At each concert, our orchestra spotlights individual musicians which allows the audience to get to learn a little bit about the players they’re seeing on the stage. Participation in the spotlight is entirely voluntary – something each orchestra member is invited to participate in, but only if they’re interested.

Between you and me, I’m teetering on the edge of sharing my little bio. Nope. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’ll be a cold day in Hell before you see a gigantic 3’+ version of my face on a monitor?

Hard pass!

But… This is a safe(ish) space, right? I mean, you kinda know me and you’re already familiar with these sporadic carnival thrill rides through my brain. Sure, it may be borne from bemusement (What is she going to say this time?) or boredom (What is she going to say this time, ehhh… who cares? I got no place I need to be), you’re still here. I’ll take it.

My knuckles are cracked and I’m ready to go. Let’s walk through the spotlight questions…

What’s your name?

Beth! (I’m already killing it.)

What’s your instrument?

Viola – best instrument in the orchestra, which is part of the best section. We slay. (Well, technically they slay, BUT they tolerate me, so yay! Go them and their poor taste! )

What is your day job?

IT Whisperer/Translator/Mediator/Bridge Builder/Traffic Cop – I put the right people together and sometimes pull them apart .

Example of a day in the life of me:
Technical SME BLAHBLAHBLAH: “The TCP/IP stack encountered a transient network latency anomaly, necessitating a protocol-level retransmission of encapsulated data packets to ensure end-to-end integrity.”

Translation for Normal People: Heavy sigh, “The internet encountered a whoopsie poo, so your computer asked for a wee do-over to ensure everything got to you like it should. You should be ok now.”

Hometown

Dallas

Origin Story  (How did you end up picking your instrument?)

Short answer: My throat seized up when I auditioned for choir in 6th grade; I couldn’t get a single sound out – you could only make out big gulps of air, which was immediately followed by a ton of tears silently streaking down my face.

Long answer: I come from a family of performers on my Dad’s side. My grandfather was an opera singer who performed throughout the South – mostly on the church circuit. In fact, at one point, a gentleman who trained Enrico Caruso came through town and coached him a bit; it made the Tuscaloosa paper. He was the talk of the town. “Small town farmer boy sings!” (I have the article; it’s pretty neat). Meanwhile, my grandma played stand-up bass and performed with a swing group in East Texas. She also made the paper! (I have one of those articles, too. She looks happy, relaxed, and plain adorable!)

The two of them met in church, had several kids, and all of those kids grew up singing.

True story – no one can out-sing my Aunt Dorothy or her daughters – their voices are beautiful, but that said, I’m still partial to my Dad’s version of “Old Man River” and “The House of the Rising Sun.”

On Mom’s side, everyone played piano, but, her father also played over 10-15 instruments proficiently. Through that side of the family I was introduced to George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and every musical number you can imagine. In fact, back in my daycare days (which were not merely a week ago no matter how I may have behaved), we were encouraged to bring music from home. All of my friends showed up with the latest pop albums, songs I wasn’t familiar with at all, and I brought in the soundtrack to Oklahoma. Until that day, I didn’t realize that wasn’t what most households listened, and I had to fuss to get my daycare teachers to play it.

I’ve seen Yul Brenner perform in the King & I on stage from around the center of the 12th row. AMAZING!

Anyway, back to the viola…

I knew I was going to be a singer. I had been an alto in our 5th grade choir, and it just made sense that I’d continue into 6th grade. Well, you read the short version – life had other plans. I showed up for audition, the choir director played a simple one octave scale, and that’s when my vocal chords froze. No matter how much I tried to get any semblance of sound out, I simply couldn’t; it was embarrassing, humiliating and just all around awful.

Well, I knew I wanted to to be involved in music – I had to be, and if I couldn’t sing, I’d play an instrument; not playing wasn’t an option. So, the instrument I chose was bass – just like grandma. Well, turns out we weren’t the kind of people who could afford a stand-up bass, even rented, which crushed me – though not quite in a frozen-vocal-chord kind of way. (Why yes, I do have emotional scars from that – thank you for asking.)

I was 0 – 2.

