By Scott Brinton
That was when her parents, Richard and Myung Ae Szepinski, first introduced the naturally gifted musician to the piano.
Audrey, now 11, might have begun by tinkering at the instrument as many children do, but today, her hands move across the keyboard with the grace of a young ballerina tiptoeing her way to virtuoso status.
Audrey, a sixth-grader at Chatterton Elementary School, has for the past six years studied piano with renowned instructor Herbert Rothgarber of Freeport. During that brief time, she has quickly excelled not only as a classical and jazz musician, but also as a composer.
Rothgarber, a member of the Long Island Composers Alliance and 28-year music teacher at Oceanside High School, has taught thousands of students, and he ranks Audrey among the very best of them.
"She's a piano teacher's dream," said Rothgarber, with Audrey at his side, surrounded in his study by two baby grand pianos and works of art from around the world. "She is extremely bright, extremely musical. She was able to play before she could read musical notes."
That might explain why Audrey is racking up musical awards, including having her first major composition, "Meditation for Three," recently selected for performance in the Third Annual New York State School Music Association's Young Composer Honors Concert.
The composition, for piano, violin and cello, was one of only 11 selected from schools across New York. In achieving the accolade, Audrey was also asked to take part in NYSSMA's Young Composers Seminar in Rochester, NY. Morton Subotnick, who holds the Mel Powell Chair in Composition at the California Institute of the Arts, led the workshop.
Upon receiving the honor, Audrey said humbly, "I was pretty excited. I didn't expect it to happen."
For "Meditation," Audrey also recently earned an honorable mention in the national Reflections contest, an arts competition sponsored by the PTAs of America.
She tied for first place in her age bracket in LIAC's annual composition contest.
And members of the Chatterton orchestra are to perform the work at the school's upcoming spring concert. The composition is so difficult, though, that students must audition to play the work, and only a select group will perform it.
All this for Audrey's very first composition, for which she recently
added a viola part.
Audrey spent three months crafting and perfecting "Meditation," with Rothgarber's help. She began by experimenting with words, writing them on paper, sounding them out, then fitting the words into lines of a song, before finally transforming the song into a melody line with musical notes. After, she mixed in the harmonies.
On piano, Audrey now competes in the annual NYSSMA solo contest at Level 5. Next year, she is expected to move to Level 6 -- the highest difficulty test, which is generally reserved for high-school students, most often seniors. Thus far, she has never achieved below an "outstanding" mark in the competition.
Audrey also plays violin and sits first chair in the Chatterton Elementary School orchestra, which teacher Marcia Miller conducts. Audrey studies violin privately with Dr. Anne Yarrow of Freeport. And she plays piano in the Chatterton jazz band and sings in the chorus.
Yes, she even sings -- quite well, in fact. She recently sang the lead part of Maria in a Chatterton production of the "Sound of Music," which showed at The Stage in Merrick. She also landed the part of 7-year-old Marta in a Stage rendition of the popular children's musical.
Indeed, Audrey's schedule is grueling. While not studying to earn straight A's at Chatterton, she's either taking piano or violin lessons, rehearsing with the orchestra, jazz band or chorus, or practicing on her own. She also squeezes in time to read for fun, which ranks as her second-favorite activity just below music. And yes, she's a big Harry Potter fan. She also enjoys a good game of chess.
Behind Audrey every step are her mom and dad. Richard, a lifelong Merrick resident, plays saxophone, clarinet and flute in a big band and manages a Manhattan antique gallery. Myung Ae, a classical music aficionado, shuttles Audrey wherever she needs to go and patiently waits in her green sedan while her daughter takes hour-long music lessons.
Rothgarber said of Audrey's mom: "She is a devoted mother in the truest sense of the word. Her daughter is what she lives for."
Myung Ae said her husband and she had planned to introduce Audrey to piano even before she was born. The couple played classical music tapes for Audrey all the time when she was a baby.
Myung Ae doesn't play an instrument herself, but she learned as a
teenager in Korea to appreciate classical music from her parents. "I think music is everything," said Myung Ae. "It makes life beautiful. It's more full. It's too dull without music."
Of her daughter, she said, "I'm very happy when she plays well. I think everybody feels the same way."
Audrey is too young to know what she wants to do for the rest of her life, but music will be a part of it, she says. Right now, she looks forward to joining the Merrick Avenue Middle School orchestra next year. And she's working on her second composition, an orchestral piece inspired by "Gone with the Wind," the book, which she recently read.
Bravo, Audrey!
