Liz Dietz picked up her dad’s trumpet when she was in the third grade. She maneuvered the keys and blew into it. She had already been playing the piano since she was four, but she knew she wanted to play an instrument she could perform with in a band.

“I could have chosen any instrument,” said Dietz, a senior at Kingswood-Oxford School in West Hartford. “When I picked it up I could sort of play it.”

Ten years later, Dietz, a Southington resident, finds herself preparing to play her brass instrument in the All Eastern Music Festival, held in Baltimore. Those who auditioned came from 10 states. Dietz will perform first trumpet music; the most technically involved music, more difficult to play than the prepared music for second or third trumpet.

“She’s a great performer,” said Richard Chiarappa, band teacher at Kingswood-Oxford, who called her “a modest achiever.” Chiarappa has been teaching Dietz since her freshman year, when she entered the school’s jazz band. She was the only girl in the trumpet section, he said. Through lessons and practice, Dietz worked her way up through the ranks, he said.

Music runs in Dietz’s family. Her younger sister, Rachel, plays the piano, her father plays the trumpet and her mother is a music teacher in Bristol. Dietz played the trumpet in the Flanders Elementary School band and DePaolo Middle School band. She transferred to Kingswood-Oxford in the seventh grade.

“She was always a good player,” Chiarappa said. Chiarappa who’s also conductor of the West Hartford Symphony Orchestra, has decided to feature Dietz in a performance later this month. Every so often the 65-member community orchestra features soloists.

Two years ago, Chiarappa said he had a senior perform with the professionals, and this year the opportunity came up with Dietz. “I’ve heard and watched her develop as a player,” he said. Dietz will be playing the Haydn Trumpet Concerto at the concert.

Along with the All Eastern Festival and the concert with the West Hartford musicians, Dietz tutors young trumpeters at the Music Shop in Southington. She also gets together with members of The Sugarfoot Jazz Band. She rehearses with 11 other brass instrumentalists. They have played several festivals in state, including last summer’s Great Connecticut Traditional Jazz Festival, which was held in Meriden.

“It’s really good music,” Dietz said about the fast-paced brass music. The festivals are always fun because of the number of dancers and jazz enthusiasts, she said.

Dietz’s trumpet tutor, Pete Roe, has been instructing Dietz since 2008 and said she’s doing very well. “I’m real proud of her,” Roe said. Roe explained that for any trumpet player it’s important to keep practicing the fundamentals, including technique, breathing, articulation and scales.

“She was a good student when she got here, but she’s really taken off,” Roe said. Instructor and student have been practicing the Haydn Trumpet Concerto piece. Roe said Dietz is a little nervous, but she’ll be able to hold it together for the concert due to her calm performing skills.

Along with her musical efforts, Dietz is president of her debate team and conducts spring softball practices as captain of the team. A full schedule of Advanced Placement courses awaits Dietz at school every day. Dietz insists she has a social life and as senior year is winding down said she’s been able to enjoy her pre-college time.

Yale University or Williams College are the schools Dietz is hoping to get into. She plans on playing the trumpet after high school, but perhaps not at the college level. “It’s something I enjoy doing,” Dietz said. She doesn’t want to be forced to play the instrument. Finding a group of friends interesting in playing jazz music is something she would love doing in college.

“I want to keep it fun,” she said.