Taylor Swift’s 1989 was an album I grew up with. It was the first album I listened to without influence from my parents or peers, it was something I listened to because I purely enjoyed the songs. I was brought up as a classically trained musician. At the age of five I joined the Peabody Children’s Chorus, which I would stick with for nine years. At age 6 I would start up the piano lessons that I continue to this day. Songwriting was something I became addicted to in middle school as a way to overcome hardships. Swift’s confidence and theatric identity was so appealing to a young girl who also desired a career in music. Songwriting was definitely Swift inspired me to pursue, I found courage when following her influence and hope when watching her accomplishments. My favorite track would have to be “Clean,” the song is powerful and healing - something I wish I had written. As a child, I often felt scared of growing up. A strained relationship with a dysfunctional extended family tainted childhood memories and a fear of never having enough success to impress them grew to impossible heights. Always I felt outcasted - I was the cousin with the ridiculous ambitions, the niece without a backup plan, and the granddaughter who did nothing conventionally. Now at 18, I have figured out how to live to my own standards - I’m out of touch but I’m happy, clean. I have parents who never failed to support me no matter how big my dreams became, I made friends who supported me and my songwriting, and I have faith in myself and my musical abilities. It took a while for me to find confidence to stay true to myself, I had to let go of a lot of toxic people but I feel better for having done so. Next year I will be attending my dream school, Berklee College of Music, and my debut album of original music will be released this month. I currently have three singles released under the stage name Sophia Bryter and I have taken every opportunity given to perform music. I have grown up now and that Taylor Swift song I would dream of relating to as a child is something I proudly relate to now. “When I was drowning that’s when I was finally clean,” there was pain in letting go but afterwards finally there is peace.

My greatest friend, my biggest supporter, my truest role model: my mother was born October 5th in the year 1967 as the youngest of three. She grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore, moving frequently after her parents divorced by the time she had turned five. Childhood was not something of which my mom often looks back on fondly because for her, it was marked as a time of struggling through the remains of a broken family. Regardless of all the difficulty that so heavily surrounded her youth, never did she allow the neglect of her parents influence the time she spent to raise her only daughter. My mother’s selfless soul has stood out like a beacon in my life, pointing out the right paths and the kindest ways to act. Her glorious character is most clear in the moments of her saint-like thoughtfulness. It’s the little actions my mom takes that have always left me in awe of her. When my mother donated her time to first teaching herself how to create hand-made masks, and then donated those same masks to the Community Crisis Center during the early parts of the pandemic - I was inspired. Every single birthday of mine or my fathers when she treated the dates like state-mandated holidays, I felt loved. When I’ve watched her time and time again drop off care packages to the homes of her sick friends, I have felt compelled to do the same. Her goal of making every cashier worker, for whom she waits in line, laugh or smile has always left me amazed. Her personality can only be described as a shining kindness mixed with a careful loyalty because those who truly know her can speak nothing, but the sweetest of phrases when in reference to her. Her dedication to the theme, leave things better than you found them, applies not only to the rooms she stays in, but also to the countless people who have walked in them too. My childhood was golden and that is purely to thank for my mother’s influence. Every aspect of those early years were documented - from the first time I ever sat up by myself to the first time I ever touched a piano. My mom, since she is a photographer, has captured each moment with artistic care. An observer of the highest regard, my mother’s attention focuses on the smallest of details. The day she first noticed my fascination with the piano, she had been taking piano lessons herself and immediately quit her lessons so that I could take her place. That act, so quick and so thoughtful, ended up defining my entire life. My passion has always been following the path to music and the first person to recognize it was my mom. The amount of money she spent on my countless lessons, the amount of time she spent sitting through children’s recitals, the amount of times she blocked out the voices of outside family who told her she was leading me down a dead-end path - for these things I would not be who I am proud to be and I am forever grateful. Her existence orbits the thought of treating others better than you would like to be treated and that love she so often expresses has impacted the way I aspire to be. My mother, though it may be cliche, is my hero. The challenges she has overcome do not define her, they just intensify the love she feels for others and I think she deserves the world.

I was born on Thursday, December 16th in the year 2004 to parents Bill and Brigette Paffenback during a snowstorm in a Baltimore Hospital. As an only child, my personality almost paralleled the season in which I was born - quiet and isolated. Growing up in a small town, there weren’t many other kids I could hang out with easily so my time was either spent alone or with my parents and their friends - I didn’t mind this in the slightest. Never did I feel embarrassed to sing or play piano as a child as I might have if my life revolved around maintaining the attention of my young and judgemental peers. At the age of five I was accepted into an audition-based choir through Peabody Preparatory, which I would stick with for nine years and at six I would begin taking classical piano lessons. Now at the age of 18, I continue the classical piano lessons and have also taken up an education in jazz. After joining my first audition-based band a few years ago through music school and recording studio, Stages Music Arts, I created a band in my own name with whom I would record an album of original music. The process of creating an album was life-changing, not only due to the catharsis involved in the completion of a personal collection of music but also due to the friendships made with the members of the band. Currently, I have three singles released under the name Sophia Bryter and my debut album of original music is to be released soon. I aspire to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston next year and until then, I am performing as much as I can through Baltimore/DC venues/organizations such as: The Recher, The Ottobar, Sofar Sounds, Hamilton Live, Current Space, Stages Music Arts, Zen West, Wits End, and more. Starting about three years ago, the world found itself in the midst of a pandemic. During this time, I found myself inseparable from my upright piano. I remember writing a song or more a day while quarantined in the house. Each song, inspired by confinement, became an ode to isolation and near hopelessness. Still in my freshman year at high school when COVID closed down the world, I hadn’t had enough time to make any friendships that would stick through the great deal of time spent alone. When I met the girl who would become my guitarist around the age of 15, I had written multiple notebooks full of music and was very much in the mindset to start working on an album. Her name was Morgan and shortly after we met, she not only became my co-writer and guitarist - she also became a really good friend. The same thing happened when I met my bassist, Oliver, and then again with my drummer, Andy. So something wonderfully unexpected happened when my bandmates began to learn my songs - music I had written inspired by a time of great loneliness had become the main connector between myself and the bandmates I considered to be family. My memory of writing these songs will forever contrast with my memory of recording and performing them because of the way my original inspiration of isolation transformed into songs I feel compelled to share due to a sense of belonging. An incredibly discouraged person began writing this album in isolation and a strongly encouraged and supported person finished it. As an artist, my only hope is that I am remembered through the music I have created in life.

