Junior, Claudia Ruiz-Carus, has found inspiration and learned discipline from her dedication to the violin.

Ruiz-Carus was originally forced to start playing when she was four years old. Around nine or ten, she really developed a passion for it. 

During the summer before freshman year, she engaged in a lot of camps for violin. Notable ones include the Luzerne Music Center in New York, as well as a string camp in Oklahoma and FSU. Before that, she was in youth orchestra since the fourth grade. 

As Ruiz-Carus has progressed through high school, she has been in an increasing number of conservatories. During this most recent summer, she went to Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio.

“The Baroque program is music of the 1600s and 1700s, where you play on historically accurate instruments,” said Ruiz-Carus. “That was a really unique immersive experience. Now I am interested in studying the Baroque violin in college.” 

Ruiz-Carus wants to go to a musical conservatory to study music history in graduate school and become a professor.

Ruiz-Carus feels lucky to have discovered this passion and talent so early on in life. She says, “It is who I am. An extensive part of my personality.”

“It’s made me a lot more interested in historical things,” said Ruiz-Carus, “[I feel] more unique at school because not a lot of people play string instruments.”

Balancing school and music has been beneficial for her. Ruiz-Carus shares that one has to make an active decision to practice this instrument. In addition to determining how long, there is also the decision of what to practice. 

“I find practicing my instrument the hardest journey of playing music,” said Ruiz-Carus. “Getting out there and performing is easier.”

Ruiz-Carus mentions that it has made her a much stronger student because she can focus more easily and identify her problem areas. 

When describing her study habits, she says, “I am able to just lock in and focus for hours on [schoolwork],” similar to in violin how, “[I]n practice, you have to go through the measure and really pick it apart. I have to do the same with my violin and my [school]work.”