TCMI June 2022 Culmination Concert
Saturday, June 25 at 10am
Church of the Holy Spirit, Tempe AZ
The mission of the Tetra Chamber Music Institute (TCMI) is to train young musicians to perform in small ensembles with excellence and channel their creative strengths to effect positive change in themselves and the community. Founded by the Tetra String Quartet, TCMI is an afterschool chamber music program, the first of its kind in Arizona. As an alternative OR addition to youth orchestra programs, TCMI focuses on each student as an individual with the goal of nurturing each participant intellectually, emotionally, and musically.
Mosier : Red Rhythmico
Shea Lee and Steven Zhang, Solo Violins
Anna Olsen and Emma Zhang, Solo Cellos
String Orchestra
Mendelssohn : String Quartet Op. 44 No. 2
Steven Zhang, Violin
I have been playing violin for three years, a very short time compared to my peers. I enjoyed working with members of Tetra to hone my chamber music skills, such as breath, movement, and musicality.
Sadie Christie, Violin
I’ve been playing the violin for seven and a half years. Our quartet formed eight months ago at MYS, and I think we’ve all enjoyed and grown from the experience of chamber music. This week at TCMI, our quartet worked on characterizing sections within the movement, connecting through stylistic choices, and conveying emotion physically.
Rachel Lunt, Viola
I love to read and I want to go to Alaska. This week our quartet really got better at using movement to express our music. I really enjoyed moving while playing and it was especially fun with a group. I felt like it helped us to play better!
Dylan Blocker, Cello
I’ve been playing cello for 5 years, and I love listening to classical music. I learned more about how to collaborate and connect with my quartet, and I loved being able to work with the members of Tetra.
Pleyel : String Quartet in E Minor, Mvt. I
Samantha Manning, Violin
A fun fact about me is that I’m 12 years old. This week I learned how to work hard while having fun!
Esther Griner, Violin
I love reading fiction books. I learned how to play with other people and communicate so we stay together.
Callie Worthen, Violin
My favorite hobbies other than playing violin are knitting, crocheting, painting, and learning new things. In my quartet, I had to play the viola part instead of violin. Making the adjustment from playing mostly second violin to playing viola/third violin was interesting. I now have a newfound appreciation for violists.
Axel Stewart, Cello
I also play guitar and bass. Something this week that I enjoyed was getting to play chamber music for the first time.
Bolzoni : Minuetto for String Quartet
Rachel Ostler, Violin
Some things I like to do other than playing/listening to music is drawing/coloring, reading, running around, and swimming. This week during Tetra, I learned that sometimes it is hard to stay together.
Benny Taylor, Violin
I love doing anything fun with other people including playing sports. I also like to read and build things a lot. A challenge I overcame was making mistakes. My orchestra was pretty small so if I messed up it was heard. I had to learn to not shrink away, but play louder.
Joshua Hameeranttila, Violin
I’ve been playing the piano for 7 years, and I really enjoy it. I learned to play a lot more different music than I was used to.
Jun-hyeok Moon, Cello
I love to play basketball and many other sports. I also play piano. I enjoyed playing here and having fun.
Mozart : String Quartet No. 19 in C Major K. 465 “Dissonance”
Mabel Ostler, Violin
I like to run and I do cross country and track. It was a little hard to balance my time and do early morning cross country practice and then come to TCMI. This week it was hard at first to not let my nervousness make me close up. I had to force myself out of my comfort zone and talk to people to make friends.
Carlos Hernandez, Violin
I’ve been playing guitar since third grade, and I play all kinds of songs: acoustic, mariachi, pop, and flamenco. A challenge I overcame, was quickly having connections with complete strangers. This doesn’t happen very often for me, I used to not be able to work with people because they would only find ways to irritate me, but now I am able to work with other people I don’t know.
AJ Ruetz, Viola
I am also an avid singer and love to do that in my free time. With our piece being challenging, I along with my group, learned to communicate a lot more through expressions.
Tara Mahesh, Cello
I have been doing Tae Kwon Do for the past 8 years and I am a second degree black belt. I am super passionate about it and I am also a Tae Kwon Do instructor! A challenge that I overcame was having the confidence to play louder to fill my role in the music. Getting the confidence to loosen up and play with my heart has been a really great experience.
Danish String Quartet: Dromer
Sarah Pineda, Violin
My pet is a Chiweenie (mix), her name is Luna. Something I like to do is either read or just sit and listen to music. Another interest is debate, I love to watch or be in one, I just find it really entertaining. I discovered that I can move with the music SO MUCH MORE. A challenge I overcame was learning like 2 ensemble pieces and 1 quartet piece in such a short time. I learned many techniques and tips that will help me in my future violin or group performances. Thank you for this opportunity!
Evan Rao, Violin
I love finding rare music from around the world on Spotify. I learned to communicate with my quartet members and work with them as a single unit.
Christiana Rivera, Viola
I love solving chemistry problems and chemistry in general! Tetra has helped me become a better individual and helped me grow as a musician. I’m no longer afraid of playing the ‘wrong notes’ or taking initiative. Their program has also helped me meet new people.
