I had to write this for class, just thought i would post it.

“Jamie, I think it is time you quite piano lessons. You just don’t have the musical ability to continue.”These are the words that were said to her as she left elementary school. She happily complied with her piano teacher and never took another piano lesson. She was not, however done with her musical exploration.


Jamie was born in 1986 to Randy and Loralee Wagstaff and at two years old moved into the home she would spend her childhood, a fruit farm next door to her grandparents. She spent the next 16 years learning to work hard. She learned skills such as pruning, thinning and picking peach trees, driving tractors, raising cows, canning food and taking care of younger brothers. Along with these skills Jamie and her brothers, Aaron and Caleb, were expected to take piano lessons through elementary school. After that they could choose to continue with these lessons or to pursue a new venture. It was at this time in her life when she chose to study violin.

Through the violin Jamie found reasons for living and a way to express emotions that had not and could not be expressed any other way. She made great lifelong friends with other students in orchestra, her stand partner in particularly, Braden.

Braden was a fine violinist and amazing pianist. Together they worked on many projects most of which would end in a church, inspiring emotions in others. While playing in school and taking private lessons was an essential, nothing brought more joy to Jamie then waking up and attending symphony rehearsals on Saturday morning. This is where she learned to love Schubert and take comfort in Brahms. Through this symphony she was able to learn and grow as a person and as a musician. During her senior year of high school she was invited to play in a side-by-side concert with the Utah Symphony. She also received the national school orchestra honor and director awards. The violin then led her to collage where she had intended to study music education with an emphasis in violin. However this goal was slightly altered along the way.

The Southern Utah University Professors were desperate for percussionists. They watched the students carefully, looked at their goals and aspirations and then approached Jamie in an attempt to recruit her as a percussionist. They started slowly, asking her to take a half hour lesson with the Percussion Professor, Dr. Patrick Roulet. When that was accomplished they then asked her to switch entirely and be a Percussion Major. Since there were no other percussion majors at the university, she was thrown into the deep end of things; playing in four ensembles a week and figuring out how to play each instrument quickly and accurately. Through her hard work and dedication, she found an energy and new found love for music of a different nature. As her senior recital approached Dr. Roulet left the University for ventures of his own. While Dr. Lynn Vartan took on the role as teacher and advisor for Jamie’s last year of undergrad.

As graduation approached, Lynn encouraged Jamie to consider her options of teaching or continuing her education. Graduate school was not something that she had considered before even though her husband Blake Francisco and been very open to the idea of her continuation in school. Jamie knew at this time that her destination was set for Portland, as this is where Blake was headed for pharmacy school. Her options were limited, but spirits were high, and she applied for Grad School at Portland State University, only to with draw her application months later when she discovered she was pregnant with their first child.

Five months later, as they prepared their move to Portland, Jamie went in for an ultra sound. She was there to find out the sex of the baby and yet she felt sick with nervousness, some part of her knew something was wrong. Her doctors couldn’t tell the sex, the fluids were low and something was wrong. She was sent to a specialist in St. George the following day. She found out her baby was going to die, she hates the specialist. That morning they had moved out of their home, her bed and comfort was packed in a U-Haul headed for Portland.

On arriving in Portland, Blake did everything he could to get Jamie to a doctor. It took a lot of time and yelling at people over the phone, but he got her into the best doctors for high risk pregnancies. After four hours of being poked with ultrasound equipment and needles the doctors told her that her baby had Body-Stalk Anomaly. There was a zero survival rate. She lost the baby.

With the pieces of her life and soul scattered about, she made the decision to try. To try and put some part of a life together in Portland. She contacted the Professor, at Portland State, Dr. Joel Bluestone and asked for help. He remembered her from her application before and pushed her application through the system. School started in less than a month.

Now she stands at a new door of opportunity and exploration. She may be more battered, her soul maybe bruised, but she is no worse for it. Emotion is what makes a musician. It is the ability to evoke such emotions into others, to allow them to feel what they may not have been able to on their own.