MARYSVILLE — Nearly half a dozen Marysville music students made the grade in this year’s Trudie Woll Memorial Composition Competition.

Kristina Meyers saw her student, Somaya Stenberg, receive an honorable mention in the fourth-grade category, while Carol Osborn’s student winners included Aaron Kalab at second place in the second-grade category, Jennifer Anderson at second place in the fifth-grade category and Collin Sprague at second place in the sixth-grade category, with Aaron’s sister, Amanda Kalab, receiving an honorable mention in the sixth-grade category.

Stenberg began piano lessons as a Christmas present a year and a half ago, after watching her mother play.

“I was inspired by the way her fingers went everywhere,” Stenberg said. “I had to gather up my courage to play in front of all those people, but writing the songs was the easiest part.”

Meyers described Stenberg as creative and quick to grasp concepts.

“She has a good ear for harmonies,” Meyers said. “Normally, for original composition competitions, students have to come up with songs for the competition, but it was her idea to start writing songs, so when the competition came, we just refined what she’d already written.”

Aaron has been playing piano for two years, and credited his big sister Amanda, who’s been playing for six years, with getting him interested. For her part, Amanda was looking for an outlet for self-expression. Sprague’s grandmother got him hooked on the piano last year, while Anderson had become convinced that the piano was “the best instrument” even before she started playing four years ago.

For Aaron, memorizing the music was the hardest part. For Sprague and Anderson, it was writing the music. And for Amanda, it was simply waiting for the results of the competition. All four students agreed that piano students should have fun and not give up.

“Once you finish the work, you feel accomplished,” Amanda Kalab said.

“You learn a lot, and it can inspire you to write more music,” Anderson said.

Osborn praised her students for their enthusiasm and willingness to learn new things. She also noted that Anderson was a student of Trudie Woll, and cited this as an example of how music education is “a cycle that keeps on giving.”