Two youth symphony spots at age 12

Nicole Schroeder with violin and piano

Late last month, violinist Nicole Schroeder made her debut with the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. At 12, she's one of the group's youngest players.

The seventh-grader also is concert master for the Young People's Symphonic Orchestra. That's the youth orchestra at the Webster University Community Music School.

She's among the youngest in both groups. Most members are in their mid to late teens.

The audience at the Saint Louis Symphony concert was the biggest one to watch a concert in which Nicole played. She admitted she gets nervous "when I'm in front of big audiences and playing pieces for the first time."

Nicole said she was particularly anxious earlier when she auditioned for the SLSO's Youth Orchestra. "I was all alone on the large Powell Hall stage," she said.

That was her second try to earn a place in the SLSO's youth group. "I didn't make the audition finals the first time," she said.

But, this time, she was one of a very few accepted for this year's orchestra.

Before the first SLSO's Youth Orchestra concert, Nicole said she was familiar with the three composers but not the pieces they were to play.

The program included Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture; Schumann's Symphony No. in D minor, and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 7. Her second violin group was featured in all three compositions, although she didn't do any solo work.

Nicole began taking instrument lessons when she was five. First, she started with the piano and, then a year later, with the violin. She plays the violin in both youth orchestras.

But, she said she likes the piano and violin equally well.

Her violin teacher is Hiroko Yoshida. Her piano lessons are with teacher Nancy Bohm.

Her music lessons and her class work at Rockwood Valley Middle School take up a lot of time. But, she also likes to play basketball and volleyball at school.

She said the most fun she's had with her music involved trips to music camps. One week-long camp was in the European country of Austria. Campers were housed in a castle.

The converted castle was amid farms. Nicole said, "At night, you could hear the sheep."

Nicole had an advantage over some other campers, who came from around the world.

Her father, Volker, is German and her mother, Atfuko, is Japanese. Nicole was born in Chicago but the family spoke German at home. She learned English after starting school.

Nicole remembered enough of her early German so that she understood much of the conversation at camp.

Concerning her European and Japanese background, Nicole said, "Most of the kids at school think I'm Hawaiian."

Two other "fun" out-of-town camps were in Chicago and at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. In all cases, Nicole said she really liked being around kids from distant areas.

Although she likes her music, Nicole admits she can get bored with practice. She said, "Practice is more fun if I like the piece."

But, she said she's also pretty determined to keep practicing until she masters a new piece. When the music is difficult, she said she slows her playing way down until she's concentrating on each note.

Then, she resumes a regular pace after she's mastered the piece. She said she's sure she'd have to work harder on the pitch of her playing if she is to advance in music.

If music doesn't provide a professional career, she said she'd like to be a doctor or nurse.

For the SLSO Youth Orchestra concert she played a new violin built by Anton Krutz, an instrument maker with stores in Kansas City and St. Louis. The family rented the instrument especially for her concert playing.

Nicole has played a variety of violins since starting her lessons. At first, she used a partial-sized violin but has been playing a full-sized instrument for the last year or so.

Her role as concert master with the Webster University's Young People's orchestra is unusual. A concert master leads the players in pre-concert warm-ups. Then, the master then calls the players to order just before the conductor comes on stage.

That and a SLSO Youth Orchestra position are good for a kid who's not yet a teenager.