Practicing cello allows me to become a better musician, but moreso a responsible and driven individual. It continuously reminds me that the most worthwhile achievements require hard work. Jazz is one of those achievements. Through becoming a technical and theory-driven classical musician performing in music competitions and in my region’s youth symphonies, I stumbled across jazz one day and was immediately drawn toward its intricate chord progressions and complex improvisations. A year later I performed for residents of a nursing home. I began to play a nocturne, one I rehearsed numerous times before. By the middle of the piece, however, I felt that the song was missing the energy I hoped to convey; it was melancholy and complacent. There