Red Dirt Diaries: 15-Year-Old Cellist Earning Money For School

A metro teenager is learning the importance of a summer job, one song at a time.

Ezra Hart, 15, of Del City, plays the cello in Bricktown on Friday and Saturday nights.

“It’s in that perfect range where you can feel the music- and get crazy with it sometimes,” said Ezra about his instrument of choice.

The idea of playing songs under a setting sun in front of Harkins Theater came from his dad.

“You can go get a job and you can go work that 9 to 5 and get that measly wage or you can create a job and make what you are worth,” said Daniel Hart about what he told his son.

We learned that Ezra has been increasing his worth at home.

“I don't go through the day without practicing two of three times,” said Ezra.

There's good reason for the extra reps.

Due to infections as a kid, Ezra doesn't hear well out of his right ear and is totally deaf in his left.

His hearing aid is delayed so, he plays without it. For him, the sound can be so soft, it must be felt.

“Whenever I play it wrong it vibrates the whole cello. When I play it right, it’s nice and smooth,” said Ezra.

“He feels when he's off key before he hears it,” said Daniel Hart.

But Ezra’s summer job is about more than having extra cash.

Ezra had been attending class at the Oklahoma School for the Deaf in Sulfur. Each dollar raised in Bricktown will pay for the registration at a new private school he will attend this year in the metro.

“It will give me a better opportunity whenever I go to college,” said Ezra.

“I’m also trying to get into the marching band. I've never been in a band of any sort,” added the teenager.

You can learn more about Ezra Hart’s music and his efforts to raise enough money for a new cello on his Facebook page titled “Ezra Hart Music.”