We recently connected with Reina Hondo and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Reina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

My first time encountering music was at five years old which started my musical journey at a young age. I listened to tons of classical music around my childhood which developed my love for classical music. I started by taking private piano lessons and continuing that specific instrument allowed me to study classical music at a young age. Slowly and steadily I took music lessons more seriously at a young age by reviewing whatever it was that I learned in class and practicing it consistently every single day along with slowly having an interest in another instrument such as the violin later on at the age of eight years old. I have continued piano even today because it is the instrument that I started first that helped with learning other instruments along the way. It was the fact of the habit of consistently continuing to practice my instrument after school and then getting a new piece to work on every time I nailed down the piece to its higher skill level that the teachers have continued to give me more challenging pieces to work on. Going through my music journey of having a love for different instruments and its sound and the amount of repertoire that I am currently working on or have not yet worked on gives me more motivation to continue taking the steps to build more connections with other classical musicians and other musicians that do other genres of music. With creating these valuable connections while working on my own music craft whether its composing my own music or even collaborating with other artists, and lastly continuing to work on my own music repetoire. My first time performing at SteinwayHall and Carnegie Hall at the Weil Recital Hall by performing my pieces that I worked on to a larger audience made me set more personal goals for myself to continue learning and thriving through this beautiful music journey.

Reina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Reina Hondo and I play the piano, violin, viola, flute, and percussion. I mainly come from a classical music background performing mainly music from classical music composers then slowly adventures my musical interest on to other music genres while still continuing my love for classical music. The music that I perform from other composers or when I collab with other artists on different music genres show my interpretation of how my musical art plays a huge role in expressing the composer’s story on how one was feeling when composing a certain repertoire to follow the given dynamics in the music in terms of written out sheet music from classical music. In terms of adding my violin to other people’s works, it brings in more of how the music makes me feel and what ideas I want to add to it while also listening to the other artist’s requests for what one wants in the music that they specifically created. I am super inspired every single day by what I have to do on an everyday basis, reading books to gain more knowledge for myself, listening to many different music genres to gain more creative ideas to incorporate into my own music, and meeting new people inspires me to continue to build more connections. My main focus in my music career is to continue working on my craft to inspire others around me to work on creating their own music career and to inspire the next generation. I’ve performed in different orchestra gigs, teaching students piano and violin of all ages, performing at public schools and other community centers including open mics to spread the love of music to others which music is what helps to bring people together. I am proud that I’ve recently gotten my Bachelors in Science degree in Music from Lehman College and I am now on the mission of working towards getting my Masters degree in music. I feel extremely different from others around me because I’m constantly working on new projects and any other pieces that I currently working on in showcase to the next audience.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Society can do better in terms of supporting artists and creatives who are really helping each other out by promoting each other’s music or art because that’s how new connections are made through social media connections and in-person connections. At the end of the day, everyone wants to succeed as a well-known musician or artist but it starts with musicians and artists creating the time to connect with the fans that they have around them because that is known to be a really good starting point to building a fanbase. The fanbase can start from whether it is meeting people in person, or supporting each other’s music or art events plays a role because the artist is supported while at the same time able to make more valuable connections. With the consistency of many artists and musicians continuing to help promote then it continues to build this huge community or supporting one another to make something really great out of it.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is that I am able to express how exactly I feel free while doing what it is that I love which is music. Being able to play violin and other various other instruments is what I love to do during my free time while continuing to also spread the love of music around other creatives and artists that love the aesthetic in what music provides and brings people together. Theres not a lot of explanation to do on my end but to just being able to play my instruments and seeing that I was able to make someones day more better. A lot of us going through different situations on an everyday basis that can seem to make life a little difficult but in reality most of us have hiccups throughout the journey of finding ones uniqueness in being ones own artist. Taking out the time to building my own craft is rewarding to me because I am determined in what it is that I love to do more often even when times in life get tough.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: challenges_inlife
• Facebook: Reina Hondo
• Youtube: ProblemsProxis