Learning to do anything well takes hard work and dedication. For Bray-Doyle sophomore Kinzlee Russell playing the ukulele was something she’s put a lot of time and hard work into since she was younger.

“I got my first ukulele for a Christmas gift from my mom,” Russell said. “A lot of my favorite musicians play the ukulele, so I thought it would really cool to learn.”

Russell, a percussionist in the Bray-Doyle High School band, said music is a big part of her life. She said learning an instrument can be hard, but she learned the ukulele faster than she had first expected.

“It took me about a day to learn the basic parts,” Russell said. “It still takes practice for everything, but I just kept working with the chords and working on the songs that I like.”

With music being such an important thing, Russell said she has just songs that she likes to play.

“I like to play any ukulele version of a Twenty-one pilots’ song,” Russell said. “They are my favorite artists in general, I try to learn new songs from them all of the time.”

Russell took her talents to the Bray-Doyle stage, on Thursday, March 14, during the Bray-Doyle talent show. She finished the day winning the high school division with Party Favor by Billie Eilish. Russel said she enjoyed the experience but had some nerves about it.

“It seemed like something fun to do and I’ve never done anything like it before,” Russell said. “Party Favor has an ukulele cord in it that’s really cool and I like Billie Eilish. I was super nervous of playing in front of everyone, but after I played, I was really glad I did it.”