I became a musician mostly by accident. Though in retrospect it seemed so obvious; I would make up nonsensical lyrics in the shower and pick out the melodies to TV show themes long before I had any sort of musical training, but my decision to pick up the cello in 6th grade was spurred on mostly by the fact that no one else wanted to do it. In fact, the decision to play an instrument at all came as a surprise to my parents. But I was determined to pursue an artistic medium that spoke to me, and soon I had gone from learning to play in school to writing music on my own time. Music just sort of made sense to me in a way nothing else really had before. And once I had the chance to experience my 8th grade orchestra perform one of my originals and I got to conduct, I knew instinctively that this is what I wanted to do for my life.