Youth Symphony

Eleven years. I have dedicated eleven years of my life to playing the violin. I started in second grade, and have continued up to now being in my senior year. I have been in five different groups, had four different conductors, and have spent more hours than I can count at rehersals, concerts, dress rehersals, private lessons, and practicing.

I get the question of why I still do it quite often. My answer is fairly simple. Becuase I love it. I will endure bleeding finger tips, seemingly impossible to play music, migraines, rosin dust in my throat, annoying stand partners, and conductors I don't always get along with because I love what I do. Violin is a part of who I am. Anytime I think about taking it away, or stopping, I realize that I can't. There would be nothing to fill that creative void.

As a fairly new concert orchestra member, I find myself struggling through the music quite often. The pieces our fantastic conductor, Nancy Nagano, chooses for us, are always wonderful pieces, but are fairly difficult for me to learn and perform successfully.

Being a part of this group, working with my stand partner/second violin section, and a fabulous conductor has taught me so much. I have learned teamwork, hard work, patience, and social skills. I will forever be grateful to my parents for giving me the oppurtunity to start violin in the second grade, and to my private lesson teacher Ginnette Reitz who was my strings-in-the-schools teacher, and has continued to coach me on my own for the last eleven years.

I'd also like to thank the people in concer orchestra for welcoming me in and helping me through get used to how things are run.

Thank you especially to the section leaders:

Concert Master Timothy Shanks

Principl Cellist Titus Shanks &

Principle Second Jack, whose last name I can never remember (sorry Jack!)

-Lauren Hansen

*Good Luck to Timothy and Titus who will be our violin and cello solists at our spring concert. They will be playing the Brahms Konzert Für Violine und Violoncello with Orchestral Accompaniment.*

Photo Courtesy of the SLO Youth Symphony Website

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