Brass Band Sample

Playing the trumpet has been the most significant part of my high school career. The wide number of musical ensembles that I have participated in since I first started in the fourth grade have given way to new experiences that have not only been impactful on me as a musician, but on my character as a student and as a person. In Jazz Band, I learned to play solos, pieces of music of my own creation, bursting forth in a flurry of improvisation. Originally difficult for me in middle school, I struggled to find the confidence to play solos written out for me. As I progressed into high school, my perception changed. Solos were no longer just a source of insecurity – they were an opportunity for me to express myself and demonstrate my ability as a musician. By the end of the 2015-16 Jazz Band season, I was improvising my own solos with ease, even across fast and difficult chord changes, with hardly a care in the world as to how other would interpret

I joined the Brass Quintet only last year, but as its Student director this year, I find that it is pushing the boundaries of my musical expertise to their limits. As important as accountability for each member is because the Brass Quintet is such a small chamber group, I have found that my duties as the student director have proven to be much more important. As part of my responsibilities as student director, I am expected to select new repertoire music for the group – I have taken it upon myself to create a personal, unique arrangement of my high school Alma Mater for the chamber group myself as part of this. This pushes my capabilities as a musician, but also serves as a reminder of how much of an impact music, and specifically playing the trumpet, has had on my life. It is a symbol of how I will continue to push myself musically, and in whatever course of life I choose, and how I will remember and maintain my trumpet playing for the rest of my