The young, confident, and accomplished pianist of today is not the person who came
to the U.S. from the Philippines with her family in 2016. When Arabella came to the
States, she was very much an introvert, and playing the piano was not even in her
thoughts. Instead, her family expected her to be a nurse like her mother.
Arabella’s older brother was a music major at Odessa College at that time. Being around
her brother and seeing his talent sparked a growing interest in her to learn to play
the piano, but her family was not financially able to afford piano lessons for her.
Eventually she and music professor Gayle Bizzell would cross paths. Ms. Bizzell recognized
Arabella’s interest and recruited her as an OC music student where she could pursue
her passion.
With Ms. Bizzell as her instructor, Arabella began her piano lessons at OC by learning
the basics and playing simple beginner pieces. Today, only three short years later,
she is an accomplished, confident, and gifted pianist playing pieces by Frederic Chopin
and other masters.
Arabella says that for her “music is nourishment for our soul, and the only time I
had a spark (when I was in school) was here at OC playing piano.”
“If not for OC, I don’t think I would ever have become a music major. I was able to
get scholarships, I had strong support from my instructors and a community that I
was part of in the music department,” said Arabella. “Talking with my instructors
even helped me become more extroverted,” she said with a sparkle in her eyes and a
smile that lit up her whole face. “They pushed me beyond limits that I thought I had,
and that was good for me. I am now playing with others in ensembles and networking
which leads to other opportunities to play.”
“Now, I am proud of what I have accomplished and my love of music.”
Arabella will soon leave her OC college community for the next part of her higher
education journey – beginning her bachelor’s degree studies at Texas State University
in the fall and continuing to explore her opportunities for a career in music.