
Growing up with a part-time musician in my family has one hundred percent impacted both my future and me as a person. My dad is a life-long musician and plays multiple instruments, including guitar and, more recently, pedal steel. He has always encouraged my sister and I to pursue learning an instrument.
For me, my journey with music started with piano. When I was in second or third grade, I started learning to play piano with Ms. Lynette, but for the better part of my time playing, my piano teacher has been Megan Lombardo. Both of these teachers motivated me to keep learning and challenging myself.
Another way I’ve been involved in the music world has been through voice lessons, which I took for about a semester. I also started going to dance lessons when I was younger, and for a while that was a big part of my life. Looking back now, I’m sure that dance lessons helped me learn how to keep tempo with a piece of music. I did piano and dance lessons for a couple of years before everything was shut down due to Coronavirus.
Coronavirus shut down just about everything. Afterwards, the dance studio I went to was shut down permanently, and I went back to in-person piano lessons. Without dance lessons, my sole focus was on piano lessons once a week, and I was lacking in activities to keep me busy. I didn’t have any interest in sports at that point, but I needed to have another activity, so my mom suggested I join Rok Skool.
After a lot of convincing from both of my parents, I finally agreed to audition. It was completely nerve-wracking auditioning for Rok Skool, but I decided to go through with it and started Rok Skool early in eighth grade. In Rok Skool, I started learning to play bass and am forever grateful for my dad’s and Bones’ help in learning another instrument. Our band included seven people in my first semester of Rok Skool, so I had plenty of cover to make mistakes on the stage.
This year, our band started out with four people, which was both scary and exciting because it meant I was more of a vital part of the band. After performing at Snowfest this year for the first time with the new band, Exit Strategy, I feel much more confident in my musical abilities. Being on stage is scary because it puts you out of your comfort zone, but at the same time, it’s exhilarating to see all of your group’s hard work come together to create a performance that the audience can enjoy.
I’m very grateful to live in a town that has so many amazing artists and so much opportunity to interact with and learn from the creative people around me.