In high school, I remember where my biggest dream changed into a reality. I was a member of the Greenville High School Tiger Pride Marching Band. I played the alto saxophone. Unlike my bandmates, I did not know how to read music then. I played by ear, and whatever scale, jazz run, or chromatic I heard, I could play it back just like that.…
I have always loved music. It started around nine years ago when I started playing piano. Piano was an instrument that my sisters and mom played and I was fascinated by the sounds that it could make and how you could make songs your own. Fourth grade I played violin but it wasn’t my thing because I could not find the thrill that the piano gives me when I play.…
I started talking to my band director about the different options I had to reach my goal. She had enough faith in me to recommend starting another instrument. Typically most clarinet players add the saxophone because of the similarities, but I was captivated by another instrument, the trumpet. In the summer of 2010 I began taking lessons on the trumpet through a private instructor and loved it. I was able to audition into the highest level jazz band that school year.…
College is a life changing investment that prepares for life and career. The vast spectrum of knowledge, skills obtained, and experiences from a college degree more than compensates for the monetary cost of tuition. Creating art is my passion; I have always wanted to become a great artist ever since I was a child drawing on my walls and copying pictures from books. I have devoted my life to improving my talents by illustrating my own stories, practicing drawing daily, and challenging myself to earning my own money doing what I love by drawing commissions. Learning how to communicate through illustration is a valuable skill that will live with me for the rest of my life and progressing my artist career.…
I started my musical career out at an early age. Starting my first fellowship in elementary school in the fifth grade by playing the flute and getting instructed by one of the best band instructor’s ever Mr. Hartz. But before moving on to the flute every little person played their first instrument which was the recorder where we played in the fourth grade. At this time music wasn't as advanced and the songs we played included lullaby type of songs including Mary had a little lamb, Hot Cross buns, and many more. Since I played band in elementary school starting from the fifth to the eleventh grade, I’ve been real accustomed to all musical aspects.…
I was in marching and jazz band for 2 years in high school, but I started playing the trumpet since I was a 6th grader. During 7th grade I signed up for jazz and I loved it.…
As I looked around I came to the realization that these kids around me had the same love for music as me. A little sprout of hope started to form as I started to progress in my musicianship. I knew music would be a big aspect to my life because of my roots, but it was not until high school when I would finally find…
To know that she thought I should even consider quitting made me feel that I had let myself and my teacher down. After that day, I was called to the guidance office to decide if I would stay or leave the band. I was torn on whether to listen to my teacher or myself. As I sat in the guidance office, the counselor gave me two choices: to quit band or to get a tutor and practice until I could catch up with the other students. After deliberating over it and talking with my parents, I decided that I would stay in the band no matter how difficult it might be.…
When I entered the seventh grade, I learned that there 's so many things that I could do with my life. There were endless amounts of clubs and activities to join. At first I found it to be immensely overwhelming, but then I realized that some activities seemed to really draw my attention. So I joined band and athletics. As a little girl band music and sports pretty much consumed me.…
I was waiting for the match ahead of me to be over. I hear the loud whistle come from the match and I walk over to the head table to check in. Butterflies were flying around my stomach. The people at the table hand me my band and I jog over to my coach, and see my opponent, the state champ. I put my green band on as my coach says “All you have to do is win the match and we win the duel.”…
Coming out of fifth grade, I didn’t know what music really was. It just seemed like a bunch of guys playing a plethora of notes in my opinion. But once I joined middle school band, that all changed. Sometime during sixth grade, I had the sudden epiphany that I need to pursue music for as long as possible, because it felt special. It still does.…
Eventually I learned to play the piano as well, at age twelve in the seventh grade. That same year, I enrolled myself into the school choir. This decision changed my life because I learned that music is where my heart is. I realized that no matter where life put me, no matter where I lived since I had frequently been moved around to different schools and different states, music was my foundation. I could express myself in the choir room and pour out my emotions through my choral performances and as a soloist.…
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.” A career in music has been a dream for many inspired people throughout the ages. Confucius once said, “If you choose a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” But the logistics of that can be challenged by the financial capability of it.…
It was a Saturday morning March 17, 1996 I was eight months in my mother’s tummy and my due date was in mid April. Uncle Benito had the crazy idea of going to the snow all because my mother had never seen the snow. My mother told me of a hill she sled down from, a great slope that didn’t leave her feeling to good “No me siento muy bien.” My uncle rushed her to Granada Hills Hospital on the morning of March 19, 1996; I was born seven pounds at eight minutes until eight.…
I stood nervously backstage while waiting for the orchestra to finish getting seated for our last concert of the season. I peeked through the curtains and saw a blur of dark unfamiliar faces, all waiting for the music to start. I quickly looked back from the curtain and my hands started to get clammy. My chest felt tight and the butterflies in my stomach would not quit fluttering. “Why did I sign up for this?”…