Krystin Anderson

More than well-recommended teachers, more than innate skill, more than even hours of practice, young musicians who want to be the best need an undying devotion to their craft.

A devotion to piano was what pushed Jonathan Keith to continue playing, despite a car accident that not only claimed the use of his right hand for several months, but also the life of his best friend.

"At the time, the doctors told me that I might not be able to get to play the piano with my right hand again," Keith said about the accident that fractured and severed tendons in his right arm. "After about four or five months of therapy, tons of improvement happened and ... it's now getting back to the point where I can pretty much play anything that I used to."

Even when he couldn't use his right hand, however, Keith practiced one-handed pieces so he could continue his studies as an 18-year-old music performance major at BYU and perform his required sophomore recital.

During his recovery period, Keith became acquainted with Maurice Ravel's "Concerto for the Left Hand," and decided to audition for the American Fork Symphony's "Salute to Youth" concert, at which he will perform Monday.

Keith's fellow performer Jossalyn Jensen showed her devotion to music by performing on an instrument she said doesn't get enough credit -- the viola.

Jensen's first musical training was on the violin, a fact she said her violinist friends sometimes flaunt, claiming, "You betrayed the violin because you play the viola."

Her response to them was: "Yeah, whatever. Right."

Despite the teasing, and the sometimes-touted belief that violas can't be solo instruments, 15-year-old Jensen plans to deny her critics Monday, when she will perform "Rhapsody" by Tibor Serly. Serly, student of better-known Bela Bartok, wrote a variety of solo viola pieces, often making him a hero of violists like Jensen.

"My teacher gave it to me about ... eight months ago," Jensen said. "I pretty much fell in love with it -- it's my favorite piece so far that I've played on the viola."

The symphony will also feature performers Kyla Worthington, a 12-year-old pianist, and flautist Helen McGarr, 16.