“Piano is my version of therapy,” junior Ayla Richards said. “I see it as a way to let go and just express myself freely; it calms me down, honestly.”
For Richards, piano is more than just an instrument, for her, it’s more of a gift.
“When I was six years old, I was playing this really easy piece. My piano teacher who literally was stone faced started crying because I was being so expressive,” Richards said.
Playing piano is not just putting your fingers on certain keys, but also a way of sharing your stories and feelings with the audience.
“I’ve always been able to put whatever I was feeling into a piece and use the dynamics to express myself. The way I move with the music was just really expressive,” Richards said.
Richards has great achievements in piano competition, three of which were consecutive wins in the national piano competition Golden Key, after which she was given the opportunity to perform in Carnegie Hall. She also won two Charleston Competitions, and multiple international competitions including Classical Music Competition and Baroque Music Competition
Her accomplishments and performances on stage may seem effortless, but behind the scenes lie years of hard work and practice to achieve this proficiency.
“There was this one competition when I had to cram; it was two and a half hours a day of practicing every single day. It was insane,” Richards said.
Not many people would enjoy practicing the same piece or skill for hours day after day, and Richards did not enjoy piano in the beginning.
“My old teacher made me keep practicing every single day for hours, and it was just a drag. And then I came in and he’d be disappointed with what I put on the practice,” Richards said.
From being annoyed with piano to becoming an expert, all it took was a new teacher.
“I got this new teacher; he just didn’t care. He told me to do whatever I want as long as I am happy with the results,” Richards said.
A good teacher makes a poor student good and a good student superior. Richards’s new teacher completely changed her attitude toward piano.
“I started to become interested in how I was doing, instead of how my piano teacher wanted me to do; I was becoming self driven,” Richards said.
For Richards, piano is a lifelong passion that has shaped who she is today and will continue helping her in the future. Richards hopes to double major in piano in college.
“I think piano is a community; a lot of people take competitions a little too seriously, but I’m there to follow a passion,” Richards said.
Photo courtesy of Ayla Richards.
