Aixin is currently a freshman student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Boston)

My name is Aixin Liang (Lisa), a graduating NQHS senior this year. I took the unconventional route of learning violin before piano, so when I started piano lessons at EKS seven years ago, it felt like my previous music knowledge did not really help. Most of the techniques I learned on violin were on beginners level and the only things that transferred were phrasing and knowing how to read the treble clef. However, my years of studying under various teachers at EKS has helped me build a strong foundation in music that now allows me to put my own artistic interpretation on what I play. For that, I am extremely grateful, and I want to deeply thank all the instructors I have learned from for what they have taught me. Not only have I unlocked a wider range of repertoire, but I have also cultivated techniques that allowed me to better express myself through my music. From learning better phrasing to the dozens of ways a single note could be played, these are the things that have refined me into the musician I am today. Music has also become a huge part of my life in other ways. What I have learned, musical or not, have carried into other aspects of my life. This includes skills such as goal-setting, time management, and consistency. And although I no longer actively study violin, I have taken what I’ve learned into other places, like the Southeastern Philharmonic Orchestra, where I learned to play Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony for the first time. This fall, I will be attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology in pursuit of a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Biology. Although music will not be my main focus in university, I hope to join at least one of the two orchestras at MIT. As I close this chapter of my life here, I will begin another one. But if there is one thing that will undoubtedly be a part of my journey, it will always be music.