When Lyric Green learned that her friend and school orchestra’s only bassist was moving away, the reality that the orchestra would be missing its heartbeat didn’t sit right with the then 12-year-old.
“I didn't want us to just have that empty spot onstage, because usually basses help the orchestra keep in time. They are the base of the orchestra,” Green said. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God, we're going to fall apart. Someone needs to do something.’ It was just a random decision, I didn't even think about it. I was like, ‘I'm going to learn how to play bass.’”
Green, who will be a freshman at Parkway Central High School in the fall, first picked up a string instrument – the violin – when she was in second grade. Her transition to bass came with a learning curve.
“One thing about switching from violin to bass is that you have to use more weight in your right hand to press down on a string [compared to] violin,” Green said. “My teacher was like, ‘You can't just scrape across the string. You really have to press down and pull.’ That took time. I'm still trying to learn how to do that. I've gotten better.”
Despite the initial hang-ups, Green excelled at the bass quickly. So much so that she was accepted into Sphinx Performance Academy at the Juilliard School in New York – a little over a year after she started playing the instrument.
Sphinx Performance Academy is a two-week, full-scholarship summer intensive program for string musicians 11 to 17 years old. The program, which started July 7, focuses on cultural diversity by addressing lack of resources and opportunities for Black and Latino communities. The academy’s mission was a major reason Green wanted to apply.
“The orchestras I've been in, there weren't a lot of Black kids or Latino kids,” Green said. “I’m like, ‘There's not a lot of me around here.’ And then, Sphinx, I was like, ‘I have to get in this because I want to experience what [more diversity is] like.’”
The application process was rigorous. Green submitted three video auditions (one three-octave scale and two contrasting pieces), a written essay and a personal statement video. Green and her teacher started preparing in October 2023, and she submitted her application in February 2024. When she finally heard back from Sphinx, her acceptance came as a surprise.
“My teacher, he was like, ‘You're going to get in,’” Green said. “He's right all of the time, so I was like, ‘Well, if he said that, then maybe it is really true,’ but I still had some self-doubt.”
From her unplanned shift from violin to bass, to spending part of her summer in a new city learning from world-class musicians and playing with talented peers, “expect the unexpected” is a phrase that defines the last year of Green’s early music career.
“I wasn’t expecting so much to happen from just switching one instrument,” Green said. “It's so crazy to me thinking [about] the timeline and how short of time that this has all happened.”
To hear Green’s bass performance, learn more about the experience that prepared her for Sphinx Performance Academy and the artist her teacher recommended she listen to to “loosen up,” listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Ulaa Kuziez, Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Roshae Hemmings is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
