Korusleine Music Academy - Katy, Richmond, Fulshear TX

Moral of the story:

We all have our innate talent that God has given us to share with others. As a child, we kind of know already what our talents are. Now, our role as parents is to help our child rediscover and polish these talents. We need to support and guide them so they can use their gifts to the fullest like what God has planned them to be.

In my story, I knew what I wanted to do but I wasn’t quite there yet. I started kind of late in polishing my singing ability. I didn’t lose hope and my parents saw that so they finally helped and supported me. I’m happy now of what I have achieved as a singer. My goal wasn’t to be famous, my goal was to make people happy with my songs - and with that, I’ve reached the pinnacle of what I was made to be.

--- Marizel Mercado - Voice Coach, Co-Founder - Korusleine Music Academy

Ever since I was young, I had expectations to live up to because of how well-known my family was for being involved in music. I was born into a family of musicians who were mainly singers and because of that, my first experience with music was through singing. There was a routine that I got used to that consisted of tagging along with my parents to choir practices, listening intently to the music, and then listening to the discussions my parents would have about the rehearsal on the way home. Because of my parents’ reputation as musicians, they often got questions from friends and family along the lines of whether or not I could sing. I could, but not well. Listening to the choirs that my parents were part of, I knew I wasn’t up to par with the rest of them and I needed to work on my voice before I could be as good as what I was used to hearing. I stopped singing for a number of years after my voice changed, and my focus was put somewhere else: percussion.

I had a friend whose dad was the drummer for our choir, and he asked me if I was interested in playing. Encouraged by my family, I started to take lessons after church choir was over since I was going to my friend’s house on the regular. I struggled at first, but the work that I put in after a few months paid off when I was finally good enough to take over. I played drums for a number of churches in California with my family before moving to Katy where I really started to get better at playing percussion.

When it comes to my progress as a musician, moving to Katy was one of the best decisions my family and I have ever made. I was introduced to the band program at my new school in the eighth grade with very little formal training. At this point, the kids in my grade have had at least 2 years of playing experience in a formal program while I had none. I played for beginning band in the eighth grade and by the end of the school year, the director put me in contact with the high school band director. I ended up playing two years of percussion in the front ensemble and two years on the drumline. At this point, I had my first experience with teaching when I decided to help an incoming freshman get into drumline. A few years later, that freshman graduated high school from the top band and as the drumline captain.

I took my experiences from high school and started up a percussion ensemble at Concordia University Texas with the help of the university percussion instructor. With this new program, a handful of university students who have never played percussion in their lives learned how to play them in an ensemble setting in front of audiences consisting of their professors, family, and peers. I took time out of my own schedule to help the new students learn their instruments, and doing so prepared me for my next experience: teaching formal lessons.

Currently, I am the percussionist at St. Faustina Catholic Church in Fulshear, TX. I am teaching one student in the Katy/Fulshear area and two students in Austin through the Austin Fine Arts Academy. I am also the percussion instructor at Korusleine Music Academy. Even though I’ve transitioned from student to teacher, I am still growing as a musician and I definitely still have plenty to work on. I make sure that my students will always have something new to work on, just like their own teacher.

--- Christian Mariano - Piano and Percussion Instructor, Co-founder - Korusleine Music Academy