I learned to play the bassoon through the DC Youth Orchestra program. My first instructor was Carol Aufmann, nee Malone, a friend Mary stopped to say hi to at registration. The year I met Carol and began bassoon, Mom thought Mary was just registering me for violin again like last year. Years later, I was awarded a National Symphony Youth Fellowship. In college, I majored in music performance for a year at Northwestern.
In my 8 or so years of bassoon, I met a lot of great people. I learned about perseverance, the power of awesome mentors, and the joy of being part of a large, successful team of young musicians. I enjoyed performing around the US, in Canada, and one DCYO summer tour of central Spain. Highlights include orchestra performances in beautiful halls like the Kennedy Center, DAR Constitution Hall, Pick-Staiger in Evanston, and two venues in Spain, a concert hall in Valencia and a cathedral in Toledo.
I found a cassette tape with recordings at my mom’s house after she passed away. I believe these were my college application solos.
This first piece is a recording is the Mozart Bassoon Concerto which I performed parts of at two weddings, Mary and Tim’s and Joe and Mimi’s.
This second set of music is a selection of short solos. I think we picked them to show off some range.
This 30 minute documentary on the DC Youth Orchestra from 1978 starts with scenes very familiar to me. By the time I made it to the top level orchestra in the program, Lyn McLain had stopped conducting. However, I heard a lot about him from others and saw him conduct as I went through the program.