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SALT LAKE CITY -- Two women from Utah are in the semifinals of the Cliburn amateur piano contest, and both have unique stories about overcoming challenges.
Madalyn Taylor, Ogden, who performs tonight, has played the piano since she was a child on her family's watermelon patch. Her father, who was a piano tuner, insisted that each of his eight children play.
Related:
Van Cliburn Foundation
Find out about the Cliburn Foundation and competitions, as well as watch video of the amateur competition.Since then she has taught piano, raised six children, and works at her family's tire business. After her youngest son was killed in an accident, she quit playing for some time. When she began playing again, it was a different experience than when she played in her 20s.
"I think things change from why you do things in your 20s to why you do things in your 60s," said Taylor. "You better like what you're playing in your sixties. Eat dessert first, right?"
Playing is a way for Taylor to express herself, but she also considers it a way to encourage her students. "I couldn't say enough about my great teacher. Hopefully my students will feel motivated by seeing that I won't make them do anything I won't put myself through," she said.
Jane King, Provo, also started playing in her youth. Holding Bachelor's and Master's degrees in piano from BYU, she has performed as a soloist with the Utah Symphony, BYU Orchestra, and the Music Academy of the West Orchestra in Santa Barbara.
King, Provo, is a competitor in the 2011 Cliburn amateur competition.
After she became a mother, she stopped regularly practicing, and she began taking lessons again in 2010 with the goal to perform in the Cliburn contest this year. After being a mother for almost 30 years and the full-time caretaker of her autistic son, Michael, she realized she needed an outlet.
"I needed to start playing the piano again, I had to do something to relieve stress," King said. "I just practice the best I can every day. It's such a relief to have piano to look forward to every day."
She works her lesson and practice times around her son's schedule, making sure that it interrupts as little time as possible while he is home.
"Michael loves music. In small doses, he enjoys it," she said.
King will play tomorrow in the semifinals. Both contestants are students of Eugene Watanabe at the Gifted Music School in Salt Lake City.
