His mother says its in the genes. His father points to the ring. Jeremy Viner just shrugs his shoulders. The 14-year-old Bangor native doesn’t really care why he is such a good musician, he just loves to play.

This fall, music will play an even bigger role in Jeremy’s life when he becomes a student at Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Mich. He will be one of 430 high school students from around the world who excel in the arts.

The family has sold their home in the Little City section of Bangor. His mother, Vanessa, and grandmother, Joanne McIntosh, will move with the young musician to Interlochen, while his father, Edward, and brother, Christopher, stay behind. Chris and his dad will live in Orono and Chris will attend the University of Maine as a freshman in the fall.

Vanessa Viner, who is taking a yearlong leave from her job as an elementary school teacher, says that her sons’ musical gifts came from the Viner side of the family. Sam Viner is their great-grandfather. He owned music stores in Bangor, Ellsworth and Presque Isle until the mid-1980s. He gave Chris his first set of drums when the Bangor High School senior was just 2 years old.

On the ring finger of his right hand, Ed Viner wears a unique piece of jewelry that is fast becoming the family’s unofficial crest. The ring is a copy of the original purchased by Sam Viner in a New York City jewelry store more than 60 years ago. It is gold and looks like a musical staff with diamonds for the notes.

“My grandfather had the original and he had a duplicate made for my father, Arnold, which is the one I have,” said Ed Viner, who is a salesman for a Bangor car dealership. “We probably will have a very similar ring made so the boys eventually will get them as they hit milestones in their lives.”

The admissions staff at Interlochen Arts Academy aren’t really interested in where their students’ musical ability comes from. Its goal is to train the future artists of the world. Interlochen alumni comprise more than 10 percent of the members of the nation’s major symphony orchestras. The school and summer camp were started by Joseph E. Maddy to provide a permanent training ground for young artists.

The acceptance process includes an audition, as well as an excellent academic record. Tuition for boarding students is more than $26,000 a year, almost $16,000 for day students. Only 44 percent of the students who apply each year are admitted. Alumni include Academy Award-winning actress Linda Hunt, pop singer Jewel, Lorin Maazel, music director of the New York Phiharmonic; David Schifrin, artistic director of chamber music at Lincoln Center and soprano Cheryl Studer.

Jeremy Viner was accepted last year and could have attended as a freshman, but because his birthday is in mid-summer, his parents felt that he and they needed another year in Bangor. The plan is for him to spend the upcoming school year as a day student, then move on campus the following year. Then, his mother will return to her husband and job in Bangor.

Jeremy has split his musical time between the clarinet and tenor saxophone. With his brother and friends Chris Downes and Colin Graebert, he’s focused on performing jazz with their group the Jazzmen. At Interlochen, he will put aside his clarinet and focus on the saxophone.

“It’s very exciting, very new, very scary,” said the 15-year-old last week as he sat at the kitchen table. His dad and brother could be heard moving and stacking boxes upstairs. “The school week is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. I will have four hours of music classes in the morning, then academic classes in the afternoon. … Musically they’ll teach me all I need. Academically, I’ll have to teach myself over and over.”

A lot of families may believe they have a gifted and talented child, few, however, would make the drastic changes in their lives the Viners are making. During a break from packing, Ed Viner said that it is a scarifice they are all making as a family.

“I don’t want Jeremy to get to be 35 and look back at his life and say, ‘I wish I’d had the opportunity to go to a better school.’ The teachers he’s had here are wonderful people, but he’s not challenged musically on a daily basis. If he’s not challenged, he will just stagnate and that would be a waste. He enjoys the music so much, that we don’t have a choice but to do this for him.”

Ed Viner insisted that Chris, who wants to major in music education, is sacrificing just as much as he and his wife are. He will focus his studies on vocal music and wants to be a teacher like George Redman, the chorus teacher at Bangor High School.

“I want the chance to help people decide what they want to do the way Mr. Redman did for me,” said Chris. “I’ve done a little conducting singers this year. I like to be in control and knowing that the music will affect people.”

Vanessa Viner said that Jeremy’s teachers told them early on that he was exceptionally talented. By the time he was in middle school, he was performing with high school musicians. He played with Maynard Ferguson last year and plans to play with Paul Sullivan’s jazz group in Blue Hill this summer.

Jeremy’s music teachers were reluctant to talk about his talent, saying that they didn’t like to compare one student to another. While the name Interlochen may not be familiar to Jeremy’s classmates, it is considered to be the nation’s top fine arts boarding high school.

Like a lot of kids born and raised in Maine, Jeremy is looking forward to the adventure of leaving his home town and state. As for the sacrifice the rest of the family is making for his education, his father simply said, “This is what parents are supposed to do for their kids.”