I hope this story will serve as an encouragement to all my fellow students.
I first began playing the violin five years ago; my Mama (who had never played the violin) was teaching me at home with a curriculum that was supposedly designed for parents who had never played before. Sounds crazy I know! We did that for four years, and to be honest the fourth year I totally lost ALL interest in the violin, I thought it was the worst sounding instrument ever! I thought that whoever invented it was a really really dumb person. When my Mom told me about FYO I thought she was nuts! I mean me a lousy player who couldn’t even read notes in an orchestra? Lucky for me my Mama made me go to sit in on a class, right after Mrs.Caren took over. Well I watched all these kids playing, most of them younger then me, and the idea that I just might be able to learn to play, started to grow on me. I mean if a 8year old could do couldn’t a 11year old learn? After that one class I told my Mama, “well maybe I want to be in orchestra.” Since I couldn’t read notes, Sadie tutored me 3 or 4 times. By that time I really did want to be in FYO.
The next school year (last year) I officially started orchestra, I liked it but only to a certain degree. Yes, I wanted to do good but I wasn’t willing to work hard for it. Well the first concert was terrible! I was really disappointed not only with the way my class played but with the way I played. On that night I vowed that I would do everything I could to become the best player I could be. That included actually paying attention in class!!

I started to do what Mrs. Caren was asking was us to do in the fundamentals class. Also Practice! IT makes ALL the difference, believe me, this year after the evaluation, I went from being a second violin in Mrs. Brittany’s to being a second violin in Mrs. Carens. All those who are still with me, if you want to succeed you Have to Practice! You don’t have to have private lessons (I don’t) or anything like that, all you need is to be willing to practice and do what your teacher assigns. It works!!

Thanks for reading!