"The percussion section of the orchestra plays the sound effects."

With these words from her fourth grade teacher, Cathy began her love affair with percussion. This thrilled her grandfather - a former dixieland drummer who promptly retrieved his dusty old drums from the attic to donate to the cause.

Her passion took her through middle and high school band, and eventually to Christopher Newport University to earn a degree in percussion performance. She recounts it all as a blissful journey - from rock bands to the Virginia Symphony, from church services to musicals. She now devotes her talents to "playing sound effects" for her own orchestra - this marvelous Celtic group called Coyote Run.