CHEYENNE — Paul Elwood was a major musical inspiration for Aimée Neimann.

Originally from Greeley, Colorado, Niemann is a New York-based violinist and educator who was taught by Elwood, a composer, banjoist and longtime professor of composition at the University of Northern Colorado. She graduated in 2012.

“Things have changed (since I graduated), but when you’re a musician, and a violinist especially, you’re kind of expected to get a (bachelor’s) degree, and then your master’s, and then practice orchestral excerpts to try and get into a professional orchestra or get a job at a college,” said Niemann. “I always felt like that wasn’t what I wanted to do. You spend so long just practicing these little excerpts and hoping that you win an audition somewhere, and I just knew early on that was

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