Yuma clarinet player to tour with youth wind ensemble

When Shelyne Twist's friends at Yuma High School ask how she spent her summer vacation, she can say she toured Europe, playing classical music with an ensemble of young American musical talents.

"The best part will be just being there," Twist said. "Just traveling and going somewhere else, and playing actually challenging music."

The 15-year-old clarinet player was one of 150 teenagers in the nation, and the only one from Arizona, accepted to the U.S. Youth Ensembles 2007 European Concert Tour.

Twist will travel from the castles of Germany and Austria to the cathedrals of Italy and France from July 6 through July 25. She will visit six European countries in all, playing classical music by American composers with the tour's wind ensemble.

Twist would not have had this opportunity without aid from the Cocopah Tribe.

She and her family are members of the tribe, which is funding the majority of the tour's $4,200 cost through the Cocopah Education Department. Remaining costs are covered by the family.

Liz Pratt, spokeswoman for the Cocopah Tribe, said the Cocopah Education Department is able to help students in good academic standing one time per school year, as long as funding is available.

"The tribe designed this policy ... to help students with the out-of-pocket costs of academic trips and to support participation in their extracurricular interests," Pratt said.

Cynthia Cook, business manager for U.S. Youth Ensembles, said they have had American Indian players but an actual tribe has never sponsored a player. The ensemble has string, wind and choir sections composed of youths ages 14 to 19.

"A lot of kids don’t understand what an honor it is," Cook said. "She’s a clarinet player besides, and that section fills up very quickly. One of the side benefits of this trip is for youngsters to meet others from all around the country. Kids from Massachusetts meet those from Georgia ... and on down to Arizona."

Twist said she has never been out of the country before, not counting Mexico.

She auditioned for a spot in the ensemble at a regional event in Phoenix.

"There's three etudes and you have to play all three of them, and you have to play scales and sight-read," she said.

Twist said she began playing the clarinet about five years ago. "It sounds nice," she said, when asked what she liked about her instrument, "and you usually have the melody."

She plays clarinet in the Yuma High School Varsity Band. She also plays piano, guitar and some saxophone. Her mother, Shelda Twist, said her daughter's interest in music goes back long before her lessons began.

"When she was in kindergarten ... my sister would baby-sit and she had a full-size piano," Shelda Twist said. "When I would come back to get her, she would be playing nursery rhymes by ear."

The family said they just have a few more preparations to make before the summer trip.

"We've still got to get her a passport," Shelda Twist said.

A full itinerary of the U.S. Youth Ensembles 2007 European Concert Tour can be seen online at www.usye.org/itinerary.html.