College Admissions Essay: A Career As A Music Player

I stood up in front of a hundred curious, gleaming eyes. “Hey guys,” I began, “I’m going to show you why the trombone is the coolest brass instrument ever!” I immediately whipped the slide out and performed a series of sequential glissandos, each one with more vigor than the last. That morning, I was performing with my school’s jazz band at the KIPP Elementary Academy in Philadelphia. Over a decade passed since I had last stepped foot in a Philadelphia school, when I attended the James Dobson School in kindergarten, yet the cozy gymnasium and the children’s crisp uniforms instantly evoked memories of my childhood. But one thing I did not remember from the past was having the opportunity to experience jazz at a young age. Thus, I desperately wanted to display the awesome power of brass instruments that is the soul of jazz music and inspire the kids to partake in the timelessly euphoric journey of music that I am blessed to have taken.

“Where words fail, music speaks”. I’ve been playing the violin since I was three years old, and music has shaped me to the person I am.

I began playing the trumpet in the fifth grade. Back then, I loved playing the trumpet. We had band practice at the end of the school day every Tuesday and Thursday, and I looked forward to those rehearsals every single week. I loved it because in elementary school, the directors didn’t care about my tone quality. They didn’t care about how talented I was. They couldn’t care less whether or not I practiced. I loved it because it just gave me an opportunity to socialize with my friends more.

I am impressed by the wide range of programs offered to your students. I have attended and participated in many events at the nearby University of Wisconsin Platteville campus. The UW-Platteville Center for the Arts there greatly enriched my childhood. UW- Platteville’s continued support of music, drama, and cultural events has influenced my views and has benefitted my hometown, Mineral Point in a positive way.

Throughout my life, no single thing has had a greater impact than music. It has made me who I am today, and I cannot remember a time when music wasn’t a huge part of myself - my earliest memories all contain the music that my parents played. Beyond being a product purely for enjoyment, as it was for a long time in my earliest years, music has gone on to become a fundamental part of who I am, how I spend my time, and who I spend that time with. It motivates me to be better for numerous reasons. I credit my early involvement in music with most of the successes I have had to this date.

Ever since I was a young kid, I was extremely fond of music. Music was all around me: on the television, in school, at the store, and especially in the car. Not only did I love to listen to music, but I loved to play it as well. I am not saying I was any good at playing music, because I was not. But to a young child, hitting their hand on anything could be music, and to me it definitely was.

“Musician: a person who plays a musical instrument, especially as a profession, or is musically talented.” One of my favorite pieces of music I appreciate playing is Norse Legend by Elliot Del Borgo and Shenandoah Triptych by Brian Balmages . When I play my flute, I feel independent. I taught myself half of the notes independently. The other half, my band director did. Playing is part of my life because I practice everyday to get better. It was never the strict authority of my director to tell me to practice everyday. It was an independent choice.

My involvement in the school band started during my 4th grade year, and continued until I graduated highschool. I was a part of the concert band every year, and in addition I played on the drum-line and in Jazz Band. While playing and learning in these classes over the years, I developed a strong interest in turning my love for music into a career. Towards the end of highschool, I was introduced to the engineering/post-production side of music composition; which lead to more ideas for my potential

Music has been a passion of mine for many years. The sonic power of frequency captivates me entirely along with the depth of theory that goes behind it all. Nothing is as integrated with art, human expression, and science as music is. You have sound and frequency as itself, and then the physical, tangible applications that allows us humans to harness and mold the sound into whatever we want. I have been playing music since I was young, and as time passed I grew more curious about the way things around me worked. I began to wonder how the tools of the art work. This curiosity has driven myself to knowing the ins and outs of the physical realm within the music world. I want to know how the amplifiers that I use on a day to day basis function.

My passion for music and Astrophysics has become a cornerstone in my life and its history had started when I was just a baby. When I was little my parents would put me to bed but instead of continuing with their work discreetly they would keep playing their music. Having fallen asleep to several different genres of music, I had grown a tolerance and a love of music at a young age. With this newfound love of music I had found, I wanted to express it in more ways than just listening to it. Until recently the relevancy and importance of playing questionable music as I was falling asleep had gone unnoticed and was seen only as a humorous topic.

Playing music is something that I can really identify myself with. Ever since sixth grade I have realized that the talent of music was present. I started off by playing the trumpet in the sixth grade band. As soon as I started buzzing on the mouthpiece I realized this is my calling. This is what God intended for me to do. After I played in school for a little bit other people

The scorching oil splashed across my father’s forearm as he worked in a frantic hurry, ignoring the searing heat that ate away his flesh. He absorbed the trauma, swallowed the pain, and continued frying the chicken wings for his upcoming customers. Whenever he came home after toiling twelve hours a day in the cramped, hot kitchen, all I noticed was that permanent scar and the dark bags under his eyes. Noticing how closely I was watching him, my father held my face with his rough hands and reassured me, “I will make sure you will have a better life than mine.”

“Which is it today, Baylee,” my mother said, “an actor or an author?” It was career day at my elementary school, and I was having a hard time deciding which profession to dress up as.

I grew up throughout my life with a strong musical sense.When I was a little boy every night before bed, I would put on a classical music album and listen to it until I fell asleep. I loved and continue to love music. I was first chair in the 8th grade honor band playing french horn, and attended All-State 8th grade Band also playing french horn, while continuing to do jazz band, and my church youth group band on the side. My other hobbies include lightly gaming, hanging out with my friends, and attending Sundays and Wednesdays at my church. I have been blessed with many great friends and opportunities.

Do you have any goals ? I have many goals,three things I wanna do is go to college,become an author and be an actor.