College: Undecided

Major: Psychology

Katherine Holdridge has always found joy in expressing her emotions through music, and she said singing and playing guitar comes naturally to her. Currently, she’s working on an album she hopes to have fully produced by the end of the summer.

“I hope this album will connect with people and people [will] relate to it. [This] is just the first of many albums I’m hoping [to make],” Holdridge said. “[It isn’t difficult] because I wrote songs for fun when I was little, so I never really had to learn how to write [music] or match chords together. It was just something I always knew how to do.”

Holdridge said she gets her inspiration from her guitar teacher, Steve Staicoff, who also writes his own songs. Holdridge has been taking music lessons from Staicoff for about eight years. Staicoff usually takes on long-term students, and said he particularly enjoys seeing Holdridge’s music journey, from learning how to read music to learning how to record music.

“She’s always been someone who works really hard at whatever she’s doing. She plays music and learns with a passion,” Staicoff said. “It makes her an ideal student, [and] she doesn’t really do anything halfway, which is great.” 

Holdridge has been writing songs with Staicoff for around five years and proposed the idea of an album to him two years ago. Staicoff said Holdridge brought in a couple of songs that were very well-rounded. He also said Holdridge has the vocal and musical talent, she just sometimes needs help putting the pieces together.

“Even when she was young, doing her first songs, I knew she had the voice,” Staicoff said. “The trick was then having her find that voice and [using] it for writing songs.”

Music has been a part of Holdridge’s life for a long time. However, she is not sure if she wants to make songwriting/music her career or keep it as a hobby after graduation.

“I think either way, I will always sing, write and make music,” said Holdridge. “[It’s] something that I will always love doing.”