Another area student is making a bit of an impact in the musical field including a recent award winning performance at the Kiwanis Music Festival in Red Deer.
Heidi Baumbach, who lives with her parents Trent and Karen on a farm north of Bentley, first picked up a violin at the age of five, now 16 turning 17, she finds herself well into an undergraduate, degree-level program.
“When I was four I just got this whim that I wanted to play the violin. My parents sort of put me off for a bit thinking it would pass, but later on in the year a relative came to visit who was a violin teacher,” Baumbach recalled of her early days with the instrument. “As soon as I heard that I marched right up to him and asked how old I had to be to play the violin. Wisely, he asked how old I was and I told him four and a half and he said to come and see him when I was five. That was how it started.”
As a young child, Baumbach said she was very active which conflicted greatly with the time and attention required to learn and practice on the instrument, however with some prodding by her mother, she carried on despite the fact that her father referred to the sound as, “fingernails on a chalkboard”.
She also figures there may have been someone listening to her play from far above that could see her potential.
“It was especially hard when I was around nine or ten years old. I literally wanted to throw my violin under a moving tractor tire. I really hated it!” she said. “But, by the time I was 12, I really enjoyed it and was considering going into it as a career. It really was a God thing—neither of my parents are remotely musical and I certainly didn’t grow up in a musical home.”
On the verge of entering her 13th year playing the violin this coming fall, Baumbach said she’s put in many hours of practicing and playing including three to four hours per day practicing and during the school year, plays between four and eight hours a day including rehearsals.
“Basically, I play at a college level, which can begin at the grade seven or eight level. I have completed my Grade 10 violin examination,” she said. “I guess one could say that I’m well into an undergraduate degree-level of performance—most of the repertoire I’m currently performing is that of some Bachelor’s degree senior recitals.”
As for an inspiration, Baumbach pointed to a woman who founded the Rosedale Valley Strings and the CUC Chamber Orchestra and has made a huge impact on the lives of many musicians in the area.
“My chief inspiration would have to be my teacher and friend of the last seven or eight years, Naomi Delafield. She is an incredibly selfless woman who has done so much to enhance the musical community of Central Alberta,” Baumbach said. “Never have I met someone that cares as deeply and personally for her students. Naomi is extremely gifted and I can’t begin to calculate the amount of people she has reached because of her talents. She is an amazing woman, teacher, friend, and mother and if it weren’t for her, I know I would not be playing the violin right now.”
at the recent music festival in Red Deer where she received a provincial recommendation and scholarship, she also recently performed in the Lacombe and District Music Festival – which she’s competed in since the age of five, and received another provincial recommendation for both violin and voice.
With accolades, experience and scholarships in her pocket, it only stands to reason that she is carrying on with the violin both in her future education and as a vocation.
“On May 23, I will be competing at the Provincial Violin Competition in Edmonton. There are many different summer music programs and colleges I am also looking into. This summer I will be attending a summer music program in at Medicine Hat College and have also been accepted to the Valhalla Summer School of Music Performer’s Program in British Columbia,” she said. “Down the road, I definitely plan on combining my love for travel with my love for music. As a professional musician, one can pursue two different routs: either teaching or performing. I have been told I could do either. At this point I definitely plan on obtaining my undergraduate and graduate degree in Violin Performance. Who knows, maybe even my doctorate.”
Currently, she takes lessons part-time from William van der Sloot at Mount Royal College in Calgary.
Baumbach’s other accomplishments include performing as the violinist for Tri Musical – which includes the violin, piano and cello, at many church and community events in the Central Alberta area.
She is also first violin in the Stringdrift String Quartet - a college-level string quartet that she created as a summer job to play weddings. Currently she is concertmaster of the Rosedale Valley Strings—a local youth orchestra based in Lacombe that plays for a variety of church and community events with one of their highlight performances being a guest artist slot with the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra for their Christmas concert last winter.
Baumbach is also the assistant concertmaster of the Canadian University College Chamber Orchestra, which is a college-level orchestra based in Lacombe. She has also toured and soloed throughout the Pacific northwestern United States and western Canada.
Her group will also be entering the recording studio at the end of this month to tape some recordings with the proceeds going towards a project of helping children in Kenya.
“Music is my life and my passion. I didn’t really realize how much playing the violin meant to me until I succumbed to an extensive, practice-induced sports-injury type of tendonitis,” she said. “It was very painful. I couldn’t play for most of the summer and even in the fall I had to be really careful. It has just been recently that I’ve been able to resume playing in full-force. My injury made me realize how much my violin meant to me.
“For the first time, I stopped to think what my life would be without it. Dismal was my answer. Performing is my way of giving back to my local and church communities who have given me so much throughout my life,” Baumbach added. “I play to bless others, but somewhere along the way, my music ends up blessing me. I thank God every day for the gift of music!”
Recently, the Rimbey Review featured drummer Lewis Longard of Winfield who also has aspirations of performing music professionally and is currently enrolled in Grant McEwan College’s music program in Edmonton.