Ava Hooshmand (11), was 7 years old when she walked in on her father and his band having ‘a boys’ night in’ and playing Persian pop music. Enthralled by the music she heard, Hooshmand snuck up the stairs to listen in. 

“As I watched them play I could feel their passion and love for the craft,” Hooshmand said. “It showed me that [with music,] there was something more than just playing the instrument. I listened to how they flowed with each other and didn’t care if they messed up,

[which created] a carefree and happy environment. I wanted to become one with the music like they were.”

She was especially transfixed by her Dad, who was playing the drums. Once the jam session was over, Hooshmand bolted downstairs, straight to the drums her Dad had been playing, and hit each part to figure out what it did and sounded like. Once her Dad noticed, he began to teach her measures and beats on the drums.

From that moment on, Hooshmand fell in love with music. She decided to fully dedicate herself to playing the piano, as she had been playing since she was 3 but not very seriously. This was prompted by a love for music that was widespread in her family.

“My brother and I  have been surrounded by music our whole lives,” she said. “There are videos of me when I was three messing around with the keys on the piano. I really enjoy it. Some families enjoy hiking or knitting, we play music.”

She continued to practice the piano for many years and later when she was 15 played the piano at her cousin’s wedding. Although beautiful, it was still a nerve-wracking experience.

“I was very scared,” Hooshmand said. “[Because] there’s only one time where they walk down the aisle, you’ve got to get it on point. I was very happy to be a part of such an exciting moment.”

This first interaction with music lead to a love of both the process of learning new instruments, and once mastered, learning modern  songs that she would hear around her. Which pushed her to learn nine more instruments. In total she can currently play the acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, bass, violin, drums, trombone, ukulele, xylophone, saxophone, and recorder.

Although Hooshmand relished in her ability to play music, in sixth grade she became frustrated with how mechanically she was taught to learn music, reading it from a music sheet and playing old songs like Für Elise. 

The dissatisfaction began on the piano and progressed later on as she learned to play saxophone in her school band. At one point, Hooshmand thought her journey with music had come to an end. A song shared with her by her dad, though, rekindled her interest. After her Dad had her listen to the song Piano Man by Billy Joel she confidently thought, “I can do that.” 

“As I listened to the song, I [adjusted the speed of it and replayed it many times],” Hooshmand said. “I just played along with it and soon I was able to memorize it. Now I can play this whole song by memory. After that song, now most of the songs I learn are by ear.”

The iconic harmonica in Piano Man also enticed Hooshmand, and she decided to learn it as well to better perform the song. Hooshmand continued listening to music, and the more music she heard, the more music she wanted to play. That meant more instruments, and learning to play this variety became central to her musical journey. She refound her love of music through her new approach of learning new instruments and songs by sounding the music out.

“[With sheet music,] it was too much looking, not enough feeling,” said Hooshmand  “I was seeing the music. I was doing the music but I wasn’t feeling. When I started doing it by ear, I was feeling it, which made it feel like a bigger accomplishment because I did it all on my own. It was my ears, my mind, and my hands making the music.”

 The guitar was the next instrument she learned, primarily by ear in seventh grade. Hooshmand has discovered, through the instruments she learns, a moment she’s dubbed “the click”. 

‘“It was that moment where I was listening to [Love Story by Taylor Swift]  and I just started playing along with it, without having to search up anything, any chords or anything, or need any sheet music,” Hooshmand said. “It was all by ear.”

After she had used this idea to master the guitar, she used it to play the electric guitar. As her brother was learning to play the piano and learned the song Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, he asked Hooshmand and their dad to play it all together with him. Her brother played the piano, her Dad played the drums, and Hooshmand played the electric guitar.

“It felt amazing because it showed how well we could all play our instruments,” Hooshmand said. “I could feel the joy my brother felt being able to learn that song and how proud my Dad was of both of us.”

As the number of instruments Hooshmand can play has risen, she’s run into an error she didn’t expect: the problem of cost and space.

“My room gets really messy — I’ll have six pianos laying on the floor, six guitars laying on the floor, and I just don’t have room to walk,” Hooshmand said. 

Hooshmand now works after school at the music lesson studio Bach to Rock. She teaches kids in the stage of learning music where they experiment with different instruments and styles of music that feel right to them. Hooshmand makes sure she helps them find instruments they may love, not by groveling with tedious sheet music, but by feeling and hearing their way through their many options.

“I’m helping them find their love for instruments,” Hooshmand said. “I really like my job because it’s not as much [helping kids with their] techniques as it is feeling the music. A little four-year-old kid is not going to be doing things like Mozart. They are just acquiring a taste for it.”

Teaching puts Hooshmand together with kids who have some of the same musical challenges she did, and she often uses her ‘taking a break’ method, where she falls back on a familiar instrument for a while if she has difficulty learning a new one. 

“[If students were going through] a rough part, I would review what they already had learned to show them that they had something to fall back on to,” Hooshmand said. “I want them to enjoy the music [and not just] think that they had to have the perfect song.”

Although Hooshmand has faced many challenges learning so many instruments, she still sticks with it because of how good she feels when an instrument finally clicks. 

 “Although it can be hard sometimes, I keep doing it because it gives me the feeling of an a-ha moment, when you learn a new instrument and all of a sudden you think, ‘oh my God,” Hooshmand. “I understand what I’m doing right now. I can just start playing a song after I hear it without looking at any sheet music, it gives me a huge sense of pride.”