I love this meme using because it includes two of my favorite childhood shows: Spongebob and Avatar The Last Air Bender. I loved Avatar so much that I tried to learn all of the lore, read the comics, and understand how every little part of the storyline fit together. This meme shows someone being totally overwhelmed and concerned by the intensity of someone else's explanation of something. I think this is how my teachers felt in high school when we were to told to write about a favorite moment in history or our favorite fictional universe. I would dive in explaining everything so in detail that they probably wondered how I know so much about the show! Please enjoy this quality meme, and thank you for your time and consideration!

I wanted to create a fun and catchy tune with what I have in my apartment. Apart from my trumpet and a digital piano for the synthesizer sounds, all of the music was created from items around my apartment and voices. I filled a box with coins and silverware for snare and hi-hat, used a large cardboard box as a bass drum, made a water-drop noise with my mouth, clapped, and convinced a friend to sing with me. All of this was to enhance the simple and catchy trumpet melody I wrote. Once everything was recorded, I edited and mastered all of the audio until I was happy! Thank you for your time and consideration!

As a musician, the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the way I can work and perform. This has led me to explore music technology and video editing to create music and content to share. My most recent project was creating "virtual ensembles," ranging from 6-40 performers each. To create these, I took a lot of time to create instructions that were clear and easy to follow for people to record themselves at home. I created reference tracks or distributed pre-made tracks for choir members to sing along to. After receiving and organizing all of the videos from each choir member, I aligned everything in the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) Ableton Live 10. This allowed me to manipulate everything from timing/rhythm, tuning, and balance to create a realistic sound for the ensemble. After this, I put the videos together in a large grid pattern to show everyone singing along together. Another virtual ensemble I created was a brass quintet and piano consisting of 3 trumpet parts, two trombone parts, and piano. I recorded our pianist first along with a conductor to reference. Once this was edited, I recorded one trombone player, who played both the trombone parts separately. Then, I recorded the remaining 3 trumpet parts myself. After editing all of the audio, we had a video recording session where I carefully blocked out spaces for each performer. This design of the set allowed me to "clone" ourselves, resulting in having 3 of me and 2 of the trombone player seemingly all together at once. This was a great challenge and creative opportunity to create an enjoyable performance for people to watch online. My love for music started when my father began teaching me trumpet when I was 3 years old. Since then, I have been involved in many groups which have taken me all over the US for performances and competitions. The work ethic, focus, and camaraderie I have learned through these ensembles and performances have been invaluable in my academic and professional work, and I have made so many life-long friends along the way. The joy I get from sharing my music with people is unmatched by anything I have ever done. My most notable performance was playing trumpet with the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps from Canton, Ohio. We won the Drum Corps International World Championships in 2016, where we performed at Lucas Oil Stadium for over 40,000 people. I wish to continue creating music and utilize technology in my performances, both pre-recorded and live. I am beginning my Doctorate in Trumpet Performance in the fall semester, where I will focus on trumpet, writing/arranging, and producing music of many different genres as much as I can. I also plan to share my experience and knowledge through education both in and out of the academic setting. I want my music to be a platform for social change, diversity, and education. Receiving this scholarship would help me pay for my tuition and student fees at Shenandoah Conservatory this fall. Being financially stable during my education would allow me to put more focus into my courses and my performance goals. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.