Columbus teen receives full scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston
Relakela Cole sits in the nearly empty living room in her Near East Side home on a late September afternoon.
The 41-year-old is in the midst of renovations, so the room only had a few items — a kitchen chair, a painting of a violin and sheet music and an electric violin and a cello.
Both instruments belong to Cole's 18-year-old son, Asa Simpson-Cole, who has recently gone away to college.
She said her living room was the ideal practice space for Simpson-Cole and his friends during high school, where they would play their instruments for hours on end.
"When a child sits there and practices two, three hours out of the day and you don't have to make him . . . that's how I knew he really wanted to do it," Cole said.
Those hours of practicing are paying off for Simpson-Cole, who was awarded a four-year, full-tuition scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He was one out of eight musicians to receive a scholarship and the only one outside of Massachusetts, according to a news release.
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All of the scholarship recipients were participants in Berklee City Music, a nonprofit program that offers contemporary music education to youth from underserved communities at little to no cost. A ceremony was held for the musicians at the Berklee Performing Center last month.
Simpson-Cole said he was in disbelief when he received the news.
"I remained nonchalant, but I was excited to be going somewhere where I can meet many artists like me and where I can be an influence culturally and socially," he said.
Simpson-Cole's stepfather, Michael Lynch, said he was amazed when he heard about his son's acceptance into Berklee.
"Just seeing them (the scholarship recipients) being so young . . . getting full scholarships for this was awesome," the 34-year-old East Side resident said. "It just shows that when kids put their mind to it, they can do something."
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A diamond in the rough
Simpson-Cole's love for music began when he began playing the violin in the fifth grade at Afrocentric Early College. He soon transferred to Ohio Avenue Elementary in Olde Towne East and began attending an after-school music program operated by Urban Strings Columbus, a classical music program aimed at string musicians from the ages of 11 to 17 from underrepresented communities.
Founder Catherine Willis recalls Simpson-Cole as being "very quiet" when he first started, but serious about music.
"He was always at rehearsals, he was always playing and he was always up for a challenge," she said. "If you presented new music to him, he was always on it. So, as he was growing and developing, we realize that what had happened was that he was a diamond over there in his school and he was just waiting to be polished."
Learning to play multiple instruments
Simpson-Cole said learning the violin was a struggle at first, but he eventually got better at his craft. In the sixth grade, he began learning his second string instrument — the cello. The cello has since become Simpson-Cole's primary instrument, but he has gone on to play several instruments through Urban Strings and private lessons — the viola, double bass, electric bass, harp, piano, guitar and saxophone.
However, the musician's favorite instrument is the harp.
"When you play the harp, it's a huge technique difference, but it's also the most beautiful-looking instrument and the sound quality can vary," Simpson-Cole said.
During his time at Centennial High School and Fort Hayes Career Center, the musician started composing his own music and covering songs from contemporary artists such as Billie Eilish, Lindsey Stirling and Ed Sheeran.
When it comes to his mentors and biggest influences over the past eight years, Simpson-Cole noted Willis, Urban Strings Assistant Conductor Mitchell Franklin and Fort Hayes music teacher Jeff McCargish, who helped him get into the Berklee City Music summer program last year.
Franklin said Simpson-Cole helped motivate him as a conductor, and that he served as a role model for the other kids in the orchestra.
"It makes me happy to see that he's thriving and as they like to say, I can't wait to see what the future holds," he said.
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Adjusting to college life
Since moving to Boston last month, Simpson-Cole said college has been an adjustment. Some of his classes are stressful and he found out he needs a new cello after a professor told him his old one is not in good condition. With the price of a new cello costing at least $4,000, Simpson-Cole has created a GoFundMe page to help with his fundraising efforts. In addition, his mother is taking on extra hours at her workplace to help out.
The musician plans to double major in music education and film scoring, and minor in performance. After college, Simpson-Cole wants to return to his hometown and become a music educator for Columbus City Schools.
"We need more ethnic teachers," he said.
His mother, who also played violin growing up, said it feels good to see her son travel further in his musical journey than she did.
"I may not have gotten to do it, but to see your children go far is . . . I'm just happy," she said. "This is very satisfying; it's a blessing."
@micah_walker701
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus musician receives scholarship to Berklee College of Music
