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May Overby teacher Anne Marie Giffin will play Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18.” Saturday, Nov. 22 with the Aberdeen University/Civic Theater. Photo courtesy of the Aberdeen Public School District.
Anne Marie Giffin was 3 when she first began playing the piano, and 14 when she first heard the piece that made her truly connect with music.
That selection was Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18.“
“It is my favorite piece,” said Giffin, music teacher at May Overby Elementary. “It’s the piece of music that made me fall in love with music.”
Giffin will perform the piece at a concert with the Aberdeen University/Civic Symphony. The Autumn Romance concert will be Saturday, Nov. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Northern State University Johnson Fine Arts Center.
The concerto is one of the most difficult piano pieces to perform, but Giffin has played it before — first when she was 22 with the Jacksonville Symphony. Originally from Jacksonville, Fla., she started playing with that city’s symphony at age 14. As a teen, she did a lot of national competitions and later studied at the Peabody Institute.
Although Giffin has performed the concerto before, she said it’s been a long time. To get in shape to play the approximately 40-minute piece, she has been practicing since March.
Giffin is no stranger to practicing — growing up, her parents always made her practice, and she credits that hard work rather than innate talent for her success.
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“I do not believe in talent,” she said. “I do not believe that some people are gifted.”
Giffin explained that she was born into an environment that was musical. Her dad was a piano teacher who worked with her every day when she was young.
“Hard work was instilled in me,” she said. “What I was born with was a desire for it. I wanted to do it.”
She hopes that she can inspire her own students who also have a passion for music. Her advice for those students is to be consistent.
“The way to get better at something is to be consistent,” she said. “You have to be consistent, and if you want to be the best at anything, you find out what everybody else is doing and you do it more than they do.”
Loves working at Aberdeen Public Schools
Now in her third year of teaching music at May Overby, Giffin said she loves her job.
“I love this district, and I love my students,” she said.
The best part of her job is the support she receives from classroom teachers and administration. She also likes putting on the spring and winter programs.
“I like the fact that we incorporate performance in the music program, even with the elementary choir,” Giffin said. “It’s important that students have a goal, something that they’re working towards.”
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She is also an adjunct professor at Northern State. Before moving to Aberdeen, she taught in Florida and Montana. She was told about the Aberdeen Public Schools job opening by a friend who is a Northern music professor and wanted Giffin to get involved with the symphony.
First time playing with Aberdeen University/Civic Symphony
Giffin said she saw the potential opportunity to play with Aberdeen’s symphony as a plus when applying, though it wasn’t a certainty at the time.
Now that potential is becoming a reality. Saturday’s concert will be her first performance with the symphony, and Giffin said she is thankful for the opportunity.
“Working for the district opened a door for me, and I’m especially grateful for that,” Giffin said. “Having a door opened like that and being welcomed into the community the way I was, and the way I still am, is a great thing.”