Rachel Acosta is a junior piano performance major at CSUN. Three times a week, Acosta wakes at 5 a.m. and makes the long trek from Long Beach to Northridge to practice and attend classes and the other two days.

Acosta stays at her parents’ home in Northridge. She practices in a very small classroom, barely large enough to house the baby grand piano upon which she practices. Acosta spends an average of three hours each weekday in the small and solitary room, where she sometimes can go through a myriad of emotions. Rachel often goes through frustration, joy, or even anger while working on certain musical pieces. Although she doesn’t have a piano at home, that doesn’t stop Acosta from practicing persistently on her keyboard. After graduaing, Acosta hopes to possibly attend graduate school, but regardless, she plans to always have the piano in her life in some capacity.

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