Honor Student Finds Peace In Playing Piano

By commuting over an hour to Adelphi, five days a week, and practicing the art of piano for almost a decade, 19-year-old sophomore Katie Correa proves her sound dedication to schoolwork as well as music.

The pianist/songwriter/composer from Lake Grove, New York began training with basic and classical piano and soon moved up the ladder to jazz piano, in which she finds her passion next to songwriting and composing.

Starting at age 11, Correa began writing piano compositions and has already written ten original pieces so far.

“It’s just like [English] writing,” said Correa, an English major and Secondary Education minor. “Once you learn the vocabulary and the alphabet, you can do anything with language. That’s how I write music. Chords and words are the same,” said Correa, who also believes songwriting has a lot to do with experimentation.

As for her musical career at Adelphi, Correa has performed an original piano composition, “On My Way,” at Cause to Achieve Leadership, Intelligence, Brotherhood, Excellence, and Respect’s (CALIBER) talent show last November. Although the performance did not yield a winning prize, Correa was not discouraged and further agreed to play at CALIBER’s end of the year celebration in April at the “Black and White Affair.” For the duration of the evening, Correa played an original piece, “April’s End,” while guests enjoyed their formal dinner.

“You get to be part of the scene,” said Correa, unsurprisingly since her dream job is to record music, specifically soundtracks for romantic or historical fiction movies.

“Playing piano is expressive and relaxing. It doesn’t bombard you. It’s smooth,” said Correa, who decided not to major in music due to its rigid nature and intense training.

“I’d rather be more free with [music]. It can become so technical. I’d rather just be a rookie with it,” said Correa.

At Adelphi, Correa is the President of the Newman Club (Campus Catholic Ministry), a writer of the school newspaper, the Delphian, and an editor of the Honor’s College annual publication, The Symposium. On her spare time, Correa also gives weekly piano lessons to three 10-year-old students in her neighborhood and has done so for almost three years now. Next to teaching and playing piano, she enjoys reading, and writing creatively.

Photo courtesy of Katie Correa