE than 30 minutes a day on that.  It was a very musical home!
      Learning the violin was hard.  You have to keep your bow straight and hold your chin and your wrist a certain way.  You have to place your fingers in exactly the right spot on the fingerboard to get the notes in tune.  You have to learn notes and rhythms and techniques.  I am so grateful my mom was also a violinist because she could help me.  I had my own private tutor!  Oh, the hours she spent helping me!  I would say that around ninth grade is when I really took off and got excited about playing the violin on my own.  I got to the point where I would want to play things just for fun.  I loved playing violin to Mom's piano accompaniments.  My violin used to be my Mom's and that makes it more special to me too.  I loved to listen to great violinists like Itzak Perlman.
     I loved feeling "special" because I could play the violin.  I remember wanting to be very careful that no one would ever think I was "stuck up" because I was "first chair" in orchestra.  I always tried to be humble.  And, I knew in the big scheme of things, I was not that fabulous.  How did I know?  All-State Orchestra!  I was selected to be in the All-State Orchestra three different years.  What a wonderful experience!  But, also a humbling one!  From the best at Alexandria High School to last chair in Minnesota All-State Orchestra!  But, I sure loved the experience.  We did Mussorgsky's Pictures At An Exhibition that first year and the director was fabulous - so expressive!  I loved hearing all the winds and brass and percussion.  It was all extremely exciting!  I felt like a real violinist in that orchestra.  My high school orchestra did arrangements of pieces, All-State Orchestra did the REAL thing.

Practice, Practice, Practice!

     Little did I know that All-State Orchestra was going to be a lot like Concordia College Orchestra.  When it was time for me to decide which college to attend, one of the major criteria was that I wanted a good, quality orchestra to be part of.  And, that's what I got!  The director was Mr. Houglum and he was excellent.  The other members of the orchestra were so fun to spend time with.  We had just strings three days a week and full orchestra two days a week.  After orchestra we would go to dinner at dining services.  I had a group of orchestra friends that I ate with every night my first two years of college.  It was so fun!  Junior and Senior year I ate my own food in my apartment after orchestra.
     Besides enjoying rich musical experiences, orchestras have provided me with good friends!  In high school my stand partner was Natasha.  We became great friends.  We would get together on weekends and play violin duets together.  We performed Bach's second movement of the Bach Double for contest.  Tasha continues to be a wonderful friend all these years later!
      Then my freshman year of college I was given Rebecca for a stand partner.  We had so much fun together.  We would giggle and write helpful notes in our music.  Our director had funny ways of 

  explaining things sometimes and we would take notes like "Swooosh,"  "Be a dead chicken,"  "Like fairies dancing!".  Rebecca was a great friend that year and we were going to be roomates our sophemore year, but she ended up moving to Texas!  Later I enjoyed visiting her there.  We're still good friends.  Of course, God provided other friends in the  

Stand partner Natasha and I

 orchestra to enjoy.  I fondly remember orchestra tours with Stephanie, Joy, and Melissa!  I remember Christmas concert rehearsals until late in the evenings and needing to study afterwards.  I remember sectionals (just violins or just cellos practicing in a room by themselves) and all the laughter.  I remember the feeling of finally getting that tricky part and being able to play it together!  Exciting stuff!
       We really spent a lot of time together in the Concordia Orchestra.  We had rehearsal every day for at least an hour, some-
times two hours.  We were so "together" in our playing.  We

Freshman Year stand partner Rebecca and I

 could sort of "feel" where the director was going in his conducting.  It was a group bond like none other I have experienced.  Now that I am all grown up and out of college, I miss those orchestra days.  I have tried being in other orchestras, but it's simply not the same.  The unity isn't there.  Yes, we've played some great music and we've had some fun together, but it's not the same committment and focus.  I think I cherish my Orchestra experience at Concordia more now than I did at the time.  I still love playing the violin.  After college, I taught violin lessons for three years to students in Mt. Lake.  I would play violin for church too.  Mom and I played violin/piano duets for TONS of weddings for a few years.  I played "fiddle" in a bluegrass gospel band.  I played violin on worship team.  Most of my playing now is just on my own at home or when I visit my parents in Alexandria.  I have lost quite a bit of my skill, but I know if I practiced regularly I could regain it.  It makes me sad sometimes that I'm not playing as much as I used to.  Violin was such a huge part of my life.  I still consider violin an important part of who I am.  I will forever be grateful that Mom and Dad encouraged me to practice, paid for my lessons, sent me to summer strings camps, and helped me through college so that I would grow in my love for music! 

Concordia Violinists:  Melissa, Joy, Stephanie, and me