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At the age of six, she began learning to make music with the black and white keys. At age 11, she began private piano lessons to help hone her craft. Now, at age 19, junior Sophia Turnbull will perform her student recital this afternoon to show how far she has come.

Turnbull worked with piano instructors Karen and Jeffrey Savage during her time at WSU. Through weekly or often even more frequent lessons with the Savages, she has been able to perfect her program.

Turnbull’s program consists of pieces from multiple time periods. She will be performing a Bach toccata, a Beethoven sonata, a piece from Debussy’s “Images” collection titled “Reflections in the Water” and a scherzo by Chopin.

“They’re all exciting for different reasons, but I enjoy playing the Debussy piece the most,” Turnbull said. “I’m the most comfortable with it, and the piece is very focused on painting pictures through music.”

Turnbull expects the audience to find the Chopin piece the most exciting because in general, she believes it’s more engaging to listen to with more dynamic tempo changes. The exact piece audience members enjoy the most matters less to her than the audience just appreciating the music.

“I really want the audience to have an emotional connection to what I’m playing,” Turnbull said. “I want it to be relaxing and encouraging, and I hope they just enjoy listening to the music.”

Challenges obviously come with performing student recitals like this. Some of the most difficult parts for Turnbull were memorizing all her pieces, and the nerves that come with performing soloist pieces live.

“I’ve had to memorize all my music which was very stressful for a long time. I had to learn how my brain best processed learning so much music,” Turnbull said. “I’ve tried to become excited about sharing my music with people, so I’m less nervous about the recital. My goal is to share music and encourage people to have an emotional experience with live music.”

While this process has been stressful, it’s also been extremely rewarding, Turnbull said.

“The whole process is really exciting because I get to see – through my instructors and through practice – how much I’ve improved just since last year,” Turnbull said. “Hours in the practice room can get really monotonous, but it’s really exciting to see the results through this kind of performance.”

Turnbull’s student recital will begin at 4:10 p.m. this afternoon in the Kimbrough Concert Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.

“It’s really exciting. (When performing live), the adrenaline is so intense,” Turnbull said. “After, it’s so relieving and exciting, and you can look back on your performance and feel encouraged by how you performed.”