{"id":7733,"date":"2018-05-11T18:22:57","date_gmt":"2018-05-12T02:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=7733"},"modified":"2018-05-09T18:23:18","modified_gmt":"2018-05-10T02:23:18","slug":"music-from-the-heartstrings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/music-from-the-heartstrings\/","title":{"rendered":"Music from the heartstrings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Zo<\/span>\u00eb<\/span> Strickland | Editor-in-Chief<\/span><\/p>\n

Emmaly Basaraba was three-years-old when she discovered that she wanted to learn how to play the violin; \u201cI remember going to the living room and on TV there was a man playing violin and I was like \u2018I want to do that.\u2019\u201d Five years later, her parents offered to get her lessons. On May 3, the Bachelor of Music major walked on to the Smith Hall stage to perform her junior music recital.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The recital, titled \u201cAin\u2019t Misbehavin\u2019\u201d after one of the songs that Basaraba performed, featured jazz music from the \u201820s and \u201830s. <\/span><\/p>\n

Music students Noah Adams and Justin Kayler accompanied Basaraba on the drums and bass, respectively. Her brother, Wyatt Basaraba, played both the guitar and tenor banjo. Between songs, Basaraba pointed out that certain selections \u2014 namely, \u201cGeorgia on My Mind\u201d and \u201cAin\u2019t Misbehavin\u2019\u201d \u2014 were chosen because of her association between the songs and her late music teacher, Gene Hall.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

She chose the title of her show because of how it represented the era of music she was focusing on in the set, as well as her memory of Hall playing it; \u201cI felt it captured the essence of the time period that I was going for \u2014 jazz music from the \u201820s and \u201830s \u2026 \u00a0I have a lot of fond memories of Gene playing it with his granddaughter, because she would sing it while he would play it. I thought it just captured the essence of the era.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A Polk County local, Basaraba was raised in Dallas, where she and her brother were homeschooled.<\/span><\/p>\n

Music is more than just a degree or a pastime for the violinist. Rather, it\u2019s part of her identity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMusic is kind of the central part of who I am as a person \u2026 I love doing a lot of different things for fun but music is my escape,\u201d she said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s listening to or playing music, it\u2019s what I do to feel whole and to express myself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For Basaraba, this love of music comes from Hall. The instructor taught both her and her brother music from the time she was eight until he passed away when she was sixteen.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to find a starting point. He was my teacher, but he was a lot more than that. He was kind of a grandpa figure to me,\u201d she said. \u201cNot only was I learning how to play music from him \u2026 but he would be interested in what was going on in our lives \u2026 he was the person who really impacted me and kind of instilled music into my soul \u2026 it\u2019s Gene\u2019s fault that music is what I live and breathe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m performing especially, that\u2019s where I feel the most open with my music. I\u2019ve been performing for a long time \u2026 I don\u2019t really get stage fright,\u201d Basaraba\u2019s love of performing stems, in part, from Hall as well \u2014 he would invite her and her brother to play gigs with him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI really feed off of being in front of a crowd and showing them what I\u2019ve got,\u201d Basaraba noted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hall is one of the the biggest musical inspirations in Basabara\u2019s life. In addition to him, she also finds inspiration from her current music teacher: \u201cChristopher Woitach \u2014 he\u2019s really inspired me too,\u201d she said. \u201cThen there\u2019s like greats like Stephane Grappelli and Joe Venuti.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When she isn\u2019t playing music, Basaraba works on campus at the Wolfstore, watches \u201cThe Office\u201d and looks after her two guinea pigs \u2014 Wilbur and Orville. But music remains her primary passion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMusic is my hobby and the thing I study and the thing I love to do,\u201d Basaraba said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to think of other things I love as much as music \u2014 both listening and playing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The recital ended with \u201cFive Foot Two\u201d by Ray Henderson. As the lights came up, Basaraba\u2019s brother got up and gave his sister a hug. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear that Basaraba\u2019s own experience as a music student has made a lasting impact.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy dream would be to have a private studio to teach out of. I love teaching private lessons, I have a few students right now,\u201d she commented. \u201cTo be honest, I don\u2019t have a set plan of what I want to do, but I\u2019m very open to whatever comes my way. I\u2019m excited for what the future has.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Contact the author at journaleditor@wou.edu<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Photo by: Paul F. Davis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zo\u00eb Strickland | Editor-in-Chief Emmaly Basaraba was three-years-old when she discovered that she wanted to learn how to play the violin; \u201cI remember going to the living room and on TV there was a man playing violin and I was like \u2018I want to do that.\u2019\u201d Five years later, her parents offered to get her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1030,"featured_media":7726,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}