Preface
Four years ago, I was a completely different person than I am today. Now, this is not really an abnormal thing. Most people change in some way in four years. But high school is a very different experience, it is a period where people start to discover who they are, and what their views on life are. I certainly was no exception. When I first started high school, I viewed the world in black and white. There were no grey areas. I had a set view on how the world worked, and what was expected of me. But this has changed. I now realize the world is not as simple as I thought it was, there are a lot of grey areas. People are different, and hold different views on things. But that is okay, it's how it should be. We should not all be the same, and the same things should not be expected of everyone. Instead, we should take our differences and use them to make our way.
High school
There was one defining moment of my first day of high school, and when I look back at it now, I realize the importance it holds. When I first got to school, my locker would not open. I was convinced that it was because my locker was jammed, but it was just because I mixed up numbers of my locker combination. Regardless, I was late to first hour. The first class of my first day of high school, and I was late. Mr. Morales saw me in the hallway, and tried to help me. I ended up having to go to the office to get my combination, and when I walked into class Mr. Morales excused me. Because I was 10 minutes late, everybody already had a seat, so I was put in the first open seat. I was not by any of my friends, they were on the other side of the room. Now this was a mostly freshman class, so I was not surrounded by a bunch of big upperclassmen. However, I was put next to Jay Racey. I did not really know Jay before then, and now he has become one of my closest friends. If I had not been placed next to him as a result of a random event, I would have never gotten to know him. This experience really opened my eyes to the importance of chance events. Seemingly small things can have a lasting impact. At the same time, things tend to work out for the best. I was very nervous about being late for class, but in the end, everything worked out for the best. As a result of my locker being jammed, I gained a very good friend.
My years as an underclassman were important because they helped me figure out what I do not want to do. For most of my life I thought I wanted to be some kind of an engineer; my father was an engineer and it seemed like every guy picked that as what they wanted to be in the future. Engineer was the popular choice, so I just always assumed that is what I was meant to do. As I went through high school, I started to realize I was not meant to be an engineer. Even though my math classes were not hard, I did not enjoy them. I enjoyed participating in Science Olympiad, but I did not particularly care for my science classes. I came to terms with the fact that I would not be an engineer, instead I would have to find another path. This was an odd feeling, I always had some sort of plan of what my life would be like. Now, I had no idea. I began to understand that things are not black and white, rather most things are grey. There is no definitive answer to every question. Instead, I had to decide which answer was best for me, and I was very nervous about it. What if I made the wrong choice? What if I ended up doing something I hate, or making a bad decision and doing nothing at all? These thoughts filled my head as I tried to figure out which direction to choose for my life.
My junior year things started to make sense. I began to see more of a vision for my life besides going to college and getting a job. I finally had a general idea of what path I wanted to take, a path with music. Music was, and still is, very special to me. I understand how generic this sounds, everybody loves music, but that statement still holds a lot of truth for me. I care a lot about band, and it was when I transitioned into my junior year that I realized how much. Most of my favorite memories of high school up until that point had to do with band. Band and jazz band were the only classes I really cared for and truly wanted to learn in. I was not content with showing up to band class, rather, I wanted more. I wanted to learn more about music theory, expose myself to different kinds of music, and continue to experience the beauty that comes from music.
The summer before my junior year cemented my beliefs on what I want to do. During the summer, I took two trips that proved to me that I need to do something in music. The first was my trip to Hawaii with the Lions of Michigan All-State Band. The second was a mission trip to Detroit with Drew Barnhart. I spent just over two weeks on both trips combined, but I grew not only as a musician but also a person. I was exposed to different cultures and people in different situations, and I saw the things that gave people joy. I came to fully understand how different everybody is, but at the same time, how similar we all are. Although we all have different things that drive us, different things that make us tick, we all have one common goal in life. We all want to be happy. When I was on my trips, I was able to make several people happy, and it was the best feeling I can imagine. Whether it was playing my trombone for someone I had never met and will most likely will never see again in Hawaii, or playing with a little myself striving to make people happy.
My years as an underclassman were important because they helped me figure out what I do not want to do. For most of my life I thought I wanted to be some kind of an engineer; my father was an engineer and it seemed like every guy picked that as what they wanted to be in the future. Engineer was the popular choice, so I just always assumed that is what I was meant to do. As I went through high school, I started to realize I was not meant to be an engineer. Even though my math classes were not hard, I did not enjoy them. I enjoyed participating in Science Olympiad, but I did not particularly care for my science classes. I came to terms with the fact that I would not be an engineer, instead I would have to find another path. This was an odd feeling, I always had some sort of plan of what my life would be like. Now, I had no idea. I began to understand that things are not black and white, rather most things are grey. There is no definitive answer to every question. Instead, I had to decide which answer was best for me, and I was very nervous about it. What if I made the wrong choice? What if I ended up doing something I hate, or making a bad decision and doing nothing at all? These thoughts filled my head as I tried to figure out which direction to choose for my life.
My junior year things started to make sense. I began to see more of a vision for my life besides going to college and getting a job. I finally had a general idea of what path I wanted to take, a path with music. Music was, and still is, very special to me. I understand how generic this sounds, everybody loves music, but that statement still holds a lot of truth for me. I care a lot about band, and it was when I transitioned into my junior year that I realized how much. Most of my favorite memories of high school up until that point had to do with band. Band and jazz band were the only classes I really cared for and truly wanted to learn in. I was not content with showing up to band class, rather, I wanted more. I wanted to learn more about music theory, expose myself to different kinds of music, and continue to experience the beauty that comes from music.
