When it comes to musical families, the apple might not fall far from the tree, but sometimes it takes time for the seeds to establish roots.
Despite being involved in music since they were 5 months old, twin sisters Leah and Lori Baxter, 11, said playing can often feel like a chore.
“I have wanted to quit violin a lot, but my mom has never let me,” Lori said of her mother, Mary Baxter, who is the orchestra director at Girl Preparatory School.
“I would say, ‘I’m not having fun with this,’ and she would say, ‘Oh, just give it another year or a couple of months.’ “
Lori said she has continued to play the violin for the last nine years in the hope that, when she completes a piece, the next one will be more enjoyable.
Although they are twins, Leah and Lori have followed different musical paths.
Unlike her sister, who has studied the violin exclusively, Leah dropped the instrument after a few months and took up the cello, which she played for about four years before dropping it, too.
When the sisters entered GPS as sixth graders last fall, Leah began taking lessons on clarinet.
“I feel more comfortable on the clarinet because I can play more on it and do more with it,” Leah said. “I don’t like practicing clarinet, but I like my classes.”
The Baxter girls have gotten numerous accolades for their music.
Both received superior or better ratings from the Piano Guild. Lori’s playing also received a high evaluation from the American String Teachers Association and helped her to win a fiddling contest 2005 and 2006 at the Rangeley Lakes Region Logging Museum’s Logging Festival in Galeton, Penn.
Both girls have made straight A’s since elementary school. They each have achieved distinction as members of their school’s Science Olympiad team.
They are far from clones, however.
Leah has achieved recognition in the Math League and in the literature category of the Reflection Art Contest. She also placed highly in school and countywide speech contests.
TALENT SHOWDo you know a child age 12 or younger with a precocious talent in academics, athletics or the arts? The Times Free Press is searching for children to feature in “Talent Show,” which will appear in the Life section on Tuesdays. To nominate a child as a possible subject of a future feature article, e-mail staff writer Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or call him at 423-757-6205.
Lori is more athletically inclined, participating in triathlons as well as running cross country and diving with plans to take part in GPS track and field program this spring.
Whether they realize it or not, by beginning their studies at such a young age, Mary Baxter said her daughters have a leg up on students who take up music later in life, as she did.
After almost 30 years teaching, Baxter said she sees music as being too important, on both a professional and a personal level, to allow her daughters to quit for good.
“Music develops the whole mind, and I wasn’t going to let them off the hook,” she said. “Music isn’t studied to be a career musician. It’s just for the enjoyment, for the intellectual development and because you’re never lonely if you have music in your life.
“I want to pass that on to them.”