I didn’t want to play in band, so that left strings. The decision went basically like this: (I’ll spare you the why’s behind the decisions)

• Violin (ALL CAPS “NOPE” “NO THANKS!” “UH UH” “WOULD RATHER POKE SOMEONE IN THE EYE” – not myself, mind you, I’m not a masochist)
• Cello (lowercase, less-emphatic “nah”), which left…
• Viola, which won thanks to its richer sound (and by not being the other two).

How long have you been playing your instrument?

I played from 6th grade through my sophomore year in college, when I had a small music scholarship, then I took a 30+ year break. Turns out playing a stringed instrument is NOT like riding a bicycle. Weird.

Some random “through-the-year” notes:

• In 7th grade, I was in Jr. Honors Orchestra, and my jr. high orchestra won All-City Orchestra in Dallas (not a small feat).
• I was signed-up to attend the Dallas music magnet, since back then I was considered “talented” (something no one would mistake me for today – that’s not a plea for praise, that just ugly facts), then we moved to Austin 😦
• From 9-12th grade, Austin didn’t have a music magnet, and our high school orchestra was embarrassing, but we got a wee better when got a new conductor. Thankfully, my step-mom got me into UT’s String Project where there was a focus on music history, composition, and performance. We were the best of the best
• Then there was college, which was fine; although, we did have a conductor throw an amazing tantrum over Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony – I’ve actually skipped one of our current orchestra’s performances, because of the lasting trauma from his big “moment.” He was out of control and so ugly, To this day, I can’t STAND that piece of music, and !@#$! if you think I’ll play it. That’s a bad memory, but a really good one: we toured around the local towns playing pieces from the Messiah along with our college choir. Because of that, I learned how much I LOVE playing with both a full orchestra and a full choir (side bonus: they paid us!)

What is your favorite thing about playing or favorite memory of being a member of being a member of CTMA?

I love being inside the music – hearing each piece from the inside out – each part making this beautiful whole.

Because of that, I’ve learned to not only appreciate but absolutely love certain pieces deeply that were initially not my favorite. (Example – “Antrópolis” by Gabriela Ortiz – see video embedded below. It’s soooo good! In fact, I’m playing it while typing now.)

I love the skill of the musicians. We have some AMAZING performers who just nail a their particular part. I become entranced and sometimes fight against this overwhelming urge to whistle and whoop on the stage.

Favorite memories? Every gif my section leader sends in our group text. Every time the section makes me laugh so hard, and so loudly I start choking and silence the entire orchestra because of my outburst. Every time the mortician in our group informs me of ways she could get rid of me and no one would know (it’s endearing!).

But a few memories (plural) that stick out…

My stand partner Lisa (she’s the best) – she did something kind one day (it’s her MO), but on this particular occasion she did the thing right before a concert. I responded by proclaiming something like, “You’re my very best friend,” and that’s when Lisa, who is known for shouting across large crowded stadiums and being heard clearly bust out with, “I thought I was already your best friend!!!!” It was SOOOOO loud and so surprising, I doubled-over – my sides ached from laughter, and tears ran down my face. Aside: Lisa and her family are also the ones who helped rescue and foster Luna, my bestest pup friend.

Finally, the time our conductor proudly shouted, “YEAH!!!” at the end of a piece. Or that time we hadn’t seen him in awhile, and he surprised us by coming up on stage to conduct because he happened to be in the audience. (He’s the BEST! Not like Lisa is the best, but best in his own way that is slightly less best than Lisa. Stockholm Syndrome FTW!)

We are CENTRAL TEXAS Musical Arts….What’s your favorite thing to do in Central Texas when you’re not playing? (favorite spot, local activity, restaurant, things to do with the family in the Central Texas area?)

Assault people with my blog. Play with Luna. Play card/board games. Watch way too much SciFi. Be a nerd. Roll 20-sided dice. Rate the Chris’, like you do (the rank obviously goes: Evans, Pratt, Pine, Hemsworth although Pratt has been on the decline lately).

What’s a fun fact about you that you would like to share?

Let’s change fact to facts (plural):

• In school, I played in mariachi. Fun fact: I can do a really cringe-worthy grito
• I took tap dance for about 7 years
  • I have custom, made for only my feet, leopard print tap shoes
• I took improv for about that long
• People have paid to hear me sing on a few occasions (I had to make up for that 6th grade hiccup)
• Oh, and my Dad taught me the basics of yodeling, which is a ton louder than my grito

There you have it! My spotlight!