The summer before my junior year cemented my beliefs on what I want to do. During the summer, I took two trips that proved to me that I need to do something in music. The first was my trip to Hawaii with the Lions of Michigan All-State Band. The second was a mission trip to Detroit with Drew Barnhart. I spent just over two weeks on both trips combined, but I grew not only as a musician but also a person. I was exposed to different cultures and people in different situations, and I saw the things that gave people joy. I came to fully understand how different everybody is, but at the same time, how similar we all are. Although we all have different things that drive us, different things that make us tick, we all have one common goal in life. We all want to be happy. When I was on my trips, I was able to make several people happy, and it was the best feeling I can imagine. Whether it was playing my trombone for someone I had never met and will most likely will never see again in Hawaii, or playing with a little myself striving to make people happy.
This picture is from my trip to Hawaii. We practiced marching in a park right below Diamond Head.
WHAT I HAVE LEARNED, AND WHAT IS NEXT FOR ME
I have learned the world as a whole is simple, while everybody in it is very complex. People all have different things they care about and different places in society and not everybody is the same. But at the same time, we are all just trying to make ourselves happier. The world is not black and white, there is not right and wrong for how a people should live their lives. People should do and what makes them happy, not what they think they have to do. I have also learned that things tend to work out for the best, any issues that arise go away without much noise. In the end, most problems are irrelevant on our search for happiness.
I realize I still have much to learn. Although I often act like the typical know-it-all teenager, I do not know everything. Far from it. But I do know what I feel I should do with my life, and that is a start. I want to make people happy, and I want to do it with music. Right now I think I will do make by teaching music, however, that may change. I feel I can best make people happy by showing students the wonders of music and all the things they can do with it. But that may not be the case a few years from now, and I am okay with it. George Gershwin said, "Life is a lot like jazz...it's best when you improvise". That is the philosophy I plan to live my life with. At first, it may seem very reckless; I would just be doing whatever I want whenever I want. But improvisation is not like that, it has a solid foundation to begin with. Jazz artists often steal from the melody of a song or even solos from other songs while improvising, and they have to play with the chord changes. The chord changes act as a guideline as to what notes would sound good soloing over the music, but from there it is up to the musician to figure out how to play them. That idea is similar to my idea with the direction I am going in life. I know that I want to have a positive impact on others' lives, and that I want to do so with music. From there, I will have to figure how to do so as I see fit.
I realize I still have much to learn. Although I often act like the typical know-it-all teenager, I do not know everything. Far from it. But I do know what I feel I should do with my life, and that is a start. I want to make people happy, and I want to do it with music. Right now I think I will do make by teaching music, however, that may change. I feel I can best make people happy by showing students the wonders of music and all the things they can do with it. But that may not be the case a few years from now, and I am okay with it. George Gershwin said, "Life is a lot like jazz...it's best when you improvise". That is the philosophy I plan to live my life with. At first, it may seem very reckless; I would just be doing whatever I want whenever I want. But improvisation is not like that, it has a solid foundation to begin with. Jazz artists often steal from the melody of a song or even solos from other songs while improvising, and they have to play with the chord changes. The chord changes act as a guideline as to what notes would sound good soloing over the music, but from there it is up to the musician to figure out how to play them. That idea is similar to my idea with the direction I am going in life. I know that I want to have a positive impact on others' lives, and that I want to do so with music. From there, I will have to figure how to do so as I see fit.
This is from my mission trip to Detroit. I was in charge of playing games with kids at a Vacation Bible School. They decided it would be fun to draw on me with chalk.
WHAT I TAKE PRIDE IN
I take a lot of pride in my music. I am very passionate about my music and have worked very hard at it. I have been accepted into the music program at Central Michigan University, and take pride in the fact that I will be able to learn from highly accomplished faculty. I am proud of how much I have grown throughout high school, I feel as if I have truly become a better person ready to make my place in the world. I have done many things in high school (band, jazz band, Quiz Bowl, Science Olympiad, drama, soccer, NHS, and activities with my church), and I am proud that I gave myself the opportunity to experience different things and find what I enjoy.
This is a recording of Morceau Symphonique, the piece I prepared for my audition at CMU. It should be noted that this is not me playing.
MY ADVICE
If I were to give advice to someone younger than me, I would tell them to take their schoolwork seriously. I understand how boring it can be, but it is too important to ignore. Not only does doing well in school help to prepare for college, but it helps to show what may or may not be enjoyable. I lucked out and happened to find my passion through band, but it very easily could have been something to do with science or math. If this were the case, I never would have known, because I never took those classes all that seriously. Tough classes challenge the mind, which is crucial. When thinking of hard classes, I think of an anonymous quote I read online, "if you are the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room". I fully believe that people should not skate by and do little to challenge their minds, they should do what they can to continue to learn about everything they can. Classes like history and psychology have offered me insight into humanity as a whole, I have been able to learn how far humanity as come and the implications of the actions of our ancestors. I have gained insight to how the human mind works, and why people act like they do. I only wonder what other knowledge I could have gained if I took school seriously. Secondly, I urge everyone to find what they want to do. Everybody has their own place in the world that is exclusive only to them, and for some it is much harder to find than others. Try new things. Take different classes. Join different clubs. Learn an instrument or take up a hobby. Read intriguing articles online. Find the place meant for you.