Anna Olsen, Cello
I like to sew and crochet. I haven’t played in a group setting in a long time, so it was interesting to relearn how to mesh many different parts together and balance them. It makes for some pretty rad music though, and I’m glad I was able to do this program!
Mozart : Serenade No. 13 in G Major “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”
Clare Lueken, Violin
I like hiking and I run Cross Country. I enjoyed learning to cue the starts and ends of notes, and also watching and following in the quartet.
Renae Brown, Violin
I like books, tv, legos, and playing with my family. Something I learned about myself this week was that I love my violin.
Brenda Hernandez, Viola
My first instrument is not the viola, it is the violin. Something I discovered about myself is that I can move a lot while playing music as a solo, but as a group I tend to not. A challenge I overcame was putting each music instrument part together. I really enjoyed making friends with amazing talented people!
Sam Chumley, Cello
My dog, Oso, which is bear in Spanish howls along when I play the cello. I learned that a quartet can go from sounding terrible to sounding pretty dang good at the end of the week.
Bach : Brandenberg No. 5 (Arr. by Merle J. Isaac)
Keith Warnock, Violin
Soccer is my favorite sport. I overcame the fact that my fingers hurt really badly.
Ben Chumley, Violin
I have a dog named Oso, which means bear in Spanish! I really enjoyed playing in a quartet and seeing the progress day by day.
Amelia James, Viola
I really like making boba tea and sometimes I do nail art in my free time. I also like to read and discover new things. This week I learned that working in a group is not as easy as it looks and putting it together, figuring out the dynamics, crescendos, and decrescendos, was a challenge.
Nicole Ostler, Cello
I really enjoy swimming. It seems like a nice way to unwind for me. This week I was able to kind of connect with my quartet differently than school friends. That really helped us be able to give each other advice.
Boccherini : Quartet Op. 2 in C Major, G. 164
Abigail Kohlmeyer, Violin
A fun fact about me is that I love frogs and I like to learn about them a lot. I also really like to crochet stuffed animals in my free time.
Something I enjoyed this week was getting to know other musicians in my quartet and in the whole camp. I also learned that even if you have your part solid, it gets harder when trying to coordinate with your group.
Arya Sebastian, Violin
I have a pet bird and my other hobbies (excluding the violin) are drawing, swimming, and reading. I came to TCMI with no experience of participating in orchestras/quartets, and throughout this week I have learned the joy of playing with others and the skills needed to harmonize with other instruments.
Aylin Ricks, Viola
This week at TCMI I’ve learned lots about how to be intentional with my movement. More specifically, how I can utilize breathing and cueing to visualize phrasing in the pieces I play.
Emma Zhang, Cello
I like to make omelets in a Japanese style. Once I used 11 eggs in a single day. :D Something I discovered about myself is that even if I’m only playing eighth notes I can still make it exciting and fun to engage my audience!
Beethoven : Viola Quintet Op. 29 in C Major
Alicia Bai, Violin
I think that multigrain cheerios are the best cheerio variation. I learned the importance of balance, especially since my part has a lot of moments in a high register. I need to be more mindful about layering those notes and not overpowering other parts.
Jenny Dong, Violin
A fun fact about me is that I enjoy doing speech and debate. During this week I learned to listen more to others during our quintet knowing what other people are playing at what part and how it fits all together.
Michael Soza, Viola
An interesting thing about me is I also play trumpet. I also like cats. Something that surely challenged us was coming in on the correct triplet counts. Throughout the piece, we join together on these triplets. Balance was also a big challenge. A big thing I have taken away from this week is how to be a part of a chamber group better and how I can more successfully run rehearsals in my string quartet.
Timothy Lin, Viola
One fun fact about me is that I have a pet corgi named Faro. This week I learned how to have a group of people play together. We did this with eye contact and cueing each other at multiple parts.
Joseph Chen, Cello
Speech and debate is totally my jam. If I’m not doing homework or practicing cello, you can usually find me prepping out cases for debate. I LOVED meeting new people and getting to know everyone on a deeper level through musical playing and team building exercises.
Brahms : Clarinet Quintet Op. 115 in B minor
Gabriel Allen, Violin
In contrast to my passion for classical music, I am also a fiddler! I learned that in chamber music, all musicians act as one, and putting together such a difficult piece to count because of the magnitude of colors changes how I thought about playing in a group.
Emma Xi, Violin
A fun fact about me is that I’m allergic to the metal on my violin. A challenge my group overcame was putting our piece together, day by day. Counting in this piece was very difficult, but by the end of the week we had it together.
Shea Lee, Violin
I am an introvert even though everyone thinks I am an extrovert because I am outgoing (INFJ). I learned how to be independent because I was always off the beat, while my teammates were on the beat, so I had to constantly subdivide and confidently come in by myself.
Curtis Pinkman, Viola
I love classical music a lot, but what surprises most people is I love heavy metal music just as much. I have rediscovered how much fun it is to get to know new people by playing music. It is one of my favorite things to do.
Maxwell James, Cello
I like baseball. I enjoyed the piece of music we played.
Avison : Concerto in E minor, Mvt 3
Hofeldt : Lullaby
String Orchestra
The year-round TCMI program begins in August!