As a young child, my mother made an effort to include me in all that she could: especially when it came to music. During her pregnancy and for a while after I was born, my mom played classical music to "increase my IQ" and to introduce me to the music I would later be playing throughout my life. She was trained in classical piano from a young age and continued with it for the majority of her life.

This apparently meant that I would also be trained in classical piano because it was such a passion of hers, it was bound to be a passion of mine as well. Starting when I was around two years old, I was taken, routinely, to kinder music (music classes for toddlers) where a bunch of random children hit instruments together to make "music." If you ever get the change, I highly recommend you go and watch a class - very interesting stuff.

Anyways, I started piano at the age of three or four. Now, I was a sneaky child and liked to fool my teachers at the University of Kentucky Music School by convincing all of them, until around the age of 8, that I was able to read music. I would quickly ask them at the beginning of class to play my song to "hear what they wanted each part to sound like." Little did they know that I would study their fingers and memorize the song through listening, not reading music.

My teachers always wondered why I would never look up to read my music when playing - it's because I had no need to, I had the piece memorized. After many successful performances at several venues all around the university's auditoriums, I decided that I hated piano and I couldn't play anymore. It was true, I hated learning the piano, but I loved music.

I begged my mom to learn the guitar for years, but she refused. Thus began the vicious cycle of beginning, and simultaneously dropping, piano.

Fast forward to five years later, when I was living in Maryland. At my, very Catholic, middle school, it was required for eighth graders to learn the guitar. I am left handed, meaning I needed a left-handed guitar. After learning how to flip the written music upside down and backward in my head in order to translate it to the physical act of playing the guitar and then re-learning entirely when I was finally given a left-handed guitar, I began to perform in music class.

I picked the guitar up incredibly fast. It was probably because I loved it so much. One day after a performance, my music teacher pulled me aside. She handed me the business card of a local guitar teacher and said she had been watching me for a while and was very "impressed." I guess my passion was an obvious one.

I began lessons and before I knew it, I was playing very difficult pieces. Something I made sure to do, however, was to sing whilst I played. I could never manage to perform the guitar without singing along.

Long story short, I somehow ended up in the United Arab Emirates, a few years later. My music course at the time (IGCSE) required me to choose an instrument to be examined on for a large percentage of my grade. I told my teacher the only practical answer I could think of: guitar.

Now, my music performance teacher had listened to me perform around school, and she had heard me sing. Singing was always a passion of mine - I did it all the time, but I'd never been trained properly. She told me that voice would be a better option.

I couldn't believe it. I was immediately thrown into voice lessons. Needless to say, I earned 100% on my performance portion, and also completed Trinity College London's Grade 4 Exam for Pop and Rock Vocals with a merit awarded. Voice seemed too easy, I picked it up even faster than guitar. My classes felt more like fun than work, and I couldn't get enough.

Eventually, I left that school though. I transitioned right after my IGCSE exams. This is very common amongst people studying in the British system. I was, again, the new kid with no idea of how I would fulfill my musical needs.

The voice teachers at school were not particularly interested in anything besides classical music, and therefore had no intention of tailoring any of the music towards what I actually enjoyed. The only solution was to search for a teacher outside of school.

The search was longwinded, but we finally found a woman to teach me. I had attended many music schools in search of someone who, not only cared about my success and progress personally, but who also would be able to teach the repertoire I desired. We found her, and her name was Mrs. Alexandra.

We all know the stereotypes about Russian music teachers, and I'm not going to sit behind my laptop and claim that they are all false, or all accurate (I used to have a Russian piano teacher who would hit my hands everytime I played a wrong note). But Mrs. Alexandra was different.

In the beginning, I had my doubts about her. She seemed nice but she barely spoke any English, which made the teaching portions of lesson quite difficult. Although lessons were sometimes confusing, we made it work. At the end of the day, written music has its own language, and that's how we communicated. There are very few people in my life that have truly molded and transformed the person I am today, and she falls into this category.

* * *

Dear Mrs. Alexandra,

Thank you. Thank you so much for being my music teacher in Abu Dhabi. Thank you for being who you are, where you are, because I would have never found you despite them.

I remember when I was searching for a teacher and I stumbled upon Maestro Music School - your music school. I made an appointment to see you at the beginning of 2016, and when I said that I wanted to skip from Trinity College London Grade 4 to Grade 7, your colleagues laughed. Not in a mean way, but it was so incredibly difficult to do, no one ever thought I would be able to do it. We started work immediately. Twice a week for an hour and a half at a time.

In terms of voice lessons, the reason that I had enjoyed them so much in the past is that I just sang songs. No technique. Coming into Maestro, you told me that if I continued singing in the way that I was, although I sounded like "an angel," my voice would start declining soon and, by the age of 25, completely cease to work. I can't even begin to tell you how difficult it was to accept the fact that I had been breathing backward my whole life. And then I had to reverse it.

It took a lot of practice. It's weird to form a critical mind about something as simple as your breathing, but I did it.

You then taught me how to perform. You showed me how to properly use a microphone in every lesson, how to move on stage, how to really feel the music, and how to then make the audience feel my emotions.

You booked me countless performances at world-renowned hotels, for the King's family, and even an audition for Disney. Our lessons turned into daily visits of around 2 hours. We would practice technique, repertoire for my next performance, and sight singing/improvisation. There was nothing we couldn't do - except to win against the fight of time.

A year flew by as I was accepted into many amazing music programs and musical theatre schools across the US, far from Maestro and the family. I could see the excitement and sadness grow in your eyes with each acceptance.

In just a year, my voice had transformed into something completely new. Lessons every day of the week and performances every weekend turned me into the performance and musician I am today. I won so many awards because of you - "Best Musical Performer of the School," "The Music Exhibitioner," 'Most Accomplished," "Singer of the Year," and so much more.

You gave up so much time for me. You stayed after hours, moved other students around, and gave me so many free lessons, just to help me improve and prepare for an upcoming event.

We never really sat down to establish our pasts. Everyone has their hard times, and I know that being a music teacher, although a beautiful and respected job, doesn't have the highest paying salary in the world. You let me learn free of charge on many occasions.

You printed my music, you purchased pianos and music stands, the sound equipment, and the studio. You didn't have to, but you did it anyway. You sit down and have the decency and professionalism to teach students how to use music equipment, and now to build a character on stage. You really go above and beyond the simple music.

You are such a talented and beautiful woman. On very few occasions, we would sit and talk about our lives for a change. You would tell me about your music training and how intense it was. The respect I have for you is unimaginable and inconceivable in amount.

There are not many teachers who live for watching their students succeed, however, you are one of them. You fought for me, and after I completed my Trinity College London Grade 8 Rock and Pop Vocal with a merit awarded (the last grade) after so many teachers told me it would never be possible, we just smiled.

You taught me how to sing, how to perform, and how to warm the hearts of others with my music. For that, I can never repay you. When I say you changed my life, you really, truly, honestly did. I would never be where I am today, a music major, with so much experience in the true music industry, without your help.

Leaving was the hardest. I didn't quite know how to say goodbye, and I knew there was nothing out there that I could ever buy to represent the amount of gratitude I had towards you. Our goodbyes broke my heart, but I had to leave for college. I will never forget what you said to me and how it brought me to tears. "Georgia, it has been such a pleasure working with you. You were always so talented, I never felt that I really had to teach you much. You were never a student to me, you were more like a colleague."

Mrs. Alexandra, thank you. You changed my life and I only pray you keep on changing others' as well.

Love,

Georgia.