In 2019, I walked into my first violin lesson with a new teacher, Ning Kam. I had prepared the Adagio from Bach’s Solo Sonata in g minor exactly the way I had heard in recordings and performances, and was excited to play it for her. But she went on to say something that has had a lasting impact. She said that although Baroque music is thought as complex due to its use of learned counterpoint, it should still be filled with character and that I should imagine a dance-like pulse with emphasized and weaker steps just as in speech and poetry. I had been playing violin for over 10 years at this point, but I felt for the first time a deep personal relationship with music, and realized that the bean sprout looking markings on the page were simply the composer’s way of communicating their ideas to its performer/interpreter and listeners. Because of this discovery, I became more critical of my musical choices which impacted my musical intuition in the most positive ways. Although it was one lesson, until now, I have tried to experiment with different characters and the different combination of tools I have as a violinist: bowing, fingering, phrasing, tempo, et cetera. Because of this newfound “freedom”, I have had the most joyous time creating my own unique color palette and paint brushes to accurately portray the beautiful music I hear in my heart. Since beginning college at NEC, I have been exploring the uses of historical instruments. I learned how to play the Baroque violin and am continuously learning the different subtleties those instruments offer compared to the modern violin. I took lessons with period instrument performers from the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston, in order to gain their thoughts and insight. Knowing that this is a field of music that is still growing in popularity in the U.S, I envision that through my interest and passion towards this knowledge and use of historical instruments, I can become for my generation, someone who recognizes its room for growth and will advocate for it. From the renaissance period, there is so much music that has yet to be played by many and I want to encourage my colleagues to explore and find the beauty that I know is there. I plan to continue taking advantage of the great resources NEC has to offer and continue taking lessons; to learn, find and perform works of forgotten or lesser known composers from the Renaissance and Baroque period onwards. I hope to join the Handel and Haydn Society fellowship and am planning a unique concert this October showcasing these works. I know there will be many challenges with this kind of program: finding an interpretation for a piece that may have been popular in its time but does not have many recordings, making this type of concert experience accessible, interesting, and relevant to more people so that they can see and hear it the way I do. Being a student at NEC, I am privileged to have taken part in excellent outreach concerts through the Community Performances and Partnerships program which allows me to share my playing with the community while curating my own interactive and engaging concerts for the audiences including senior homes and schools. With the help of this scholarship, I want to start by presenting these concert experiences to the community and showing the public how wonderful this music can be.