Jana's Story
By Julie Gardner, her mother
Jana's flute story begins with me, her mom. As a violist, I always assumed that my children would play string instruments since that is what I know! But my mother, her granny Jill, gave her a little fife for her sixth birthday. Jana and I figured out how to play it together, and she played it all the time, picking out little songs, and enjoying herself immensely.
When I began playing in the Port Angeles (Washington) Symphony, Jana loved to come with me. She would listen, sit, read, and drink hot cocoa during rehearsals. She came with me weekly for several years. Once in a while, she took her fife to Port Angeles Symphony rehearsals with her, and played it for Sharon Snel, the principal flutist there, who recommended the Yamaha fife with its flute-like fingering system.
Eventually, for her tenth birthday, her aunt surprised her with a flute. When our friend Sharon Snel first heard Jana play I Am a Child of God on that flute, she couldn't stop thinking about her. Sharon wanted her to have the best chances possible, which meant a solid foundation. Sharon saw that Jana was going to play the flute with or without expert guidance, and Jana was highly motivated to begin flute lessons.
Having learned through experience that free lessons are not conducive to a solid foundation, Sharon made a deal with Jana. She knew my budget was tight, so Jana vacuumed Sharon's house every week in exchange for flute lessons. She practiced diligently, playing every assigned exercise without complaint.
A year and a half later we moved to Utah. We cried. A lot. We loved Port Angeles, my husband was an LDS bishop when we left, and we felt terrible about taking Jana away from her flute teacher since they got along so well – and she practiced so hard for her.
On Sharon's recommendation, Jana began studying with Jane Wadsworth in Salt Lake City. Jane continued to give Jana an incredibly solid foundation. Soon Jana began to play in–and win–various competitions.
From the moment she got her first flute, she began saving money. She knew there was only so much she could do with that flute, and she wanted a better instrument. If someone gave her birthday money, and whenever she babysat, she paid her tithing, and she deposited her money. Her granny paid for flute lessons, and I paid for transportation to Salt Lake (including seven-hour FrontRunner trips), and she always paid for her flute books and entry fees for competitions and accompanists (a rather large expense), even when she was just 13 years old.
Finally, in November 2006, she had saved $1900. She did not want any of my help to buy her flute, but the flute she chose was $2000. She finally let me pay the last hundred dollars – as long as I was just paying her back for her $25 + $75 investment in that year's State Fair competition and what she had paid the accompanist that year!
What an incredibly independent young lady! Yet, she is beginning to realize at this point that she will need to accept some help from elsewhere.
Over the last two years since she replaced her "Gemeinhardt" with her "Trevor James" flute, Jana has grown by leaps and bounds as a musician and a lovely young lady. She has earned her LDS Young Womanhood Medallion, played in many competitions, and has been recognized by the State Fair Music Competition, the Utah Flute Association Federation, the Utah Symphony Youth Guild, and Weber State University. She has also soloed with the Lincoln Youth Symphony in Brigham City.
In the autumn of 2008, while performing in the prestigious Music Teachers National Association competition, Jana met Cindy Henderson who teaches flute at Weber State University. Cindy heard Jana performing through the door and began asking questions about her. When she learned of our home schooling, she immediately recommended that Jana look into doing Early College at Weber State. Cindy said this would give her the intensity that she would need in preparation for an audition at prestigious music schools like University of Colorado – Boulder, Manhattan School of Music, Curtis, Colburn, New England Conservatory, Juilliard, and Oberlin.
It was a tough decision to enter college at age 16, but after discussions with Sharon and Jane, Jana realized that all great musicians have had more than one teacher, and that there is much she can learn from a new perspective. Jana has now been a student of Cindy Henderson at Weber State University where she has made quite a splash. Auditioning for their Concerto Night, she was chosen as a soloist for the April 19th, 2009, concert, and she was also selected to go with their Wind Ensemble to Carnegie Hall on April 4th, 2009.
Since then, she attended the Oberlin Flute Institute in June-July 2009 and was featured in the final recital, and she has won the State level and Division level Music Teacher's National Association competitions in October 2009 and January 2010. She will be participating in the National finals in March 2010.
Jana has shown that she is not afraid to dream big; nor is she afraid of hard work. Practicing 4 or 5 hours a day, she knows she can reach her goals. It took years for her to save babysitting money for a nice flute, but she did it by keeping her eye on her goal. She will use these skills throughout her life.
Along the way, she has had fabulous teachers throughout her development. Between Sharon Snel, Jane Wadsworth, and recently Cindy Henderson, her dreams have come even closer. As she has transitioned from home schooling to her current status as an early college student at Weber State University, she has begun dreaming of University of Colorado – Boulder, Manhattan School of Music, Curtis, Colburn, New England Conservatory, Juilliard, and Oberlin.
She is dreaming big and I know she has the heart, talent, and work ethic to make it.