Why I Started Rest

Contrary to the musician stereotypes, my parents didn't push me to start playing my instrument. Honestly, neither did I. My musical journey so far has been a very bumpy road, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

My district required me to pick an elective, so I joined my middle school orchestra, and viola just..stuck. I remember hearing how resonant the C string was, sending chills down my spine. Its tone mimicked the human voice quite well and told stories no words ever could.

I had a meh relationship with it. It became this place where I could create experience and sound while being decently good at it. I’ve always been a very intuitive player. But, the more I began to fall in love with it, the more it hurt. 

The summer before my freshman year, I attended a local music camp for about 3 weeks. It changed my perspective on everything. I was in a room full of musicians, not middle schoolers who played an instrument because they didn’t want to take theatre. The passion electrified every rehearsal, and I wanted to be a part of it. That summer camp served as the key to my heart, igniting a fire within me I didn’t know existed. So, I decided one thing: I was going to take viola seriously in highschool.

I spent hours researching classical repertoire, watching TwoSet Violin, and lurking on the r/Viola subreddit. I wanted to become as involved as I could. I didn’t start taking music lessons until my sophomore year of highschool, which, in classical music terms, is very late. I had been considered good to players at my school who were in it just to say they played the violin in highschool, but not musicians. People who were truly passionate, and had years and resources to back it up. I joined my local youth orchestra, and was surrounded by kids who had private teachers since they were five. In the group I was placed in, I was one of the oldest. Every private lesson and rehearsal felt like I had been running in a race I was already losing. I practiced as much as I could, begging my mom to pick me up early from school so I could practice my instrument, no matter how tired I was from solving Algebra II equations or risking my ability to exempt U.S History. Over time, even though I was exhausted, I thought that if I could just catch up, the pressure would stop, but it didn’t.

I burnt out.

A year after joining my local youth symphony, I quit. Not because I didn’t care, but because I cared too much. I craved so badly to keep playing my instrument, but continuously stopped 10 minutes into my practice sessions because I felt like I “wasn’t good enough.” I had nowhere to vent my problems, because I was too passionate for the low-commitment players and too elementary for the child prodigies. 

That's why I made Rest.

Rest is the place I wish I had when I was struggling with my music journey. Slowly, I’m working on finding my love and drive for physically practicing again, but having conversations and a support team makes all the difference. It’s not about motivation or fixing yourself. It’s about slowing down. Appreciating the art form instead of the results. Choosing softness. Rest is for musicians who love their craft so much that they suffer because of it. The musicians who feel like they’ll never be good enough. The musicians who have cried alone in practice rooms because of stress, annoyance, or being burnt out.

Through my musical journey, I’ve realized one thing: no great piece of music has zero beats of rest. The silence contributes to the overall character and tone of the music. Music isn’t just made of sound.

And we deserve silence, too.

Written By: D'ionee, Founder