Practising his “butt off,” spending up to 10 hours a day on his violin, has paid dividends for Tyler Makinen.

The 17-year-old Grade 12 student from Lively District Secondary School was recently selected to be part of the American High School Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall.

“It's a big step up from the Kiwanis Music Festival,” Makinen said with a laugh. 

He will be one of 450 high school students from around North America, Nicaragua, South Africa and Thailand taking place in the showcase.

“I'm probably going to be stumbling my way through (compared to) those musicians,” he said, but his music teacher has other ideas.

Corinne Yantha said Makinen is “awesome” at what he does.

“I think he stood out because he has the talent and the drive and determination,” she said. He has no problem practising for hours a day, and doesn't limit himself to one instrument. He's also well-versed in guitar and piano — all skills that contribute “to being a great musician.”

On Feb. 8, Makinen will leave for New York. For five days, he will be learning, rehearsing and performing under the direction of Honors Orchestra Conductor Charles Peltz, who has conducted both the Syracuse Symphony and the Buffalo Opera Company.

Yantha said Peltz is an “educating type” of conductor, which will be beneficial for someone like Makinen, who is constantly working to better himself as a musician.

Upon graduation, Makinen said he would like to attend McGill University.

“Working with such a high-calibre orchestra will be predatory for that,” he said. Eventually, he would like to teach music at the university level or perform as a soloist.

While the opportunity will bode well for him in his future endeavours, it has also done lots for his confidence as a musician.

“(It) definitely puts wind under your sails,” he said.

Makinen's mom, Liisa, said she couldn't be happier to see her son's hard work pay off.

“It truly is his passion,” she said.

Makinen was only seven years old when he began asking his parents for lessons. He was involved in several sports, so they had a hard time believing he was really interested in the instrument. It took the aspiring artist a year to convince his parents he really wanted lessons.

Looking back at how far he's come in the past decade “is a dream come true.”

“He's one with his violin,” Liisa said.

Posted by Arron Pickard