“When Josh Starr leans over his double bass and slides a bow across its strings – he’s gone. Out of whichever room he happens to be in at the time, and into a world defined by tone, vibrato, intonation. By Bach and Tchaikovsky. It is a world Starr has been preparing to enter professionally since he first started playing double, or string bass, more than two years ago. Since he decided to pursue his dream of becoming an orchestral bass player.Now Starr is on the threshold of his dream.Recently, he was accepted to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and if he can save enough money by August, he’s in.That’s why the 21-year-old Coupeville resident works three jobs while trying to squeeze in three hours of practice a day. And that’s why friends and mentors are cheering him on.It’s his time and he has to do it now, says his bass teacher, Margaret Storer. He’s focused in, he has the ability and he has the desire.Storer, a professional bass player for more than 20 years, say she was impressed by Starr’s determination from the start.When he first came to me, he couldn’t play the upright bass at all, she said. Six months later, he was auditioning for the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra and was accepted.Jonathan Shames, music director for the Youth Symphony Orchestra as well as the Marrowstone Music Festival and the Olympia Symphony, says it’s hard not to be impressed by Starr.It was clear that Joshua was very gifted from his first audition, Shames said. He plays with beautiful sound, excellent intonation and real musical understanding.Shames says Starr also has a quality that can’t be taught.He’s just a fan of music in the best sense, Shames says. Some kids like the idea of playing music with an orchestra, or the idea of playing in front of an audience, but Joshua just likes music.Starr first picked up the electric bass guitar in 1993.I was listening to funk bass players like Les Claypool and Michael Manring and started out playing with friends, Starr says.Before long, he was playing bass in the rhythm section of his high school’s jazz band in San Diego, then he became president of the school’s guitar club.At home, Starr was listening to other, less funky musical influences.My dad listened to classical music when I was younger, then I started listening to it in high school, Starr said. Bach turned me on to classical music. That’s what did it for me.So Starr began to figure out bass parts to Bach’s pieces, and play them on electric bass.Then I thought it would be fun to learn them on the traditional instrument, he says.Two weeks before graduation, Starr told his music teacher he wanted to make music his career.He said I was a brave man, Starr said.Before he could get a traditional upright bass, Starr moved to Whidbey Island. He began saving for his bass.I found a clock maker in south Oak Harbor and she had a bass sitting in her shop and that’s how I got my first bass, Starr says.It cost him $1,000 without a bow or much-needed repairs. But he found a bow for $350 and saved the money to have it repaired.Now all Starr needed was someone to show him how to play it.He got word that the Saratoga Chamber Players were performing in Langley and decided to take a chance. After the performance, Starr introduced himself to a member of the orchestra and was taken backstage to meet Storer and her husband, Buell Neidlinger, both former members of symphony orchestras and both renown for their abilities.I think someone was watching over me that day, Starr says. Of all the bass players in the Northwest, I had a chance to meet two of the best. Storer taught him to play his instrument, Neidlinger offered encouragement and Starr started working two jobs to buy a better bass.In the interim, he was tapped to play with the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra and invited to the Marrowstone Music Festival. All the while, working and saving.These days, Starr is a young man in perpetual motion. Working, practicing and trying to reach his goal of attending the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.He holds a job at an Oak Harbor thrift store, delivers wine, gardens and picks raspberries to sell at Oak Harbor’s Farmer’s Market.I work way too much, he says. But tuition’s about $20,000 a year and I’d be lucky to see a third of that total from a first-time student loan.Whatever it takes to be a professional musician, he says.Playing music is like going into another world, he says. It’s like a story for everyone. If some of those composer’s notes were letters, they’d spell out the meaning of life.Starr leans over his bass and touches the strings with his bow announcing his entry into the world he dreams of.—————–If you are interested in contributing to Joshua Starr’s musical education at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Joshua Starr Fund has been established at Whidbey Island Bank. You may contribute at any branch. For further information, contact Betty Freund: 675-2439”