love for a passion

By Tommy N

For the past few years, a student, Mario Perez, a junior at Yerba Buena High School, has been a pianist who played piano for a long time. He spent his time learning as a beginner on piano and has a long way to go to make it to the top.

While Mario was growing up, he learned how to do everything by himself while playing the piano. He didn’t have any tutoring nor any piano classes as he was only self-taught, so he would have to come up with something creative. His method of practicing himself is watching Youtube videos and listening to the sound from songs. “Songs that I use to practice myself are classical music since most music teachers use classical music as a way to teach new kids,” said Perez.

Mario has played the piano for about 6 years, but has taken breaks from it for his own health so he doesn’t get mentally drained or overwork himself. “If you’re able to enjoy it from a long break, then that’s something you really enjoy,” said Perez.

Even though 6 years of piano has picked up a lot of experience for him, he also scooped up a lot of bad habits over the years.

Mario has taken breaks from the piano to maintain good health over the years. His first break was in quarantine, when all of us were locked inside of our homes and did distance-learning. His second break was after quarantine, which he described getting frustrated after messing up when trying to practice his skills.

Piano allows Mario to also express how he feels: “Piano is important because I love to play music, express myself, and my thoughts,” said Perez. “Sometimes I play songs on the piano to express how I feel. But I have never written my own songs yet,” said Perez in a follow up interview.

In the future when Mario gets out of high school, he plans on taking music classes during college; “Maybe in music, I considered doing music as a career. I do want to go to a music college,” said Perez.