Music, prayer a big part of this 18-year-old’s life

Pinchus Zuckerman is no punk rocker, and 18-year-old Hannah Beggs is no ordinary fan. The classical violinist is one of Beggs’ favorite artists, and she’s following his footsteps. She began playing violin at age 8 and has belonged to the Spokane Youth Orchestra for four years.

“I love performing,” she said. “It puts you on cloud nine for a while.”

Beggs was asked to join the Coeur d’Alene Symphony Orchestra last year and was placed in the first-chair section, which is unusual for a member of her age, said orchestra manager Sandy Daniels. Most members are adults. Beggs will be performing May 7 with the Coeur d’Alene Symphony at North Idaho College.

“The main difference in adult symphony is that you have more music and less time to learn it,” Beggs said. “I’m enjoying it immensely.”

Beggs was asked to teach violin a few years ago and has had a steady supply of students since, ranging in age from 8 to 47. She spends about three hours per week giving private lessons.

“I love the ability to teach a child something they didn’t know and see their eyes light up when they understand,” she said. “It’s a joy very few things can match.”

Teaching came naturally to Beggs who is the third born of nine children. The family includes two sets of twin boys, ages 15 and 5, and all of the children are home-schooled. Most of the Beggs are musically-inclined, so piano, cello or violin may be heard whenever they’re together. Beggs helps her mother, Christina, in teaching the brood. Her father, Walter, is a financial adviser who helps out by writing lessons plans.

“When we were little, we were extremely organized,” she says of her family’s home schooling. Now Beggs is in her senior year and primarily self-studies using books and a curriculum as a guide.

“It’s difficult at times, but it certainly teaches you discipline,” she said.

Beggs was born in Portland and lived in Alaska until 1997, when the family moved to North Idaho for her father’s business. She finds her position in the large family “challenging” but rewarding.

“You have to learn very early to give up your rights and to get along with other people,” she said. “You’re forced to take responsibility. I love my family. We have a lot of fun.”

Beggs enjoys hiking on Tubbs Hill, watching movies or taking trips with her siblings and parents. She writes short stories and has presented them as Christmas gifts to family members. In the future, she dreams of a master’s degree in music, teaching, writing, marriage and raising “maybe six” children. She plans to spend next year applying for scholarships, saving for college, and then hopes to move with her older sister to study music at Wheaton College in Chicago.

“Making music is what I feel binds people the most,” she said. “That and prayer. The people most precious in my life are those in my church and in the orchestra.”

Beggs is a member of the Post Falls Baptist Church and enjoys memorizing Scripture. She believes in the lesson from Proverbs 22:6, which says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

As she was growing up, Beggs said that hearing from her father that he was disappointed in her was worse than a spanking.

“If my father said, ‘I prefer that you don’t,’ that meant ‘no,’ ” she said.

Beggs believes that the guidelines she received as a child have given her trust and respect in her parents.

“They are the authority God has placed over me,” she said. “Now that I’m older, I seek out their advice. They’ve given me tools for the rest of my life.”