What perseverance (and lots of parental support) looks like: https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧵" title="Thread" aria-label="Emoji: Thread">

People often ask me how I got into college, med school, etc and well...this is it.

Being concertmaster of the Duke symphony, performing for the former president of Taiwan, the awards ( #humblebrag) were all nice but the value of a musical background cannot be understated...

There’s the cliche stuff:
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🎻" title="Violine" aria-label="Emoji: Violine">the discipline of practice/lessons/competition/orchestra rehearsals
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🎻" title="Violine" aria-label="Emoji: Violine">the time devoted to above plus traffic jams/repairs
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🎻" title="Violine" aria-label="Emoji: Violine">the money spent
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🎻" title="Violine" aria-label="Emoji: Violine"> the tears shed
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🎻" title="Violine" aria-label="Emoji: Violine"> the teamwork learned thru chamber music...

There’s also the benefit gaining
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🎼" title="Partitur" aria-label="Emoji: Partitur"> a broader world view
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🎼" title="Partitur" aria-label="Emoji: Partitur"> an appreciation for all music
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🎼" title="Partitur" aria-label="Emoji: Partitur"> a perspective that I exist in a point on a timeline hundreds of years after some of these composers have died...

But watching these clips back, I realized it gave me something to be proud of then.

A little boost of confidence after every performance that yes, I did a thing.

And that reward is worth so much more than the video game cartridge I got in exchange for winning a trophy. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😌" title="Erleichtertes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Erleichtertes Gesicht">
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧶" title="Yarn" aria-label="Emoji: Yarn">