STRUMMING TO THEIR OWN TUNE: Meet talented young violinist from West Point

WEST POINT — Derek Kite is well known in the local area after having coached the men’s and women’s swimming teams at Point University. He was very active in triathlon completion prior to his coaching career. While he has been athletically inclined for most of his life, his children have taken a different course in life. They are very gifted with musical talent. Kite was the proud dad as he talked about them at last Thursday’s noon-hour meeting of the West Point Rotary Club. Two of his sons, 17-year-old Jacob and 12-year-old Andrew, accompanied him.

Jacob began playing the violin before he started school and has gotten quite good at it. He’s now with the LaGrange Youth Orchestra and has played with the LaGrange Symphony. Sister Shealyn, who’s 14, is a very talented singer and songwriter. She has a five-track album coming out this month.

Another one of the Kite girls, seven-year-old Evelyn, could be seen soon in a TV commercial for The Georgia Lottery.

“I have had a lot to learn about music because of what my kids do,” Kite told members of the club.

Derek has a music background as well. He’s a percussionist and took part in the recording of Shealyn’s upcoming album, which will be released on July 22. While Shealyn wrote and sings the songs, Jacob plays the violin and guitar, Dylan Harry the cello and Derek is on drums. The whole family is excited about the path the Kite children have taken in music.

“We love being in this community and would like to be here for a long time,” Kite said.”We are only an hour away from Atlanta, a place that’s probably putting out more movies now than Hollywood.”

Derek knew that his son had a gift from music when he was a tiny infant. “When he was only six months old he would take an item like a spoon or a pencil and try to play it like it was a musical instrument,” he said. “He started playing the violin at two. He now plays most of the string instruments – the violin, guitar, piano, mandolin, ukulele, you name it.”

For the past four years, Jacob has been a member of the Georgia All-State Orchestra, which is composed of the top high school musicians in the state. “He’s been to a lot of different musical events,” Kite said. “Shealyn has been invited to write songs for movies. She’s done music for ‘The Victor,’ which is based on The Hunger Games.”

Kite credits the Academy of Music in Columbus for being most helpful to his kids.

Jacob likes to have some variety in what he plays on the violin. Sometimes the instrument is a violin in the truest sense of the word when he’s into classical but then it becomes and old-time fiddle when he’s into something bluegrass. He also can get into a bit of reggae and beach music. He played two songs for the club. One was named “Reality” and had a Hawaiian feel to it. The other was named “Roses” and is more cosmopolitan.

Recording the Kite family’s music is an exacting task. “We spend anywhere from 170 to 200 hours in mixing and mastering to get the sound just right,” Kite said.

Jacob said he has a special appreciation for classic songs such as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz and Louis Armstrong’s “It’s a Wonderful World.”

Jacob is very active in the Key Club and is a member of the state council.

“All of the children are into acting, and we’ve done weddings, too,” Kite said.

A Wyoming native, Kite is a graduate of Lubbock Christian University and is a member of his alma mater’s Hall of Honor.

A track star at LCU, he set school records in the three-mile run 3,000-meter steeplechase.

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