Next level Violist

Hello my name is Joshua Forbes and I am  a rising 11th grader heading to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) in Winston Salem for high school and continue to get my undergraduates degree in music. I am an aspiring Violist on the path to success.  Like any other student there are fees that are associated with attending this great school. Since I am attending as a High School student I only need to pay for room and board, music fees and food. I am reaching out to you and asking you to invest into my life with your donations. Check out my story below.  Take a listen to my music: https://youtu.be/BNzWJtz9U_4  My story: I am currently playing with the DSA Strings Orchestra and the Duke University String School. I am currently taking private lessons under the principal violist Simon Ertz of the Winston Salem Symphony. My ultimate goal is to travel the world and join a prestigious and forward thinking Orchestra so I can learn even more. Then I would want to come back home and share my gifting with other young aspiring kids. I started out in the music industry around the age of 7 years old (2010). I started out as a singer for a music school called Cinitap located in Raleigh, NC. The owner operator music instructor was Cinnamon Leggett. The school was great we had concerts, assorted performances. These concerts benefited multiple nonprofit organizations. At that school I had fun and made a lot of long term friendships. I sang songs from the hit show Glee to the Hippopotamus Christmas song. That was really fun. I stayed with Cinitap for at least two years. After Cinitap, I moved on to the Durham School of Arts where I discovered Orchestra. That’s when my love for the arts was exposed. My first ever Orchestra teacher was Boyd Gibson one of the best music teachers I ever known. I had to choose an instrument before I could participate in class. This was the toughest decision I ever made was between the high strings and the low strings. I had finally solved this dilemma. I decided to look at the number of people playing the Viola, Violin, Cello and the Bass then made my decision on which instrument I should play. Yes, I know this is not the most strategic way of choosing but it worked for me. So I settled on the Viola. After I had chosen my instrument I had my first class I learned so much on how the Viola works and couldn’t wait to begin my journey in the class orchestra. I knew then when it comes to playing the viola or any instrument my motto was this...“Just like a relationship, you have to cultivate it if you want it to grow into something great”. When I started out with the Viola it was tough doing the stuff the teacher asked me to do. Half of the lecture that he said I couldn’t even comprehend. So I sought out the teachers tutoring in the mornings to help me understand. I would go and practice, practice and practice until the piece sounded good. I even had to relearn some of the different notes such as flats and sharps. But as soon as I got the notes it was like a staircase from heaven. Over the years I grew better. In seventh grade I was second chair Violist sitting proud. But sadly I didn’t make it to the next highest orchestra. I was devastated on the brink of giving up my Viola and turning to the easy class of chorus. But my mother said something to me that changed my attitude towards things and totally flipped my perspective of the world. “If you try and don’t succeed try and try again." And on the second try in eighth grade I passed and went on to 1st period string orchestra. Sadly my old orchestra teacher left for retirement and I was left with a new teacher Mrs. Jody Crawford.  Mrs. Crawford was a very different than Mr. Gibson. She was more lenient and focused on the overall group rather than the intonation of the individual sections. She connected with each and every one of us. With Mrs. Crawford as our teacher we all climbed to new heights such as winning 1st place in our first official competition in Atlanta, Georgia 2016. After the victory of that competition we made our way to MPA and scored a 97 overall which was awesome for a string orchestra.             After the concerts and MPA I decided it was time to take my spot on top, this is when I enlisted tutoring with the Music and Arts which is a music store that also presented private lessons. My instructor there was none other than Ms. Katherine Serber a Cello and a Viola player. She taught me so much that it inspired me to become the best. First thing I ever learned from her was to sit up straight. She said to me almost every day “I tell my students to sit like a king”. Every lesson began with tuning and warm ups. It’s about hitting the right notes and making sure everything is correct or I could mess up. This was around the same time I was preparing for an audition with UNCSA. This school audition really would show my abilities as an artist and show my artistic talents. Every time I would leave Music and Arts I would go home and practice to make my music even better. Here is a tip on success if you work really hard and focus on what you want to do you can basically achieve anything. Never let any struggles or hardships get you down.             As an aspiring Violist I would always be tempted to look at other orchestras and see how I would line up against the group. Every time I would look I fade away into my imagination of the way their class would run. How they’re teachers would act and if their orchestra would be suitable for me.  After I finished thinking about other groups I thought about something that would help me get into a better grove with my Viola and how to ultimately improve. I talked to my mother about this and she thought about the fine Duke University String School. I was a little unsure with me being kind of shy around new people but I felt the need to expose myself to new things and start new adventure. I had prepared a piece just for this performance just to see how this piece would stack up for when I would be performing for the administrators and Deans at UNCSA. The piece I am referring to was none other than the G major Telemann Concerto (only the first part). I got in at least 2 minutes into the song and they stopped me. Then they had asked me to sight read which is pretty difficult when you were not expecting slurs, arpeggios, and an advanced tempo. But I think I did well. Great news I found out that I was placed in ISO. ISO was for the intermediate string players and that really made me feel sad. I believed that I was at least good enough for CSO (concert strings orchestra).      DUSS is a great school. To me the music at DUSS in ISO was not very challenging however, I decided to stick with it and learn to play with another orchestra. Through my first year I was able to explore music to its full capacity by taking additional classes on body posture, learning other pieces and how they were played in the era and style. This gave me a lot of background information on my music I was playing. We recently had our 50th concert at DUSS.  This was one of the most exciting experiences of my time at DUSS.  Now I am ready for the next chapter in my life. I know I will work really hard to achieve my goals.  So please consider donating to my education.  I promise you my name is going to be well known for greatness in the music world. Mark my words you willl see my name in lights across the world.