Hi! My name is McKinzie. I started taking piano lessons when I was 5 years old. I would like to say that I fell in love with it right away, but that was not the case. My parents were very dedicated and my dad sat down with me every night to practice. There were lots of tears and fights, but they didn’t let me quit. When I was in 4th grade we had an end of the year talent show. My teacher played Waterfall by Jon Schmidt and I immediately fell in love. I biked to piano lessons after school with the name written on a sticky note to show my teacher and insisted that she teach me how to play it or I would quit that day and never come back. She seemed to know that this was a turning point for me. She had a copy of the book that had Waterfall and we got to work learning it. It took two full years for me to learn the song, but I did it. That is when I fell in love with the piano. After two years of hard work learning a song I loved I knew that playing music is what made me happy. It was something that I loved and was mine. I continued piano lessons with the same teacher through high school. She taught me for 13 years. I jokingly called her my second mom. Piano lessons were a safe place for me. A place where I could work on hard things and not feel judged. It was a place I could progress and become better. It was even a place where I could occasionally get help with math homework. I started teaching piano as a teenager. I took a short break to serve an LDS mission. I love teaching. I love to watch kids come to lessons and learn to love the piano for themselves. Helping them find “their” song. Their own version of my Waterfall. This past year I got divorced. I have two young kids that I am trying to support. Teaching piano has gotten me through financially. Playing the piano has gotten me through emotionally. I am so grateful for my parents and teacher’s dedication to helping me learn to love the piano. 
My piano has been passed down from my grandma to my mom and will be passed down to me. I hope that one day it will be passed down to my daughter. This piano has so many memories attached to it. When I was sad I went and played to cheer myself up. It’s where I went when I broke up with my first boyfriend. It’s where I taught my first lessons. It’s where I learned to love music. It’s where I went when school was too overwhelming and I needed a break. It’s where I feel safe. It was my first feeling of what home is.

• YEAR 1900-1910
• MAKE Schiller
• SERIAL NUMBER 38129
• FINISH Cherry
• CATEGORY CONTESTANT