For Dr. Sora Lee, coming to America from South Korea wasn’t as grand as folks had made it seem when she arrived with her 20-year-old sister. In fact, Lee found herself spending a lot more time alone as an 18-year-old in America  than she ever had before in her life.

“I couldn’t speak any English,” said Lee, “I didn’t want to talk to anybody. I was like shut up and I didn’t talk to anyone; people there think I am really shy girl.”

According to Lee, growing up she was a tomboy and, because her parents wanted her to be more ladylike, she began to play the piano at six years old.

Lee started playing for the church her father was the pastor of. In South Korea, the demand to get good grades and to get into a good college or school for the arts is extremely difficult.

“All I wanted was to enjoy music myself but to be a professional musician I had to go to a good college, and that makes me feel robotic,” said Lee. “By that time I was burned out and didn’t want to play anymore.”

When she came to America, Lee was given the option to drop piano by her parents after so many stressful years of playing. At one point, Lee even thought she wanted to change instruments, but eventually she realized her options were limited.

“Soon, I realized piano was the only one I could do good,” said Lee.

Moving across the globe was not an easy transition, even though Lee had gained confidence by joining musical groups at her high school Garden Grove High School in California.

“Since people started showing interest in me they say ‘How you play piano so well?’ and ‘How long have you been playing?” Lee said. “People started being nice to me, that’s how I got more relaxed and started getting friends and learned English.”

Even though she spent lots of time around people in the musical groups at school, she opted for an equal amount of time in solitude. Lee learned that she has two sides to herself, but initially thought as though something was wrong with her.

“I thought I was a dummy,” Lee said. “At the same time it’s the days that I started to be myself. I always had lot of friends and people were always around me, but since I don’t have any friends and I don’t speak English I have time to myself, that time I feel like I understand myself more … it was needed time.”

After gaining her Bachelor’s degree  in a solo pianist career, Lee went on to gain her Master’s and Doctorate Degrees. Eventually, Lee did make a career change  to focus on playing with groups.

“I am kind of person that always hang out with people, since [the piano] is a solo instrument I always practice by myself in this small practice room for like hours. It made me kind of depressed,” Lee said. “But when I work with others, it’s really fun doing something together, and we can exchange our musical ideas, making better music.”

When her husband took a job in West Virginia, Lee saw it as an opportunity to earn her Doctorate degree. Lee would later come to First Baptist Presbyterian Church as an organist when she was recommended by her professor at WVU to come play for the Church. Little did Lee know, a school was right next door that she would soon find herself working for.

“I didn’t know there was a school here,” Lee said.  “but one night lamplighters preformed, and I met the choir director, and we just chatted. Later, when I graduated with my Doctorate degree, all of a sudden Melanie Catana called.”

Lee has now been at Waynesburg University for three years as an instructor, but she’s been coming to the Waynesburg area since she first received her Doctorate at West Virginia University. Now with her Doctorate, Lee will be working on a documentary about Mieczysław Munz, one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.

“I’m making a documentary film out of my dissertation,” said Lee. “It was about one really, really good pianist, but not that famous, because he hurt his arm, so he had to stop playing but teached.”