Everyone who was involved with the past two musicals (prior to Disco Inferno) knows of John Verkuilen, a talented student who recently graduated. Now the latter of the two Verkuilen children, Katie, is making her own stand in the music department by playing four instruments and participating in concert choir.
Sophomore Katie Verkuilen started playing music around seven years ago, when she was eight years old. The passion for music she has was not there at first though. She admits, “I didn’t start getting into it, till about four years ago.” Her devoted father to music inspires her and her older brother that she describes, “Everyone knows he’s a music God, so I picked up on music easily.”
For solo ensemble she played alto flute, flute, piccolo, piano, and she sang. Nine out of ten of her pieces got to go to state last weekend. Her favorite of all of her state pieces happens to be a piano piece called “Papillion” by Grieg, because she can “slow down wherever and it’d still sound logical.” The instrument that she has been playing the longest also happens to the piano, so it is easy to wonder if that had any influence on her at all.
Despite her favorite song for solo ensemble being for the piano, Verkuilen admits that her favorite of all of her musical talents is her ability to play the flute. She enjoys the fact that there are many different types (that really are similar, just different octaves) and also the fact that when it rains, “you can stick it under your shirt in marching band.”
When asked about her own opinion on music, it is hard not to stare blankly when you hear one of her favorite musicians. Besides loving ColdPlay for their guitar playing and being a sucker for a good British singer, she happens to enjoy some classical music. Debussy is a personal favorite of hers and for quite an unusual reason too. Her eyes seem to light up when she exclaims, “it sounds like he’s having a freakin’ spaz-attack!” Since Verkuilen likes music on the lively side it makes her enjoy the random bursts of energy found in Debussy’s music.
Each musician has their ups and downs and that defiantly includes Verkuilen. The one thing she recalled right away and could never forget is the 8th grade Choral Concert. She was one of the few students picked to play a song during the transitions of two choirs. With only two days of practice she claims, “I totally screwed it up!” Finding her last note was one thing she could never forget of the incident. Due to her experience she has a good word of advice to all people wanting to perform music, “Learn your music at least two weeks in advanced.”
Things like that cannot stop Verkuilen now. With her strong passion of music she can deal with any challenge of music thrown her way. She intends on furthering her education in music and hopefully one day, be part of the music education field.