FLORENCE — Wilson High School sophomore JaJa Liao began playing the cello in elementary school while she was living in Taipei, Taiwan.
After hearing Grammy-winning cellist Yo Yo Ma, she decided she would play like him someday. When she moved to South Carolina in fifth grade, there was no turning back.
After winning last weekend’s All-State competition at the University of South Carolina’s School of Music, Liao can call herself the best high school cello player in South Carolina. She also made first chair in the orchestra.
The last concerto winner from Florence School District 1 was Chris Woods, said Laura Greenway, the district’s fine arts coordinator. Woods has been out of district schools for more than 10 years, she said, “so it is a great accomplishment to have another winner with so many outstanding students in our state.”
To be the best, Liao has had to devote a lot of time and energy to her music.
In addition to her daily orchestra class and practicing at night after she finishes her homework, Liao takes lessons at USC with Dr. Robert Jesselson every Saturday and has been dubbed a rising star by the S.C. Arts Commission.
But her practice philosophy is quality over quantity.
“When people hear practice, they think of you sitting down and going through technical passages and stuff,” she said, “but what I realized is that you can practice a lot in your head when you’re anywhere: on the school bus, on the car going to school.”
Although the cello takes up a lot of her free time, Liao said, it is a way for her to release the stress of high school.
“Being like a regular high school student, you have a lot of stress in your life, so I see music as like a pathway, a door to relax,” she said. “You can really put your emotions and feelings into it. It sounds really cliché but it’s actually true.”
Liao has had a lot of solo success, but back at Wilson, her new orchestra teacher Ramonta Lee said she hopes Liao will share some of her talent and knowledge with him and her fellow classmates.
“I would love to see her in a teaching role, as far as helping the upcoming students. because with her it will be a great chance to boost the level of every string player if I have someone else helping, and it’s not all on me,” he said. “So it’s like having another teacher in the classroom.”
Liao is not sure where the cello will take her in the future. but she said she definitely wants to continue playing after high school.
“I’m really not sure whether I want to minor in it or study with a professor,” she said. “I’m leaning toward it being hobby, not a career.”
In the meantime, Liao will be playing the fourth movement of the Elgar Cello Concerto during the All-State Orchestra Concert from 3 to 7 p.m. Feb. 28 at Furman University in Greenville.
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