Sunni E. Fagan Memorial Music Scholarship

I am passionate about music because it has changed my life for the better. I am autistic and music has been my outlet. I have trouble communicating at times but the thing I love about music is how it speaks to everyone. Which is something I am working on. No matter who you are, where you are from, or how much money you have. Music can speak to your soul and is truly a universal language. This scholarship will give me to opportunity to pursue music education at a college level. My goal is to become a high school band instructor. I also want to teach future generations about music and the various ways it impacts our lives. I joined my high school marching band in 2020 and it changed my life for the better. I currently play the clarinet and I will be learning the alto saxophone as well. Playing in the high school marching band has given me confidence and a love for music. It allows me to meet new people and come out of my shell. Well, at little out of my shell (lol). I am a work in progress. When I was younger my mom bought me a recorder musical instrument and I loved it. To be honest, I don't think she did (lol). I would play all the time. When I got a little older I convinced her to get me some drums. Which may have been worse. But I appreciate how she always supports my dreams in music and I would like the opportunity to do the same for future generations. While being in the marching band I noticed how impactful our band instructor is. To be a good band instructor you have to be a great teacher with a ton of patience. Most importantly, you have to be able to read sheet music. I have been blessed with the gift of both. I have learned patience while assisting other students in our marching band. I love how you can see your hard work pay off each week after a performance. You can also see who is not hard-working, as well. I have seen how music can completely change the energy of a room. It can bring joy, peace, happiness, love, and pain. Music is a such powerful tool. My goal is to pass this gift on. I hope that my essay helps me get one step closer to my goal of becoming a music educator.

I am passionate about music because it is an intricate language that allows for unique experiences to occur. In my experience, listening to music and making music have been different, but what connects them is the expression and emotions they can evoke. Not only is it a form of expression, but also a community builder. As a young child, I was drawn to the violin and viola, and how cool people looked while playing them. I believe that what kept me in music ensembles and continuing orchestra during my middle school and high school years was the community that was built with my fellow peers and music teachers. I looked forward to orchestra class, to take my violin out and make sounds that would sound better year after year. Friendships I made and kept were because we had something in common, maybe not look-wise or family-situated-wise, but we could collectively look at a sheet of paper and make music together. As I look back, I can see how much the skill of learning an instrument and about music and making music with others played a role in my development as a person. Not only was I learning how to play a scale on the violin, or what a scale is, I was learning how to practice, persevere, and have patience with myself. It has been through music that I have found spaces in which I feel safe and able to express myself though the rest of my life may be in chaos. I am studying for my K-12 license in Instrumental Music Education. Few things were stable in my childhood days, and thankfully being able to participate in the orchestra programs at different schools helped keep me grounded. As an educator, I hope to be a supporter to my students, while also being someone they can look up to. I want to offer a place in my classroom for students to talk and form bonds with one another and be able to form a community connection between making music and the times before and after class that are more social. By talking with them and getting to know them, I want to offer moral support with words of encouragement, replicating what my music teachers have been able to do for me. I also plan on finding ways to make participating in an ensemble or music at school more accessible for all students. Not all schools or districts have the same backing of the arts as the one I was fortunate to be part of, so I will work to fill the missing elements, whether that be attaining more instruments for more students to participate, or talking with parents and school board members. Though music can be brushed aside as just an elective, I want to communicate to parents and guardians that it is worthwhile for their students to be part of.