My experience with music began with a therapist’s prescription. When I was six years old, I was diagnosed with auditory processing disorder and specific language impairment. That meant my brain had difficulty interpreting the sounds that my ears were sending to it and making sense of what I was hearing. It also meant that I spent eight years working with a speech language pathologist who helped me work on listening and speaking so that I understood. My early challenges caused a lot of anxiety for me but starting school was even harder. I was accused of not listening, when in fact I was and I just needed extra support to understand how to get my work done. When it was clear that I needed more intervention than what my teachers could provide, both my speech and occupational therapists recommended I participate in an experimental music therapy program to jump start my brain. Everyday, I would listen to specially-edited and manipulated classical music to sync up my ears and brain and strengthen my ability to listen, understand and speak like every other kid my age. I didn’t realize then that my early childhood experiences with music would eventually lead me to want to become a musician performing the same kind of music that was used to train my brain so many years ago. Around the same time my grandma got a subscription to the Kennedy Center so that she could provide me and my cousins with opportunities to enjoy culture and the arts. I remember riding in her car on the way to these performances listening to the classical music radio station she had on. The emotion and feeling I felt with every song played would make me smile. It was a familiar, calming feeling and I knew that was truly special. The first National Symphony Orchestra concert I attended was also super special to me because they had an instrument petting zoos beforehand. Just being able to see, touch and play so many instruments up close was a dream. They were shiny and loud and no one told me to be gentle or to stop blowing hard. In January 2023, my band director gave out an assignment to attend a free concert of one of the premier military bands that performed in our community. I picked a date and ended up attending a concert given by “The President's Own” United States Marine Band. That concert rocked my world. Watching and listening to talented musicians playing the same instruments that I played made me view music in such a different way. I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing what they do. I want to have a career as a military musician. I want to bring music to the world for free and share my talents and appreciation for what music can do for our brains, our hearts and our souls with others and find joy in doing it. I want to be a part of an organizational mission that makes music that can help others like it has helped me. That is why I plan on studying Music Performance for the Clarinet in college, so that my advanced musical training will help me to successfully audition to become a disciplined member of "The President's Own" US Marine Band. And maybe one day while I’m performing as a low clarinetist in that band, I might be able to flip that switch in a student who will decide that making beautiful music is just as rewarding as listening to it.

My experience with music began with a therapist’s prescription. When I was six years old, I was diagnosed with auditory processing disorder and specific language impairment. That meant my brain had difficulty interpreting the sounds that my ears were sending to it and making sense of what I was hearing. It also meant that I spent eight years working with a speech language pathologist who helped me work on listening and speaking so that I understood. My early challenges caused a lot of anxiety for me but starting school was even harder. I was accused of not listening, when in fact I was and I just needed extra support to understand how to get my work done. When it was clear that I needed more intervention than what my teachers could provide, both my speech and occupational therapists recommended I participate in an experimental music therapy program to jump start my brain. Everyday, I would listen to specially-edited and manipulated classical music to sync up my ears and brain and strengthen my ability to listen, understand and speak like every other kid my age. I didn’t realize then that my early childhood experiences with music would eventually lead me to want to become a musician performing the same kind of music that was used to train my brain so many years ago. Around the same time my grandma got a subscription to the Kennedy Center so that she could provide me and my cousins with opportunities to enjoy culture and the arts. I remember riding in her car on the way to these performances listening to the classical music radio station she had on. The emotion and feeling I felt with every song played would make me smile. It was a familiar, calming feeling and I knew that was truly special. The first National Symphony Orchestra concert I attended was also super special to me because they had an instrument petting zoos beforehand. Just being able to see, touch and play so many instruments up close was a dream. They were shiny and loud and no one told me to be gentle or to stop blowing hard. In January 2023, my band director gave out an assignment to attend a free concert of one of the premier military bands that performed in our community. I picked a date and ended up attending a concert given by “The President's Own” United States Marine Band. That concert rocked my world. Watching and listening to talented musicians playing the same instruments that I played made me view music in such a different way. I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing what they do. I want to have a career as a military musician. I want to bring music to the world for free and share my talents and appreciation for what music can do for our brains, our hearts and our souls with others and find joy in doing it. I want to be a part of an organizational mission that makes music that can help others like it has helped me. That is why I plan on studying Music Performance for the Clarinet in college, so that my advanced musical training will help me to successfully audition to become a disciplined member of "The President's Own" US Marine Band. And maybe one day while I’m performing as a low clarinetist in that band, I might be able to flip that switch in a student who will decide that making beautiful music is just as rewarding as listening to it.

My experience with music began with a therapist’s prescription. When I was six years old, I was diagnosed with auditory processing disorder and specific language impairment. That meant my brain had difficulty interpreting the sounds that my ears were sending to it and making sense of what I was hearing. It also meant that I spent eight years working with a speech language pathologist who helped me work on listening and speaking so that I understood. My early challenges caused a lot of anxiety for me but starting school was even harder. I was accused of not listening, when in fact I was and I just needed extra support to understand how to get my work done. When it was clear that I needed more intervention than what my teachers could provide, both my speech and occupational therapists recommended I participate in an experimental music therapy program to jump start my brain. Everyday, I would listen to specially-edited and manipulated classical music to sync up my ears and brain and strengthen my ability to listen, understand and speak like every other kid my age. I didn’t realize then that my early childhood experiences with music would eventually lead me to want to become a musician performing the same kind of music that was used to train my brain so many years ago. Around the same time my grandma got a subscription to the Kennedy Center so that she could provide me and my cousins with opportunities to enjoy culture and the arts. I remember riding in her car on the way to these performances listening to the classical music radio station she had on. The emotion and feeling I felt with every song played would make me smile. It was a familiar, calming feeling and I knew that was truly special. The first National Symphony Orchestra concert I attended was also super special to me because they had an instrument petting zoos beforehand. Just being able to see, touch and play so many instruments up close was a dream. They were shiny and loud and no one told me to be gentle or to stop blowing hard. In January 2023, my band director gave out an assignment to attend a free concert of one of the premier military bands that performed in our community. I picked a date and ended up attending a concert given by “The President's Own” United States Marine Band. That concert rocked my world. Watching and listening to talented musicians playing the same instruments that I played made me view music in such a different way. I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing what they do. I want to have a career as a military musician. I want to bring music to the world for free and share my talents and appreciation for what music can do for our brains, our hearts and our souls with others and find joy in doing it. I want to be a part of an organizational mission that makes music that can help others like it has helped me. That is why I plan on studying Music Performance for the Clarinet in college, so that my advanced musical training will help me to successfully audition to become a disciplined member of "The President's Own" US Marine Band. I am so passionate about music because one day while I’m performing as a low clarinetist in that band, I might be able to flip that switch in a student who will decide that making beautiful music is just as rewarding as listening to it.