Eighth Notes

A fun fact about me is alongside teaching and playing, I enjoy writing and filmmaking!

My mother is a classical pianist, and growing up, I loved listening to her stories about her days in music conservatory as a student. I was fascinated by the incredibly demanding, eccentric, and intense world of classical music, and would tell her over and over, “This would make such a great TV show or movie!”

With her consultation, I wrote the script for a TV pilot and we jumped into filming. The pilot is based on her real life story, which is rather unconventional; she went from working two jobs as a receptionist and latin dance band keyboardist to applying and getting into one of the country's most prestigious conservatories at the age of 25. Eighth Notes was most recently shown at the 2026 Teleos Film Festival in Cary.

The Show

Eighth Notes would follow the lives of six music students as they navigate the highs and lows of conservatory life. I still love the idea of making this into a full series and I’ve been writing scripts for future episodes in my spare time. If anyone who stumbles upon this gives Eighth Notes a watch and likes what they see, please reach out to me at cardinalchrisart@gmail.com!

Some words from Maru Letona Holloway, director of Eighth Notes:

“My hope is that this film sheds light onto what often goes through a musician's mind before, during, and after a nerve-wracking audition. I hope that it reminds people that there are many different ways to get from point A to point B, and the road less traveled by will more often than not give you rich, unique, and invaluable experiences. I also hope this humble film turns into something bigger, like a TV series!”