Eric Smith

So right around age three, a little kid living at home with my mom and dad, they had an old school upright piano, small home, small piano. I have memories of this, and there's photos of it somewhere here. Music was such a driving force in my life. I remember getting ready for a bath one night.

So right around age three, a little kid living at home with my mom and dad, they had an old school upright piano, small home, small piano. I have memories of this, and there's photos of it somewhere here. Music was such a driving force in my life. I remember getting ready for a bath one night.

So right around age three, a little kid living at home with my mom and dad, they had an old school upright piano, small home, small piano. I have memories of this, and there's photos of it somewhere here. Music was such a driving force in my life. I remember getting ready for a bath one night.

I had this melody in my head from The Sound of Music, and it was, you know, it's the famous Doe A Deer Female Deer song, if anyone's familiar with that. And I had this in my head, and I remember the bath is being drawn, and I just run, run, run out to the piano. And I'm there not playing some expert version of it, but I'm sitting there. Key is C, no flats, no sharps for the musicians listening.

I had this melody in my head from The Sound of Music, and it was, you know, it's the famous Doe A Deer Female Deer song, if anyone's familiar with that. And I had this in my head, and I remember the bath is being drawn, and I just run, run, run out to the piano. And I'm there not playing some expert version of it, but I'm sitting there. Key is C, no flats, no sharps for the musicians listening.

I had this melody in my head from The Sound of Music, and it was, you know, it's the famous Doe A Deer Female Deer song, if anyone's familiar with that. And I had this in my head, and I remember the bath is being drawn, and I just run, run, run out to the piano. And I'm there not playing some expert version of it, but I'm sitting there. Key is C, no flats, no sharps for the musicians listening.

So it's one of the easier keys to play. And I sit down and it's like the notes. Do, a dear, a female. And I'm doing it. My parents are like, you got to be kidding me. Like he's transferring melody to the piano at such a young age. And the picture to which I'm referring that still exists is me sitting with a, I've still got my sweater on, but I've got like no bottoms on.

So it's one of the easier keys to play. And I sit down and it's like the notes. Do, a dear, a female. And I'm doing it. My parents are like, you got to be kidding me. Like he's transferring melody to the piano at such a young age. And the picture to which I'm referring that still exists is me sitting with a, I've still got my sweater on, but I've got like no bottoms on.

So it's one of the easier keys to play. And I sit down and it's like the notes. Do, a dear, a female. And I'm doing it. My parents are like, you got to be kidding me. Like he's transferring melody to the piano at such a young age. And the picture to which I'm referring that still exists is me sitting with a, I've still got my sweater on, but I've got like no bottoms on.

So I'm just sitting there at the piano, just kind of like going all out, trying to play. as a musician. And I think at that point, it became very apparent to my parents that nurturing my creative music side was a good idea because it was something I was gravitating to in the first place. So let's fast forward to like third, fourth grade type stuff. I am in what were advanced classes for the time.

So I'm just sitting there at the piano, just kind of like going all out, trying to play. as a musician. And I think at that point, it became very apparent to my parents that nurturing my creative music side was a good idea because it was something I was gravitating to in the first place. So let's fast forward to like third, fourth grade type stuff. I am in what were advanced classes for the time.

So I'm just sitting there at the piano, just kind of like going all out, trying to play. as a musician. And I think at that point, it became very apparent to my parents that nurturing my creative music side was a good idea because it was something I was gravitating to in the first place. So let's fast forward to like third, fourth grade type stuff. I am in what were advanced classes for the time.

I was in advanced math, advanced English. I had a lot of friends, which will be relevant to a later part of the story where I did not have a lot of friends. But for this time, I had a lot of friends and I was studying music. It was a huge part of my life.

I was in advanced math, advanced English. I had a lot of friends, which will be relevant to a later part of the story where I did not have a lot of friends. But for this time, I had a lot of friends and I was studying music. It was a huge part of my life.

I was in advanced math, advanced English. I had a lot of friends, which will be relevant to a later part of the story where I did not have a lot of friends. But for this time, I had a lot of friends and I was studying music. It was a huge part of my life.

And it got to a point where at the start of fifth grade, when I moved to Texas, there was my piano teacher who eventually became for the next several years, my teacher. And I'm happy to share her name, Anya Grykowski, who is a world renowned classical pianist. I started studying under her and within a very short period of time,

And it got to a point where at the start of fifth grade, when I moved to Texas, there was my piano teacher who eventually became for the next several years, my teacher. And I'm happy to share her name, Anya Grykowski, who is a world renowned classical pianist. I started studying under her and within a very short period of time,

And it got to a point where at the start of fifth grade, when I moved to Texas, there was my piano teacher who eventually became for the next several years, my teacher. And I'm happy to share her name, Anya Grykowski, who is a world renowned classical pianist. I started studying under her and within a very short period of time,

I ended up starting to learn pieces that were like college entrance and college exit pieces. But I was like in middle school at that point. It truly became clear that this was more than just a hobby for me and something that I was excelling in. Fast forwarding to high school, my sophomore year was the last full year of high school because I dropped out of high school my junior year.

I ended up starting to learn pieces that were like college entrance and college exit pieces. But I was like in middle school at that point. It truly became clear that this was more than just a hobby for me and something that I was excelling in. Fast forwarding to high school, my sophomore year was the last full year of high school because I dropped out of high school my junior year.