 Maura
Lee is now twelve years old.
She, like her brother Kyle, has always been home schooled. She
watched her mother and brother practice fiddle and began to
play when she was five years old. Watching Kyle, she developed
a keen interest early on and it happened that one day, when
Kyle was sick and couldn't make a lesson, Maura went in his
place. Maura was thrilled to be invited to the lesson and has
been fiddling ever since.
At the 2001 Colorado Open
Fiddle Championships in Loveland, Colorado, Maura Lee won
the "Small Fry" division when she was six. She took
lessons for a year with Johnny Neill at Swallow Hill and then
took Suzuki violin lessons for a year. Maura Lee, too, has
studied with two-time National Fiddle champion, Katie Glassman.
"Katie has been a thrill for me. I really learn a lot
from my brother, Kyle, too. I want to thank him for that."
Maura Lee also likes to play and sing with the piano. She
can often be heard "composing" new melodies with
chords to fit. Maura Lee enjoys singing Patsy Cline songs
and, with her family. When Maura Lee was nine years old, she
accompanied herself in the Western Music Association's Youth
Yodeling contest in Wichita, Kansas, and won! Maura Lee is
now an Internatioanl Youth Yodeling Champion. Maura Lee recently
attended the JayDean Ludiker camp in Liberty Lake Washington
by herself with a scholarship she received from the Oklahoma
International Bluegrass Festival.
Maura Lee loves old rock and roll.
Her favorite old rocker is "the Big Bopper." She
also likes to watch baseball, football, and Indy car racing.
She would like to become a racecar driver like Danica Patrick.
She enjoys reading, math, sign language, Spanish, playing
outside, doing roping tricks, and riding her bike. She also
likes to draw, sew, and cook. "I enjoy painting pictures
and cooking things like cookies and other sweets and playing
with my friends."Maura Lee spent a great deal of time
with her grandmother, Bonnie. They were the best of buddies
and Maura Lee misses her. Aunt Maura enjoys being an aunt
to her older brother, Dallas' two children, Lachlan and Claire.
She takes good care of them when they visit and enjoys their
company as they do hers. Says four-year old Claire, "I
like Aunt Maura...except she tickles me!."
Maura Lee's Accomplishments:
2005 Greeley Bluegrass Festival-Second
place Fiddle contest
2003-2004 Western
Music Association's Female International Youth Yodeling Championship
2004 & 2003 Oklahoma’s International Bluegrass Festival-First
place Youth Band
2003 Ainsworth Nebraska Country Music Festival-First
place Pre-teen
2003 South Texas Music Festival-Third place
yodeling contest
2002 Ainsworth Country Music Festival-Second
place pre-teen
2001 Colorado Open Small-Fry Fiddle Champion
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