As I was growing up with my grandparents, my uncle would always come by and play the violin. I always found this to be a fun and incredible ability, and wanted to start playing the violin at an early age. When I was 4 years old, I started taking lessons, and have been in several orchestras along the way. For several years, I was involved in each orchestra of the Tacoma Youth Symphony Association. That was definitely a great experience each and every year, along with the summer camps. One year, I ended up making it into the All-State Orchestra, which are the top 250 high school musicians in the state. That was truly a great and unforgettable experience. Nothing like learning a Mahler symphony in a single weekend! Aside from those, I have participated in school orchestras along the way as well. These include the Wilson HS Orchestra, the TCC Orchestra, the PLU Orchestra, and now the Rainier Symphony for the past few years. A few years ago, I also started learning the piano from Jackie Graybill. She as since moved to Nashville to pursue music as more of a full-time career, but her instruction was invaluable! My focus was taking the piano in a different direction than the violin and focus on improv... particularly pop piano covers and learning to play from lead sheets. Here is a link to one of my videos, with more to come!