Samantha Stetzer/ Winonan

For orchestra and string ensemble director Paul Vance, music has always been a huge part of his life thanks to Broadway musicals.

When the Beatles became all the rage in 1964, Vance picked up the guitar and became a full-time musician, but it was a concert in Salzburg, Austria that got him to where he is today.

After hearing his first classical chamber music in Salzburg in 1972, Vance fell in love with the cello and kept it as his focus throughout his musical career. Having been a professor at Winona State University for the past 18 years, it is a focus he has used to inspire students like sophomore Emily Maire.

As a music education major with an emphasis in instrumentation, Maire has been involved with string instruments since third grade.

“In my elementary school, they recruited the third graders, we went into the orchestra room, and they let us play the individual instruments. And I fell in love with the violin. It was the only instrument that fit my small hand and the first time I played it, the first time I bowed it, I fell in love with it,” Maire said.

Similar to Maire, junior Anne Buezis had a similar story of falling for an instrument, but her story was one of independence.

“They let us try the instruments. My sister and my grandmother both play violin, and so I had a really good idea that I wanted to play a string instrument. But I didn’t want to play violin because I wanted to be different. So then I tried the viola, and I’m like, ‘This is pretty cool,’” Buezis said.

Both Maire and Buezis participate in orchestra and performed at the string ensemble. Even though staying involved in activities can sometimes be difficult, for these two ladies there was no question as to whether or not they should stay involved, finding it hard to stop when music was the biggest aspect in their lives.

Vance said directing is an amazing experience.

“It is always a treat to work with this group.  I started this group when I came to WSU in 1996, so it is sort of my creation. The students are wonderful, very responsive, and they bring a great deal of passion and energy to what they do,” Vance said.

The passion and energy is something Maire and Buezis both echoed as a part of string ensemble they love. It is also the unique and personal opportunities the ensemble gives them that make them want to keep playing in it.

“Orchestra is about 50 people,” Maire said. “It’s big enough to where you don’t know the person on the opposite side of the room. But through string ensemble, you’re just like hey, ‘I get to know you on a personal level, get to see you grow in your instrument and get to see you become a really great string player.’”

Maire and Buezis are both part of a trio who meet every Monday, and, for them, this makes the music experience even more personal.

“Because every Monday we spend an hour and a half together,”Buezis said, “playing with three people, you have to learn how to blend with each other and how everything fits together and how to bring out parts, make it sound really good.”

From Friday, April 25, through Sunday, April 27, the Gala weekend for the music department will feature the orchestra, band and choir.

“I think everyone should go to some music concert at least once in their college career because it’s a really cool cultural experience,” Buezis said.

For Buezis and Maire, in the end, it’s all about where they got their start and what keeps the passion alive.