I have been playing the violin since I was in third grade. I initially decided that I wanted to play the violin when I heard Lindsey Stirling playing it on YouTube for the first time. She has been my inspiration ever since the first time I heard her song, Crystallize.  For years, I have been taking violin lessons to not only get to her skill, but to learn how to play a wide variety of music. I worked with one instructor for 5+ years and recently switched to a new instructor. They mean the world to me and I would not have been able to make it to where I am now without them. It is very important to have somebody willing to push you to your absolute limit and explore music with you when learning an instrument. In addition to playing  the violin, I have been experimenting in writing my own songs, as well as arranging medleys from pre-existing songs. I use an amazing program called Crescendo Music Notation Editing Software to do this. It is a very fun and unique experience to create and play your own music, especially if you have the right technology to do so. It lets you see music from different perspectives rather than just playing it or listening to it. I also find it particularly interesting and rewarding to play songs that I learned or attempted to play and found too challenging a year or so ago, to compare how much better I can play them now. It really helps to put things into perspective when I'm finding a piece to be extra difficult. It also teaches me to never give up. With the right practice, you can learn a seemingly impossible song in a matter of weeks...if not less! Practice is the other reason why I am where I am today. Trust me, to be a true instrumentalist, practice is everything. Never doubt yourself and never give up! This is how I turned my dream of playing the violin into a storm; a storm of music that now guides my life!