One of the courses in order to graduate from St. Ambrose University with any degree is to take a class with creative arts. There were so many options to choose from, but once I saw piano, I knew I had to take it!

When I was younger, I actually took piano lessons for about 8 years. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't Beethoven or Mozart, but I enjoyed playing for fun, so I was really excited to jump back into it. Once I quit piano about 5 years ago, I just played by ear, meaning I could listen to a song and try to play it on the piano, without even looking at sheet music. Sheet music was somewhat hard for me to read so I wanted to go back to beginners just so I could refresh my memory a little bit. Boy, was I wrong.

One the first day of my class, my teacher quickly realized that I was not a beginner whatsoever and I can read music perfectly fine. Then, I was moved to level 3 which sometimes can be difficult, but it's at a good pace for me. To me, it was kind of fun, but once I got sick to the point where I was in the hospital a couple of times, it was hard for me to be happy. My teacher assigned me an amazing piece called "Beauty and the Beast" and I swear, it just lifted my spirits! I would play almost everyday and people would pass me practicing and tell me that it sounds amazing! When people stop and listen to me play any piece, it honestly makes me so happy. Not only does piano make me happy, it also makes other people around me happy. I can tell when they're looking down and seem bummed about something, when I'm playing in the lobby, it sometimes seems to brighten their spirits. That's what I'm trying to do: bring happiness.