Tori is in marching band. She is a wonderful musician! She started playing the piano when she was 5 and has always loved music. Her first piano teacher taught the Suzuki Method which was great for her. The philosophy of Suzuki is that you learn to speak before you learn to read and so you should learn to play before you learn to read music. She learned to paly and when she was in second grade her piano teacher moved and she started with a teacher who taught traditional music. She was reading music before we knew it. When she was in 6th grade she took choir so that she could play the piano for the choir. Because of her advanced classes they put her in art instead. She came home from school and said, "I have to be in music, put me in any music class!" I called the school and the only class that would fit in her schedule was advanced band. I was nervous but, at her instance I enrolled her anyway.
The reason that I was worried is because I know Tori. When she was about 18 months she noticed that Katie, who was three, got herself dressed. She decided that if Katie could do it, she was going to do it. She didn't have the coordination to do it and so she would get her legs all twisted up and her arms all in a knot and she would cry and scream at the top of her lungs. I would offer to help and she would scream at me, "I can do it". After about an hour of this she would finally be dressed and we would all breath a sigh of relief. She did this EVERY DAY. I was so glad when she got a little older and this became easy for her.
So, Tori started advanced band. She decided to play the flute and she practiced every waking moment, (luckily her mouth was busy and so she didn't scream and cry! Just kidding!). A few weeks into school they had their first music test. They had make a recording of a particular piece of music and turn it in for a grade. The teacher told the students to tape it over and over again until they felt good about it. Tori taped it about ten times and finally turned it in. A few days later, the music teacher came and pulled her out of class and said, "Tori, is that really you on that tape? It sounds like one of your sister's friends." She assured him that it was her and he told her she would have to play that day in front of the class to prove it. She played and he was blown away. He took her aside and told her that when he had listened to the tape blind, he had picked it as the best and chosen her to be section leader. Then he found out it was Tori and she had only been in band a few weeks and she wouldn't be able to help the other students as the section leader since she was not experienced enough. Tori had a new love, the flute!
This whole band thing was divine intervention, another way we have seen the hand of the Lord in our lives!! Our Heavenly Father knew where she needed to be and he put her there. She loves band and she still loves and plays the piano. She gets to play the piano in seminary, (a religious study class she takes every day), and she plays at church. This year she started marching band and there is a pretty sharp learning curve when you first start marching band. She, as usual, has worked herself very hard and is awesome. Here are a few pictures of the latest marching band competition, and of my cute Tori in her band uniform.
Just a side note: When we went to the homecoming football game to see her march, Aaron and I went to the snack bar after the half time show. We saw Tori there. Aaron had never seen Tori in her uniform and was afraid of her. It was so funny. I guess that he thought that she was a soldier or something. It wasn't until I picked him up and he looked directly at her face that he finally relaxed. It was cute.
