Ashley Grass at the CLASSIC99 studios

Eleven-year-old Ashley Grass is the first kid musician recognized in CLASSIC99 Radio's new AmerenUE Bright Star program.

The monthly award goes to a St. Louis-area young person who is working hard to "improve their musical skills." The kids honored aren't necessarily the best kid musicians in the area.

Tricia Oates is CLASSIC99's educational initiatives manager.

She said, "This program is to encourage all kids to pursue their music and to reward their improvement, not just reward excellence."

The radio station has a Young Heroes in Music program where top-flight kid musicians perform in live concerts. All those musicians play classical music.

The AmerenUE Bright Star program recognizes kids who perform other types of music. For instance, most of Ashley's performances are of show tunes and movie theme music.

Ashley has been playing the flute for three years. She also recently started with piano lessons. "I like the piano but I like the flute better," she said.

She is one of seven flute players in Barrington Elementary School honors band. That's in the Hazelwood School District.

Asked if she were a good flute player, Ashley said, "I'm getting there."

She said she got interested in the flute after hearing two members of her church playing. "They inspired me," she said.

Recently, she's been playing for that same church audience. She and her brother, Ryan, played a duet during a Father's Day service. Thirteen-year-old Ryan plays the clarinet. He's in Hazelwood Junior High School.

The played the theme song from the movie, "A Man from Snowy River."

Ashley admitted she was nervous before that performance. "Our family had gone to Chicago for a couple days and I hadn't practiced enough before we had to play," she said.

Ordinarily, she said she's only a "little nervous" before a performance.

She isn't sure whether she wants to be a musician when she becomes an adult. "I might want to be an artist," she said. She likes to draw pictures with pencil now.

But, for now, she enjoys her music, even the practice hours. During the school year, her band director requires 150 minutes of practice each week. The kids have to keep a practice log and the parents have to confirm the kids have put in the time.

The school's music director is John Muerer. He sets firm rules on practice but Ashley said he makes playing in the band fun. He composed two special songs for the school, "The Bulldog March" and the "School Spirit Song."

Her mother said, "Our son said our director is also known throughout the district as the guy with the corniest jokes."

Ashley said Muerer's two school songs are among her favorites. But, she also likes a variety of popular music.

She said "It's cool when you make the same music that you hear in a movie."

But, she admits, when she first tried to play the flute, "I didn't think I'd be able to do it."

Getting any musical sound out of a flute in the beginning is hard. She said it took two weeks of practice before she got a real musical note.

Ashley said it took lots of practice to get gap between your lips just right. Then she had to learn to blow across the mouthpiece opening, rather than just blowing into the opening.

Once she learned to make a musical sound, she had to learn to use her fingers to change the sounds. She said "making my fingers go fast" is now the hardest part of flute playing.

The AmerenUE Bright Star program just started a few months ago.

CLASSIC99 invites school music teachers, private instructors, church musicians and even parents to make nominations.

After being selected, the Bright Star musician gets his or her profile featured on the station's website and they are mentioned in on-air radio announcements. They also get a trophy, a certificate and other prizes.

For information about the Bright Star program, you can log on to the station's website at www.classic99.com.