The Magic Of Music U-Hi’s Marisa Neste’s Talent With The Flute May Be Taking Her Places

Flute to her lips, Marisa Neste seems planted to the ground more firmly than most.

This 16-year-old and her flute produce the silvery sound that makes the instrument so romantic. A lot of that sound. Enough to make her sway in its wake. Enough to fill a concert hall or overflow the Christmasy living room in her family’s Kokomo rancher.

Marisa’s musical sense came early, along with her will to succeed.

“My husband always tells a story that he used to dance with her a lot when she was an infant and a toddler,” said Penny Neste, Marisa’s mother. That’s how their first-born got her sense of rhythm and music, so the family story goes.

In fifth grade, the flute “seemed cool” to Marisa and her friends. “We all used to get dizzy from blowing so much,” she says with amusement.

Now, Marisa studies with Spokane Symphony Orchestra flutist Bruce Bodden. After six years of lessons, her work on the flute is quite technical - control of her breathing, the proper placement and use of her lips and fingers. Polishing the Mozart concerto that’s to be her next competition piece will take her a full six months.

“I’d say she’s a very good student in terms of how well she prepares for her lessons,” Bodden said. “She’s obviously very talented. I think if she really applied herself to music (as a career), she could probably make it.”

Her instructor since this fall, Bodden notes that Marisa also is working to develop the artistic side of her playing.

“To a certain extent, that’s something that comes with age. Or, at least, doesn’t come without it,” he said.

Daily, Marisa practices about 45 minutes.

Good thing it’s not more, because Marisa is a young over-achiever, keeping her grades at University High School up to a 4.0 gpa, and partaking in a half-dozen or so clubs and service groups: Honor Society, High 5, the League of Cronus, Tau Sigma. And she’s a junior class representative.

She’s been asked to join a 16-day tour of Europe this summer with other outstanding music students. To pay half the costs she picked up a Christmastime job at JC Penney and she’s offering private flute lessons. That’s the deal she worked out with her parents.

Where does Marisa’s sunny sense of maturity come from?

“She was that way when she was little,” Penny Neste said, sounding a bit mystified by her own daughter, even after 16 years.

Flashes of pure teenager show through.

Marisa makes time to hang out with her girlfriends, and her vacation reading centered around young adult romance novels.

Baggy bib overalls and sneakers are her choice of clothes for the day back to school after Christmas break.

What about college?

“My dream might be Juilliard,” she said thoughtfully. “Or the U of I. I haven’t really looked into college yet.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo