Everybody has a story: Emily Moore

Editor’s note: This is a series of stories that will spotlight Maize students chosen at random. The idea comes from reporter Steve Hartman’s series formerly broadcast on CBS News.  

It’s not uncommon for a child to connect emotionally with something when they’re young that makes them dream and wonder about the world. Freshman Emily Moore, has always connected strongly with music. In fifth grade, she took an interest in learning violin and how to read the sheet music that came along with it. 

“When I’m playing violin, I feel like the violin and I are one,” said Moore. “I feel like I can speak and express myself in ways I couldn’t without music.”

Over the years, Moore has discovered that she has the ability to play violin music by ear. This means she can listen to a song only a few times before being able to replay it without using sheet music.

“I just listen to something and then do it, but it does get complicated sometimes when there’s a lot of jumps to different keys and time signatures,” Moore said.

Moore spends close to two hours a day practicing and perfecting her pieces for both the school’s Orchestra and Wichita Youth Symphony. Wichita Youth Symphony, is a student driven orchestra taught at Wichita State University on Saturday.

Currently, she is working on a solo classical piece by Haydn called Concerto in G-Major.

“It is a classical piece that I’m doing for a contest coming up … there’s just a lot of different techniques,” Moore said. “I haven’t really done much on [it], yet. I just have to work on getting that technique up.” 

Moore said when there are distractions, violinists will try to clear their minds and focus on the sheet music. 

“Once you’ve learned it [the music] and everything you don’t really think about anything. You just try to just breath and focus on the music,” Moore said. “You just kind of lose yourself in a trance.”      

Listening and playing music has always been a backbone for Moore. It allows her to express herself in ways she could have never imagined without the violin.

“Music has definitely influenced my life greatly. It’s made me think about the smaller, greater things in life,” Moore said. “I don’t know it just helps me see things differently and it almost gives me that confidence boost.”