I started playing piano when I was three years old! My parents got me lessons and I’ve been playing ever since. That makes it about fourteen years now, which is crazy to think about.
When I was younger, I mostly just learned the basics – scales, simple songs, the usual stuff kids learn. But as I got older, I started getting more serious about it and began entering competitions, which was honestly so much fun!
The biggest thing that happened was winning the International Advanced Bach Award through the National Piano Playing Auditions. Only two people in the whole country got this award, so that was pretty huge for me! While Bach’s style wasn’t exactly my personal preference, working on his pieces definitely helped me develop better techniques. My actual favorite composer is Liszt because of how beautiful and emotional his music sounds.
I practice about an hour every day, working on new pieces and keeping up with the ones I already know. It takes discipline to keep up with it, but I’ve been doing it for so long that it’s just part of my routine now. Plus I enjoy practicing, when school gets stressful or life gets crazy, I can sit down and play and it helps me feel better. I genuinely love it so much! I’m definitely planning to keep playing in college and after. It’s been such a big part of my life for so long that I can’t really imagine stopping now.
Music will always be part of who I am!
Watch Adrian Martin Boyer-Paulet perform Liebestraum No. 3 by Franz Liszt on the piano for the 2025 Summer Music Competition as part of the Charleston International Music Competition.