The Singing Strings was my first musical ensemble. I was a late starter in Music. Most kids either start playing a string instrument in elementary school, Grade 4 or a band instrument in Grade 7. I started playing String Bass in Grade 9. So each Wednesday, my friend Chris Walsh and I would take the bus to Stone Park Junior High and go play in an orchestra with 40 other people we didn't know, most of which were 3-10 years younger than us and drove us insane. We were afterall, older and cooler...yeah right.
So this is where my first organized music instruction took place for me...amidst younger kids who were much better than I. One of those kids was Julia MacLaine, who I don't think I met until the next year when I was in Senior Strings. One day this kid walked in with a Cello and I was thinking...Intermediate Strings is in the next room girlie....but she set up and started to play and then I understood. And now she's at Julliard and an amazingly incredible player.