PBS Wisconsin Music & Arts

- My name is Jane Story, and I'm a 17-year-old junior from Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

I've been playing the violin for 13 years.

I always heard classical music growing up.

My mom's a singer, my dad does classical and jazz double-bass.

So it was just always around, always a part of my life.

[bright string music] I'm going to be performing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, first movement.

It has such a wide range of emotions.

There are places where it's very sweet and sentimental, and there's other places where it sounds like the violin is screaming in pain.

And I love the range of colors that I get to create.

Probably my favorite part of the piece is, towards the end of the movement, there's this huge octave run.

[rapidly ascending notes] It's a great technical challenge and it's also very exciting.

I am currently studying with Dr. Anna Cromwell at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

I have been wanting to play this concerto for a very long time, but I never talked to my teacher about it.

I was very excited when she told me that it would be my next piece to learn.

- And so we really want the motion to happen here.

– Jane: I really like how she focuses on both the technical and the musical side of my development as a musician.

Dr. Cromwell and I began working on this piece at the beginning of the summer.

We really focused on the technical challenges first.

Lately, we've been working on the musical side: the beautiful long lines and creating a contrast between the different characters.

Because there are playful characters, there's sweet characters, and there's angry characters.

- Yeah, okay, I think that was better.

– Jane: I've been a member of WYSO for about two years.

My family and I drive down there every weekend.

Being a part of WYSO has taught me a lot about listening carefully and carving my sound so that it fits within a section.

Because the audience doesn't want to hear just me; they want to hear everyone as one big, beautiful sound.

Performing in the Final Forte in 2022 was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

When you finish a piece, it's almost like you don't remember anything that's just happened.

It's like it's only been a second since you just stepped on stage.

Except you feel like you're a completely different person because you've gone on a journey with the piece.

I think my favorite thing about playing music is that there's never an end point.

You can always learn something new, create something different, or explore a different side of each piece that you learn.

I think music is just the most wonderful thing, and violin is my way of being a part of the music.

[audience applauding]