"I have a friend who owns a music store across town," she said. "He has several grand pianos that he rents to serious musicians. I am going to call him and ask if we can work out a special arrangement."
The next day, Mrs. Rodriguez took Maya to visit the music store. The owner, Mr. Thompson, was a kind older man who had known Mrs. Rodriguez for many years. When Mrs. Rodriguez explained Maya's situation, Mr. Thompson was very understanding.
"I saw that video online," Mr. Thompson said to Maya. "That famous pianist was completely out of line. I would be honored to help you prove him wrong."
Mr. Thompson offered to let Maya practice on one of his grand pianos for two hours every evening in exchange for helping to clean the store. Maya quickly agreed to this arrangement, even though it meant she would have to take two buses to get to the music store every day after school.
Maya's training with Mrs. Rodriguez was more intense than anything she had ever experienced. Every day after school, Maya would go to the community center for one hour of technical exercises with Mrs. Rodriguez. Then she would take the bus to the music store for two hours of practice on the grand piano. Finally, she would take the bus home and spend another hour studying music theory and listening to recordings of the concerto.
The first few weeks were extremely difficult. Maya's fingers were not strong enough to play some of the fast, complex passages in the concerto. Her hands would cramp up, and her arms would get tired after just 30 minutes of practice. Several times Maya wanted to quit because the piece seemed impossible to learn.
But Mrs. Rodriguez would not let Maya give up. Every time Maya got frustrated, her teacher would remind her why they were doing this.
"Remember what Victor Holbrook said about you?" Mrs. Rodriguez would say. "He said that blind people could not learn classical music properly. He said that you would never be good enough to perform on a real stage. Are you going to prove him right, or are you going to prove him wrong?"
These words always motivated Maya to keep practicing. She began to develop a routine that worked for her. She would break each difficult passage into very small pieces and practice them slowly over and over again until they became automatic. Then she would gradually increase the speed until she could play them at the correct tempo.
Maya also developed her own system for memorizing the music. Since she could not read sheet music, she had to memorize everything by ear and by feeling. She would listen to recordings of the concerto and follow along by playing on a silent keyboard, memorizing the finger patterns. Then she would practice the emotional expression, learning to make each phrase tell part of the story.
Maya's family was amazed by her dedication. They had never seen her work so hard at anything before. Maya would come home from practice with her fingers sore and her clothes sweaty from concentration, but she always had a determined look on her face.