My name is James. My favorite place to be, except at my computer, is on my piano bench. My parents have given me lessons since I was five years old. I'm nine now.

Mommy says that playing the piano will make me very smart. She says it's difficult to master the piano and that the new brain connections I make with piano will also help me with math. I think that's weird.

But that's not why I play the piano. Sometimes it feels like the piano is part of me, and that the music is coming right out of my heart. Sometimes I play so hard that I feel as if I have run the mile, like we do in gym. I play because I can lose myself in the music. It's natural. It's what I am.

Happy music and art, Cinder LeDell