Well, right now I am gearing up for my Salute to Youth recording! What I do is I send in a CD of my concerto and then the Utah Symphony chooses about three kids from each division to come and do a live audition with them. They then choose the finalists who will perform with the Utah Symphony at the end of September! I am very excited! I am auditioning with the first movement of Concerto in F by Gershwin. I am hoping this is my year! I love this concerto more than any other concerto I have done and I want to perform it with the Utah Symphony. I am recording the first week of July. I am a little nervous but mostly excited because I know that I can do it!

Since I last posted nothing much has changed. I am now working on a Mozart Sonata and I am continuing to work on my Gershwin concerto to get it ready for Salute to Youth auditions which begin in July. This past week I kind of took a break from piano as I prepared for school finals and such, but I will be getting back into practicing tomorrow. I definitely can't wait for summer!

Yesterday was the best day ever!! It was the Utah State Piano Festival. My mom and I left at about 7:15am to go to Logan and we spent literally all day up there! I competed in 3 divisions: Baroque/Classical, Concerto, and Impressionistic.  I placed 2nd in the Baroque/Classical and Impressionistic divisions and placed 3rd in the Concerto division. It was definitely very exciting for me! Not only am I excited that I placed but I am also excited that I feel like I played my very best and I enjoyed performing. A lot of times during competitions I just can't wait for them to be over. But yesterday I really felt happy when I played. The happiness and joy overruled the nervous which really helped. Again thanks for everyone's support! I especially want to thank my parents for driving me to Logan each week and using their time to help me pursue my dream!

Well, it has been a bit rough the past few weeks. I have been having a few health issues and so it has made it difficult to get my practicing done. But I am getting back into practicing now and am plugging forward to my next competition. My next competition is in the middle of April up at Utah State University. I will be entering three songs in three different divisions. This is one of my favorite competitions to do! It is kind of like I am at home at this competition because Utah State is where I study piano so I usually feel pretty comfortable. I am going up to Logan almost every week for the next month to prepare. I want to be really prepared for this competition!

Well, I worked hard and played well, but I didn't win. It is okay though because I have decided that I am not going to let myself get discouraged. I am going to let this experience make me want to work harder instead of giving up. Even though it was a tough competition and I didn't make it, I still played my best and loved every minute of it..........that is what's most important. I am now excited to start working toward my next competition which is in April. It is the Utah State University Piano Festival. The great thing about life is that no matter how many times you "fail" you always get another chance and can try, try again.

Well, tomorrow is the big day! It is the Utah Symphony Youth Guild competition. I will be playing Aria Variata by J.S. Bach. I am very excited but also a little nervous. No matter what happens tomorrow my goal is to play my best and have fun! Whenever I compete I always have to remind myself of this. Yes, it is very exciting to win, but that isn't the whole point of competing. The most important thing is that I do my very best!

I am loving piano right now! Yesterday I had a recital at Daynes Music Store in Murray. It went really well! I was very pleased with how I played! It was so nice to perform in front of a big group. Performing for groups really prepares me for competitions because I get more nervous playing for a lot of people than playing for a few judges. I am so grateful I have the opportunity to share my love of music with others. Performing has always been a harder thing for me because I have to feel the music in order for the audience to feel it and even though I could play the music I had a hard time feeling it, but now I am becoming a lot more comfortable with it and I love it!