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What I Learned After Quitting The Violin
Even if I would never be the best, it was still worth doing
Until middle school, I could not play an instrument. We moved around almost every year and with my family’s finances, school was the priority.
But by the time I was in the seventh grade, my family was in a better situation, and I felt left out because so many of my friends played musical instruments. Some of my friends and brother played the trumpet, and one of my best childhood friends played the piano.
While we had a keyboard for a short period of time, I never got too great at it and wasn’t super interested in it growing up. The piano was a bit too mechanical and formulaic. I wanted to play a string instrument or something with more flavor that could play higher notes.
In particular, I felt left out of many Asian spaces in middle and high school. While many other Asian people played an instrument, whether it was the piano or trumpet, I was the only one who did not.
When I was around 13, I started playing the violin and worked very hard to improve as a beginner. At that time, my family had tenants in the house to pay the bills. I loved instrumentals in video games like Final Fantasy, where there was a violin, so I really wanted to learn and get better going forward.
