When I entered community college, I was a struggling student. I could not focus on a task till completion and lacked the motivation or passion to learn challenging material. I did not know what I wanted to do and tried everything I could get my hands on. An experience that molded my academic journey was learning to read music and play the piano.

Piano was completely new to me and I started out with not very much experience. Going in to the class, I was determined to do whatever it took to learn piano. My poor study habits held me back at first and I soon discovered my expectations did not match reality. I could not learn piano just because I wanted to. I accepted that learning piano takes discipline, work ethic, and passion. This soon became my favorite class and I spent over four hours a day in practice rooms determined to learn all 24 scales, read music and play Chopin Nocturne #2. In addition, I talked with my piano teacher and met weekly to show her my progress and receive advice. There was no apparent change in my playing ability until about three months in. Today, three years later, I have performed in three advanced piano concerts, tutored one classmate and taught a 10-year-old beginner.

This experience cultivated patience, discipline, performance skills, and interpersonal skills. It took over six months to learn Chopin’s Nocturne #2. Committing to this task required patience and discipline because reading music was completely new to me and the piece was very difficult. Some measures took over 200 attempts to learn. Such a beautiful composition is meant to be shared and I did many practice rehearsals to perform under pressure. All of this would have been nearly impossible without the support from my teachers. However, it was up to me to initiate meetings and explain clearly what I needed help with.

Eventually, these acquired skills and habits began to transfer into my academic life and made me a better Communications student – opening me up to express myself and begin to understand others in a way I hadn’t before. All my assignments are either essays, speeches, or group projects. I approach each task the same way I do  my piano performances, and apply the same methods of hard work and patience.

As a new researcher, I can draw upon the same habits and skill learned from piano. It takes patience to learn what you want to research and choose a path that you are passionate about. Instead of rushing a research planning guide I can take a more methodical and disciplined approach. Similarly, interpersonal skills are important for finding research mentors who help bring your ideas and passions to life. Ultimately, research is meant to be shared and applying the same principles learned from piano performance aids this goal.