Monika plays in the key of faith

The Dryzmalski family of Schenectady has a number of traditions: Polish dancing, keeping 12 plates out for the Apostles at Christmas dinner and going to Mass on Sundays.

To those, they have added music and medicine. First, Monika's cousin Dan -- a student at Harvard Medical School -- started playing the organ for weekend Mass at Catholic churches in the Capital District.

Then, his younger brother Kiko -- a student in the pre-med program at Siena College in Loudonville -- took up the banner at St. Michael's Church in Cohoes.

Now that Kiko is spending a summer of service at a medical clinic in Bolivia, it's Monika's turn on the organ bench.

Teen of notes

"Music is a big part of my every day," she said. "I couldn't imagine life without music."

Monika, 15, just concluded her freshman year at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons School in Schenectady. She sings with the Capital District Youth Chorale, and participates in her school's music ministry and annual musical.

She also played for school Masses, the junior ring ceremony, an awards ceremony and the living Stations of the Cross.

Grandpa's violin

Monika, a parishioner of St. Adalbert's Church in Schenectady, has started to take violin lessons on her grandfather's violin, which he brought to the U.S. from Poland.

"He was self-taught," she said. "When he passed away, he left a couple of violins, and he always wanted me to play. So we said, 'This was the year.'"

Monika prefers Beethoven to Bach and Chopin's cadences to more Baroque stylings: "eerie" pieces in minor keys that she can invest her emotions in.

At the console

Transferring her piano skills to the organ was challenging at first, Monika admitted.

With multiple keyboards, stops and settings, some pipes add too much bass and others are too brassy for more somber hymns, she said.

One of the hymns she has chosen to play, "Lord, We Come to the Seashore," she hadn't known in English before; to her, it was "Barka," the song her grandmother, Jozefa, sings in Polish around the house.

Things like that make church music "deeper than just having notes to play," Monika explained. "If you end up giving yourself, it becomes part of you."

All together now

One of her favorite parts of being a church music leader is creating Christian community through song.

"I feel like, if I start enthusiastically, they might get into it more," she explained. "It's a good form of worship. If I start out gloomy, they'll be, 'Oh, boring!' So I like happy, upbeat melodies you can sing 'Alleluia' to, and get all into it."

It's also nice, she added, to be singing with people, especially members of the choir who try harmony.

Keyboard doctor

Monika, who loves country music and the film musical "Singin' in the Rain," has been playing piano for nine years and hopes to continue her studies.

Her career aspirations are more scientific, though: She hopes to follow in the footsteps of her mother and her cousins, attend a pre-med program, and pursue career opportunities in the medical field.

This summer, she's planning to volunteer at St. Clare's Hospital in Schenectady.

Tradition

Polish traditions are a huge part of life for the Dryzmalskis. For example, Both Monika and her younger brother Konrad dance in the St. Adalbert Polish dance group, which performs at international and multicultural festivals across the region.

The family regularly visits Poland and incorporates that nation's religious traditions into their American celebrations.

Monika said that another cherished family tradition, inaugurated by her grandmother, is praying together.

(6/14/07)