Marissa King wants to be a lawyer, but before she makes it to the courtroom, she's making music in the concert hall. This straight A homeschooler from Marion has played piano for 10 years. She practices two hours a day, four hours a day when she has a competition. At the Hochstein School of Music and Dance, she's learning from the best: Dean of Students Gary Palmer. "He's worked on a lot of technical things and I think it's made a very big difference in my playing," Marissa says. "I really like contemporary music," she says. "It's really fun to play fast, loud, banging and I like the sound of it as well." When she's not playing piano, Marissa's playing the violin. She's first violin in the Hochstein Youth Symphony Orchestra. Palmer calls her an excellent musician with a keen intellect. "I just hope she has a lifelong love of music," he says. "The qualities she brings to her music, she'll bring that same passion to law." "But I still want to do music," says Marissa. "I'll probably be involved in a local community orchestra while I'm in school." Marissa hopes to attend Patrick Henry College in Virginia with a major in history. Then it's off to law school. But she'll always have music to guide her!
