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Community Corner

Whiz Kid: Allie Parker Knows How to Rock 'n Roll!

Twelve-year-old Allie and the others kids in the Kirkland Children's Music Studio Rock Band class learn how to shake, rattle and roll.

Name, age: Allie Parker, 12.

School and Neighborhood: Allie is a seventh grader at the Renaissance School of Art and Reasoning. She lives in Houghton. 

Accomplishments: A talented vocalist, Allie is the lead singer in the Kirkland Children’s Music Studio’s Rock Band class. Allie also sings with the studio’s .

“She’s a really talented gal,” says Susan Heale, musical director with the Kirkland Children’s Music Studio. “She’s kind of every choir director’s dream.”

Key to awesomeness: Allie was inspired to take up singing after seeing a number of people singing on television. She marveled at how people would cheer singers on, and also at how the singers inspired different people.

“I just wanted to be like them,” she says.

Allie started singing when she was six, then began taking voice lessons when she was eight. She got involved in her school choir, then moved into the Andante Choir.

While singing with the Andante Choir, Allie learned that the rock band class needed a lead singer. She liked the idea of being the only singer in a group and joined up.

“I thought that would be really cool,” says Allie.

The rock band sings a mixture of old and new songs, and the kids have input in the material. Allie likes classic '60s and '70s rock like Queen, but enjoys some of the modern stuff as well.

One of her favorite songs to perform is “The Lazy Song,” by Bruno Mars. Allie says she relates to the idea of not always feeling up to doing things.

“Everybody feels like that sometime in their life.”

The band recently made its public debut in Kirkland’s Fourth of July parade. Allie said that she was nervous about performing and wasn’t sure if she was up to the material, but she ended up doing just fine and had fun.

“Once I started singing I got the hang of it,” Allie said.

After getting that first performance out of the way, Allie is looking forward to future gigs.

Despite her love of singing, Allie isn’t sure if she wants to pursue it as a career. She enjoys singing as a hobby but doesn’t necessarily want to be famous. Instead, Allie has an interest in natural sciences, particularly ornithology, a love she picked up during a camping adventure. 

“I just really loved looking at all of the birds that were flying around,” Allie said.

As a student at the Renaissance School in Sammamish -- one of the Lake Washington School Dstrict's "Choice" schools -- Allie is looking forward to studying dance and musicals. But she also enjoys all of the subjects she has a chance to study.

“I like learning a lot,” she says.

Allie isn’t the only talented musician in her family. Her twin brother Devon plays drums in the rock band class as well. Devon is actually new to music, having just started with the class in April.

“I’m a lot better than I thought I would be,” he says.

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