Erin started the bassoon in 7th grade, the first year band was offered at her school. She told the band director she wanted to play the oboe and he asked "how about the bassoon?" Her quick response was "Sure, what's that?" 

When Karen was in the 5th grade, she really wanted to play the cello or violin, but her parents said “no dying cats!”  So instead, she chose the clarinet.  

Her love of the violin and cello didn’t fade. 

Putting the “A” in Symphony

"When and why the oboe?" is usually the first question on these types of interviews. Often the answer is that the child was taken to a performance and heard a sound that he/she liked and it turned out to be the oboe. Sometimes there are musicians in the family and this direction is put forth as a possibility.

Jackie first started playing the French horn at age 11, was switched “against my will” to euphonium three years later and came back to the horn at the age of 18 because “I wanted to play an orchestral instrument, and the music of my favorite composers (Bruckner, Dvorak, Tschaikovsky, Kodaly) features the horn most prominently.”

Priscilla joined the Santa Cruz Symphony in 1981 when it was still a community orchestra and has seen the orchestra grow significantly over the years. As with so many musicians, her interest started early.

 “I wanted to take violin lessons when I was four. Mrs. Low (a Suzuki violin teacher) and her 3 children moved in two houses down from me.”