My name is Will Carey and I am a 16 year old violinist from Kentucky. I began playing the violin at the age of 8. By the time I was 13 I had met my current private teacher, Dr Sila Darvile. When I first started to play the violin, I didn’t enjoy it very much and because my parents never made me practice, I only started improving when I met my new teacher. At that time(when I was 13), I was playing Seitz student concerto No.2 However, my new teacher was very strict and quickly I was able to catch up to and surpass many of the surrounding violinist my age in my area. The summer of my 15th year, I attended the Meadowmount School of music where I was able to make many connections in the music world as well as improve my studies on violin playing. This summer, I will attend the Ascent music festival. I love the violin because I believe it is one of the most honest things one can learn. That is to say, to learn the violin, you can’t simply learn and memorize information, You have to wrestle with what you learn. Sometimes, it feels like I am beating what is on the page into my hands over and over again. This seems quite tedious but in actuality, the relationship I build with a piece or any idea I am fostering for that matter when I am forced to spend more time with it, is very special and close to me.
You can find William’s 2024 Spring Music Competition violin performance here.