Succeeding Against All Odds

I began learning cello at the age of 11 and by the age of 17, I have performed in Carnegie Hall and The Lincoln Center in NYC, along with various other prestigious venues throughout Metro Atlanta. My cello journey wasn't always filled with success though...

I came from a family with no musical background: my parents never played any instruments, had no musical connections, and didn't know how things worked in the music world. My first cello wasn't the greatest instrument and I thought practicing 1 hour a day was a lot. It wasn't until high school where I started learning from a teacher that focused on fixing my fundamentals. However, that was not enough. In my sophomore year of high school, I did not make a single orchestra I auditioned for. 

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Frustrated and defeated, I began experimenting in hopes to find any means to come ahead of the competition. I tried practicing in ways against the norm and created my own exercises, methods normal teachers would call me crazy for. In my Junior year of high school, my I made it into every orchestra I auditioned for, even sitting in the front of the cello section for some. 

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Succeeding in cello took a lot more than hard work and dedication for me; I had to be innovative and come up with ways to improve faster than my peers. I want to share my journey and everything I have learned with my students so they don't have to go through the same mistakes I did.