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An Impossible Musician

Cover artwork by Yehor Kolbin, age nine, Ukraine

Adriana Villalba Roldán

January 28, 2025

Department: Fiction

Issue: Music and Art

You are probably thinking that this story will be boring and just a fantasy, but this success was true, and it will show the struggle of a girl who wanted to study what she loved.

The main character is Marta, a girl who loves music. She spends all her time practicing her instrument, the flute.

When she was younger, she loved to go to concerts and symphonies. She dreamed of becoming a musician and playing in lots of orchestras and becoming famous in the world.

Her mother, Tania, doesn’t like music. She cannot hear anything related to music. She is so angry with her daughter, because Marta loves music and her mother never talks about this. She hates concerts, she can’t hear the announcements that appear on the television.

She never understands why Marta loves music, because in their house, they never listen to music or anything like that. But she does not know that Marta’s grandmother takes her to lots of concerts — in secret, obviously.

Tania always works at night, so Marta sleeps in her grandmother’s house, so sometimes, they go to see the orchestra.

In September of 2016, Genara (the grandmother) was 50 years old. She planned to celebrate it on Saturday because that was the only day that Tania did not have to work.

Tania talked with her director and asked him to leave before work, to go to her mother’s birthday. She planned to throw a surprise party, so Tania went to her mother’s house and she found the house locked and the lights off.

She called Genara, and when she picked up the phone, Tania heard a little bit of noise, because they were at a concert. Tania ordered Genara and Marta to come back to the house and when they arrived, the mother was waiting, so angry.

From one moment to another she started to scream because she couldn’t believe that her mother, who knew that she did not like music, was going to concerts with Marta.

Tania didn’t continue working at night, and she punished her daughter by prohibiting her from seeing grandmother for a year.

Marta was so sad. She apologized over and over because she wanted to see Genara, but her mother didn’t change her opinion.

The next day, she was crying at school, and her French teacher talked with her about what happened. Marta told her the whole story. Her teacher couldn’t believe it, because she had studied at the conservatory and she wanted Marta to continue learning and being interested in music.

She organized a plan, which consisted of talking with Tania and saying to her that Marta behavior’s was very bad, she couldn’t concentrate in class, she didn’t pass the exams, and things similar to that. The teacher wanted Tania to send Marta to a boarding school, because that would benefit Marta.

The French teacher would organize this change, because the boarding school would send her to a school in the afternoons that taught music and how to play instruments, like a conservatory. That way Marta could learn music and her mother would not know.

When Marta heard the idea, she was so happy and thankful for the teacher.

The French teacher called Tania and told her what was happening with Marta, and Tania agreed with the teacher that the best decision was to send Marta to another school.

Two days later, Marta was packing her suitcases for the boarding school because she would leave the next day.

When she was on the bus, she was a little bit sad because she would spend a lot of time not seeing her mother and grandmother, but she was so excited about the new experience.

After two hours, she arrived at the school. She was surprised by the appearance of the school because she thought that it would be so old, but she realized that, no, it was modern.

The first day she talked with her classmates, found out which teachers that she would have during the year, and learned about the school rules and timetable.

In the afternoon, Marta took an exam to enter in the flute classes in the conservatory and she passed them. She was so excited, because after a long time she was going to learn music and play the instrument that she always wanted to play.

Marta called her French teacher and told her that the school was incredible and said again how thankful she was.

Tania had locked Marta’s mobile phone because she only wanted Marta to call her. The teachers of the new school did not know that; they gave their mobile phones to Marta so that she could call her grandmother, because since she had been punished she dreamed of calling her grandmother.

In this call she told her everything that had happened in these two weeks, and Genara was so happy for Marta, because she was hearing that Marta was so excited with her “new life.”

When Marta had spent one month at the boarding school, she couldn’t believe that her mother didn’t realize the truth, but she was happy for that.

Marta was at the boarding school for three years of secondary education and had finished high school.

A long time after, she passed the university entrance exam and earned the title of the professional conservatory of flute.

That day Marta cried a lot, because she was so excited to have finished her dream of “becoming a musician” and, apart from that, she could study whatever career she wanted at university.

On the other hand, Marta was sad because this school returned the illusion of studying music and all this thanks to her French teacher.

She couldn’t believe it, she thought she was in a dream, because she never thought her mom would allow her to study music.

This five years was a secret to her mom. Marta told her what had been happening during this time, and Tania was shocked, but she congratulated her daughter and said to her that if music was her dream, she must continue studying it.

Marta’s grandmother was also very happy for her, and Marta told Genara she was the best grandmother that a person could have.

In this story Marta has achieved her dream, and now she wants to teach primary school as a specialist in music.

You have to get involved in achieving your dreams, ignoring negative opinions.

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Adriana Villalba Roldán is a 16-year-old from Madrid, Spain.