Klarc Slider posted a video in January on Twitter of her playing a cover of “The Box” by Roddy Ricch on the cello, the video received 100,000 likes in 19 hours.
The Box by Roddy Rich pic.twitter.com/MjLNvId1gR
— Klarc Naomi ✨🦁 (@klarcnaomi) January 20, 2020
After Slider originally filmed the cover, she did not expect the level of popularity it achieved. The video currently has 2.1 million views, with 58,600 retweets.
“I didn’t think it would be this successful,” Slider, a music freshman, said. “I figured it would get a little attention because it’s a rap song played on the cello and that’s not common. However, the exposure I received was far beyond my expectations.”
Slider’s musical journey began when she was 3 years old when she started playing the piano at her grandmother’s house. Slider’s grandmother encouraged her mom to sign her up for piano lessons when she turned 5, and she has been heavily involved in music ever since.
“(My grandmother) said it didn’t sound like I was just playing with it — it sounded like I knew what I was doing,” Slider said.
Slider later expanded to more instruments when she joined her school’s fifth grade strings program. Around the same time, Slider began teaching herself how to play the guitar.
“I originally wanted to play violin but my mom told me to play cello because she knew I would get irritated with having to lay my chin on the violin,” Slider said.
As a student at the Moore’s School of Music, Slider chose to attend the University because her piano teacher had connections with staff members at UH. Slider then further looked into the University and the music department.
“(My piano teacher) suggested UH to me when I was on my college search and she knew that I would receive top instruction,” Slider said. “I had a lesson with one of the piano professors at Moores and I enjoyed how it went.”
Slider aspires to one day play piano for Broadway and have shows for her own musical performances.
“With having so many performances, my hope is to be able to inspire others and touch people emotionally,” Slider said. “Music is a universal language that I believe can really bring people together as one.