By Khalil Brim 21’ staff writer

A Unique hobby sets one LVC freshman apart from his peers.

Zachary Horten, a first year biology pre-medicine major, never imagined that he would try his hand at playing the accordion. This is until he stumbled across a street player while traveling across Europe during his early years of high school. It was a trip specifically for gifted band members. At this time, Horten was an accomplished trombonist and did not expect to discover the instrument of his choice.

“I can’t remember if I was in Germany or Austria when I first heard an accordion being played,” Horten

said. “From the moment I heard the accordion, I never stopped wanting to learn how to play.”

Horten would however have to wait a full year and a half until his parents finally consented in buying him his first accordion.

“The first accordion I got was a heavy old used one from Russia,” Horten said. “Playing on this accordion, however, allowed me to get the feel of the keys and things. It took me about three to four months to really get the hang of it and to learn one song.”

Horten expressed that the difficulty behind playing the accordion in public is simply learning new songs.  In the year and a half that he has acquired the better quality accordion that he has now, Horten has managed to learn one song from a video game and has composed a song of his own making.

“I see playing the accordion as just a hobby,” Horten said. “Sometimes when I am not busy with work from my science classes, I get a random tune in my head.”

Horten believes that these bursts of random tunes in his head is what makes him eager to continue learning and developing his talent at playing the accordion. Horten is interested in playing his accordion at public settings more and more in the near future and isn’t opposed to teaching people how to play a little bit.