PLEASANT GROVE — The fact that one can find a member of the Mormon Willey family at almost any musical event in Utah is no accident.
Most of Denise and Donell Willey's six talented children were holding and learning to play an instrument as soon as they could walk and barely talk.
Today, they consistently take top honors at the Utah State Fair, play with the Utah Symphony and national Suzuki orchestras, All-State Orchestra, and with the Orchestra at Temple Square. They've earned full scholarships to major universities, played in the Disney Young Musicians Symphony or in its sequel, the Debut National Orchestra.
All are trained Suzuki method teachers.
Their mother — who describes herself as a Triple A personality when it comes to her children — has always loved music and majored in music education in college. When her eldest, Anthony, was 3, she bought him a tiny violin for $100.
In November of that year, his sister Elizabeth, who was just 2, started asking for a cello.
"I rushed right up and bought a tiny cello, and we started Suzuki cello," Denise Willey said. "We used her potty chair (closed!) for practice because we couldn't find a chair small enough for her."
At 18 months, little sister Kristina begged for a "biola."
"We got the first 1/32nd violin in Utah," Willey said. "Same for Alexander, who started violin at 18 months, Catherine on cello at 12 months, and Beka on violin and viola at 12 months."
"No, they couldn't play anything then. They just took their turns practicing bowing and holding their tiny bows with their chubby little hands, balancing their instruments in play position. They just wanted to be part of the family, and our family practiced every day, at first with just a few minutes each."
The practice time quickly expanded with the Willeys all rising at 5 a.m. and working more than six hours a day on their instruments and the piano.
The children started performing Primary songs in church with a younger child added in as soon as he or she could handle the melody, until within nine years they were all playing together.
Meanwhile, their mother ran a community children's orchestra program where most of the Willeys started playing at 4.
Because the orchestra needed bass instruments, Anthony added the miniature bass to his musical repetoire at 8, and Alexander followed suit at 7.
In addition to their impressive musical resumes, the Willeys are also academically successful. They've attended Boys and Girls State. They are honor students.
Alexander bikes avidly, and he's an Eagle Scout and prize-winning ballroom dancer.
Anthony has built a harpsichord from scratch. (He added another violinist to the group with his bride, Brittany Williams.)
"My parents and grandparents were all very musical, so I was surrounded by it," Brittany said. "I took some piano lessons from my dad as a kid and started studying violin with my grandma when I was 10. I married Anthony, and it looks like I'm still surrounded by music!"
At a recital when Anthony was 5, he was playing "The Two Grenadiers," when his grandma and great-aunt walked in. During the rest he pointed and said, "Mama, there's Grandma!" and came right back in on the right note without missing a beat.
Elizabeth runs marathons and is waiting for a mission call.
Her mother recalls watching her at 3 years old, sitting with her cello right next to the speaker's podium. Elizabeth contentedly sucked her thumb on camera the entire time, amusing the television and studio audience.
Kristina played on the national radio program, "From the Top," in Boston. She remembers exiting one performance in a stand-out fashion: "In 2002, I was auditioning to solo with the Utah Symphony. The performance was fine until the second-to-last note, which I botched. Then, as I bowed, I managed to drop my chin rest, catch my skirt with the chin rest as I picked it up, raising my skirt MUCH too high, drop my bow twice, and trip as I left the stage."
Nevertheless, she still loves performing.
"I believe that God gives each of us talents, and he expects us to use them. I play with the OTS very often in an attempt to show God that I am grateful to him and will use my talent to serve him," she said. "The intricacies of music never fail to astound me. Sometimes I think that man created music and that all of this music theory we learn in the classes is the invention of some great master musician. But then I realize that would be the equivalent of saying that chemists invented the elements and the chemicals they use. God created music, and the musicians just mix the notes around, putting them in different places, trying them in different quantities and orders, and then name the results."
Catherine loves Latin and writing. "I literally cannot remember ever not being surrounded by music," she said. "There's a magic in certain pieces that I can capture from time to time. I know when I have it, because I can feel that the audience feels it."
Her mother recalls that at 2, Catherine was the last to play in a long cello recital and fell asleep on stage. She was awakened and immediately began playing "Allegro" without a word of prodding.
Beka, who hit maracas on the floor on beat at 7 months and played her first full symphony at 7 years old, has been offered the chance to study at Julliard. She also likes to cook.
Denise Willey said, "It's turned out that music has become a medium to serve in our church and community. I don't think it is any accident that chills go up our spines when we hear Handel's Messiah, even with a community choir and a student orchestra. That spirit is built right into the music, and we know the Savior lives as we listen to that music."
"Little did I know with that first little $100 violin that I would some day own over $125,000 in instruments, with more still to buy," she said.
Her most rewarding experiences:
"All eight of us (including Brittany) playing under the baton of David Cho, conductor of the Utah Symphony, in an incredible symphony orchestra at Lyceum Music Festival in Park City.
"All five playing together in an Tab Choir/OTS world broadcast.
"Rehearsing a string quartet, bickering with each other about incredibly sophisticated musical interpretation.
"Playing altogether on one of our five "Families Making Music" recitals on the Temple Square Performance Series concerts.
"Playing together on a New York City concert hall stage on millions of dollars' worth of Stradivarius instruments, making the most sublime music, with the children glancing at me knowingly.
Willey is easily brought to tears when she counts her musical and spiritual blessings.
"I just love to hear my children play together. Once, exhausted, after practicing, home schooling, Scouting, doing 4-H, serving in the church and on the Suzuki state board, teaching lessons, etc., etc., for six years, I heard the kids play in a string quartet. The thought came to me, If I could have teenagers do that, I'd practice for another six years. That was nearly 20 years ago.
"Don't think any of this was easy. It's hard work, with blood, sweat and sometimes tears, but what a sweet, sweet blessing. I'd do it again in a heartbeat."
e-mail: haddoc@desnews.com