- My name is Maya Watts.

I go to Arlington High School and I play the cello.

(upbeat music) I played the Concerto by JC Bach.

There was a senior that played it when I was a freshman in my orchestra.

And I remember loving like every minute of it.

So when I got it as an option, I was just like, I was kind of taken aback by the fact that like, I finally gotten to that level where I can play piece like that.

'Cause I remember being kind of awe struck by the piece when I first heard it.

I would describe it as very dramatic.

It has a lot of dynamic changes and like you suddenly go up really high, to high register and I feel like mood switches back and forth.

So it's definitely a really fun piece to play 'cause it's like all over the place and it can be really captivating.

I normally go over more upbeat, like fast songs, fast pieces because I feel like it's much more, I can play it more musically, and I find it as more of a challenge.

I love pieces that you can like hum around.

And like it's something that catches a tune and like sticks with the you throughout the day.

I also play basketball and it's a really big factor in my life and I'm actually playing it in college and I'm gonna continue it for a while.

Finding the balance between basketball and cello actually has been quite challenging through the years.

But I think the balance of that kind of makes me who I am and I wouldn't change either of them for the world.

Nanette Koch, my private lesson teacher nominated me.

I started rehearsing with her as soon as I started the cello in like fourth grade, she's just been like such an amazing teacher.

And she also supports me as a person like with basketball, she saved like news clippings of me playing basketball to give to me, like she just really cares about me as a person.

She definitely inspires me to play like more challenging pieces and pushes me to do stuff like this.

I'd like to thank my dad, David Watts.

Music has always been a really big part of his life.

And I think he wanted that to be a part of my life as well.

So he influenced me to do music as well as my mom, Natasha Reynold, she plays the piano at actually.

And so I remember waking up as a kid and just like hearing the piano playing downstairs.

And so I think that's another thing that drove me to like stay with the cello and play it even when I was like younger and kind of like, it was more of a task to practice.

And then I'd like to thank Jonathan Handman, who's my school conductor.

He's one of the reasons I'm able to have such a good music program at my school.

And orchestra's definitely one of the periods I look forward to most in my day.