The Musicians Play On…Stephanie Buggie

Meet Stephanie Buggie, the orchestra’s newest member!

I play bassoon in the orchestra as well as a few other instruments outside the orchestra, such as flute and guitar.

I started playing bassoon when I was 9 at Park Avenue Elementary School in Danbury, CT, because no one else was playing it. The bassoon was larger than the oboe, which was the other instrument that no one else was playing, so I decided to go for the larger one. We had to look them both up in our dictionary, way before Google existed!! In-between then and now, I had one large hiatus of 17 years which ended about 6 years ago.

I started playing in the CVSO one month prior to the COVID lock-down!!

I’ve spent much of my free time at home praying, meditating, contemplating questions of existence & the purpose of living, prioritizing life activities, eating, sleeping, walking the dog & cooking for my family when I haven’t been trying to reach students as a part of my role as an ESL teacher at Eli Whitney Tech High School in Hamden. Most recently, bike-riding and at last, swimming at LA Fitness!!

I’ve been enjoying listening to Ottmar Liebert, the guitarist, in my car.

My favorite piece during COVID 19 to lift my spirits is anything composed by the enlightened master, Bach.

During this COVID 19 period, I have been practicing my new upright Kawai piano that I purchased at ReStore in Wallingford a few weeks ago. I love the Classical literature, such as Clementi and Kuhlau.

One technique I’ve been working on is expressiveness within my phrasing, which is very challenging on a keyboard, because you’re just pressing down keys, so the expressiveness is found when you vary the dynamics within the melody, or “in-between the notes,” if that’s possible.