Student Profile: Olivia Oschman

Olivia Oschman has only been playing the guitar for six months, but prior to starting she had wanted to learn to play for over two years.  When you consider that Olivia is only nine years old, it means she's had the desire to play guitar for almost a quarter of her life!  Since starting lessons at Music & Rock School, she's wasted no time in setting goals and working to achieve them.  Only a few months into lessons she was already playing some of her favorite songs.  "Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat...check.  "1, 2, 3, 4" by Feist...also in Olivia's repertoire.  She also lists Fergie, HEM, Linkin Park, and Addison Road as some of her favorite musicians.

 
I asked Olivia what song she'd play first if she were giving a concert for 1,000 people.  Her answer: "Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night" by Black Eyed Peas.  While her audiences may not have reached 1,000 yet, she regularly performs live web concerts for family via Skype.  And because she was unable to perform at the recent Music & Rock School concert, we recorded her playing "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie, to accompany this article.
 
Olivia continues to learn new songs and would also like to eventually write her own songs.  I think she's well on her way, as she's already started to experiment with lyrics, and writing chord progressions.
 
Finally, Olivia offers up a valuable bit of advice to other people just learning to play guitar: "Don't be too hard on yourself and HAVE FUN!"
 
Head on over to our videos page to watch Olivia do her thing!