Victoria Ray's Musical Disney Experience

            Musical Instruments have been played for thousands of years. The oldest musical instrument found by archaeologists was a simple flute carved from the bone of a crane in china. It is very interesting to see how something from so many years ago is still used today. Presidents George Washington, James Madison, Renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci, as well as classmate Victoria Ray all played the flute.

           Victoria Ray is a 19 year old student at Horry Georgetown Technical College and part time electronics specialist at Walmart. She dedicated five years of her life to playing the oldest instrument known to man, the flute. Early in her grade school education, Victoria was mesmerized by a performance from the marching band and orchestra at North Myrtle Beach High School. She decided to learn an instrument and join. She initially was not able to decide on which instrument to play, debating between multiple instruments including drums and the saxophone. Victoria finally decided on the flute and spent two years taking lessons and learning how to play it. She immediately joined the marching band her freshman year of high school, with her new Yamaha brand instrument and freshly tuned flute playing skills in hand. She participated in many concerts and competitions and the marching band, and the drum line in particular, won a lot of awards. In her freshman year and first year in the band, they were prestigious enough to be chosen to march down the main street at Disney World. The Disney company asked them personally to take part in a parade at the Magic Kingdom theme park with many famous personalities such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Snow White. Playing the flute with the rest of the group, marching through Disney, was the highlight of Victoria’s time in band. She spoke of the memorable sights of the theme park to the time one of the drum majors foot got stuck in a trolley track, almost causing the band to bunch up in an accordion like effect. She will forever remember such memorable tunes such as "Hakuna Matata", "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah", and other Disney classics. After that Victoria stayed in the band for 2 more years, leaving to pursue other passions and hobbies her senior year.

                                                      

         While Victoria left the marching band a few years back, the flute remains in her closet. From a distance it seems like just a few years in the marching band, but upon taking a closer look you see that Victoria Ray took part in one of the oldest forms of entertainment which is music. She played an instrument known to have been played for at least 9,000 years. Despite not playing anymore, she still has the ability and skill to flute out some mad jams.