If you take a tour of the woodlands surrounding the Maidu Museum, you may hear the comforting voice of Judy Carrol. She helps to lead tours and assists visiting students as they explore centuries of local history. Judy embraces this opportunity to help others discover the sights and sounds of nature.
“I love being able to explain the history and purposes of an oak tree, the wildlife, to give students the opportunity to see the outdoors, to enjoy the wilderness, and experience joy in nature,” Judy told us. “That gives me joy. Did you know that we have city kids who have never seen an oak tree or an acorn, and wonder what moss is?”
Judy is newly employed by the City as an Interpretive Program Services Assistant at the Maidu Museum & Historic Site. She’s been a team member there for a little more than two months. Judy helps throughout the entire property with school groups and other functions. She enjoys the opportunity to help settle the students into their programs and to facilitate their needs.
%20and%20friends%20at%20Master%20Gardener%20Class,%202000%20px.jpg "Judy Carrol (left) and friends at Master Gardener Class")
Judy has always embraced a great love of nature and especially plants. Judy (left) stands with two friends as they participate in a Placer County Master Gardner event.
Another passion of Judy's is her love of music. One of the cleanest sounds to her ear is the resonance of a clarinet, a robust woodwind instrument. “I like the mellow, whole sound,” she tells us.
Judy has been a musician for years, starting when she was in the sixth grade, continuing into high school and through her time in college. For the past five years, she’s been playing for a local group called Winds of Faith.
“What I love about the symphonic band, is that I get to sit in the middle of this group of musicians. All around me, I hear very different, wonderful sounds,” Judy shared. “The percussion is in the back; the trumpets are behind me; the saxophones are over there, and the flutes are over there. It’s amazing. It just gives me such joy. Wow! Just to have the opportunity to sit in the middle of all of this and just listen. I get to participate, but being in the middle is just amazing. The average listener never gets the opportunity to hear it from the inside, and hearing that music brings me great joy.”
Judy embraces the diversity of several genres of music but she definitely has her preferences.
“Over the years, I really have stuck with the sound of the John Phillip Souza marches,” Judy stated. “I love the sound of a clarinet in the marches and the trills. I love the sound of a run (of notes) and the trills in a march. You also have the octave range where you can play very low, or you can play very high.”
You can see the joy in Judy's face as she expresses her love of music. When she isn’t working in concert to celebrate Souza’s “Stars and Stripes Forever,” she enjoys the listening to the sound of children laughing and hearing them ask questions about the home of our Maidu ancestors.