My name is Sophia Paffenback (stage name, Sophia Bryter) and I am a songwriter/musician in the Baltimore area. Currently I have three singles released on all streaming platforms and my debut album is to be released soon. I attend an art school about 30 minutes outside the small town where I live. There are 11 different disciplines within the arts which the school teaches. Each student auditions for one of those disciplines to be their main focus during their time at this high school. My discipline is Digital Instrumental Music (abrv. DIM) where we are to learn the basics of music production, gain experience in music composition, and understand various aspects of performance technique. My first year at George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology was a wonderful culture shock after coming from a very small catholic middle school. I could immediately tell that my experience at Carver Center was going to be nothing at all ‘ordinary.’ Carver Center was a community of driven and passionate students - everyone has a reason for why they truly wanted to be there. Unfortunately, before my first year had finished, COVID-19 shut down schools all around the world. The incoming freshman students of the next few years would have no memory of that magical environment I had once admired so much. Now in my senior year, it has become something of great importance to me that I attempt to bring back that level of community in any way I can. As publicist of the Tri-M Music Honors Society I have helped encourage students to participate in various performances within the school and I myself have participated in the development of school events/concerts. Earlier this year I organized the school’s first Singer/Songwriter Recital where students could have the space to play their original songs whether or not they were in the DIM discipline. This event was a success and I am currently planning another recital for early March where I have two Junior classmen to whom I am teaching the process so that the event can continue to take place following my graduation. I believe that art in any and every form is the world’s most powerful unifier. Art is an accurate target of expression meaning that every ounce of an artistic expression is filled with intention. Where plain words can be so careless, art is careful. The strongest of friendships that I have experienced came from a love of music. I am most truly at peace when I am playing music with others because at that moment, the entire group of us are beyond words. In that moment there is wisdom and there is fun, there is passion and there is heart-to-heart connection. For all of these reasons, I am motivated to cultivate that experience and share it with those who are eager to learn. I think that if people chose to communicate thoughtfully, the environment those people live in would become intensely more enjoyable. The root of music is communication. Songwriting wouldn’t be nearly as therapeutic if people didn’t relate to it and listening to music wouldn’t be nearly as therapeutic if the writer gave the song no thought. To lose an artistic community would be a failure of listening and a tragedy in a loss of love for others and one’s self. I won’t ever know for sure if my efforts to strengthen the community will make any difference to other people but I don’t plan on giving up. I feel I’m chasing a purpose within myself and that is reason enough for me to not give up hoping.

My whole life has been defined by music. At five I was accepted into an audition-based choir through Peabody Preparatory, which I would stick with for nine years. Now at the age of 18, I continue the classical piano lessons I started at age six and have also taken up an education in jazz. After joining my first audition-based band through music school and recording studio, Stages Music Arts, I created my own band with whom I would record an album of original music. The process of creating an album was life-changing, not only due to the catharsis involved in the completion of a personal collection of music, but also due to the friendships made with the members of the band. Currently, I have three singles released under the name Sophia Bryter and my debut album of original music, some of which I wrote in middle school, is to be released soon. I am performing as much as I can through Baltimore/DC venues. Most recently, I became a YoungArts finalist in singer/songwriter and was able to join in National YoungArts Week in Miami where I was mentored by industry professionals and collaborated with other YoungArts winners. To have the opportunity to win this scholarship will help me on my path to continue my musical education at the college I plan to attend next year, Berklee College of Music in Boston. Starting about three years ago, the world found itself in the midst of a pandemic. During this time, I found myself inseparable from my upright piano. I remember writing a song or more a day while quarantined in the house. Each song, inspired by confinement, became an ode to isolation and near hopelessness. Still in my freshman year at high school when COVID closed down the world, I hadn’t had enough time to make any friendships that would stick through the great deal of time spent alone. When I met the girl who would become my guitarist around the age of 15, I had written multiple notebooks full of music and was very much in the mindset to start working on an album. Her name was Morgan and shortly after we met, she not only became my co-writer and guitarist - she also became a really good friend. The same thing happened when I met my bassist, Oliver, and then again with my drummer, Andy. So something wonderfully unexpected happened when my bandmates began to learn my songs - music I had written inspired by a time of great loneliness had become the main connector between myself and the bandmates I considered to be family. My memory of writing these songs will forever contrast with my memory of recording and performing them because of the way my original inspiration of isolation transformed into songs I feel compelled to share due to a sense of belonging. An incredibly discouraged person began writing this album in isolation and a strongly encouraged and supported person finished it. The change I felt in myself and the friendships I gained in the process were granted solely by the understanding and guiding hands of music. As an artist, my only hope is that inspiration will never cease - that it can be found anywhere from isolation to friendship.

My whole life has been defined by music. At five I was accepted into an audition-based choir through Peabody Preparatory, which I would stick with for nine years. Now at the age of 18, I continue the classical piano lessons I started at age six and have also taken up an education in jazz. After joining my first audition-based band through music school and recording studio, Stages Music Arts, I created my own band with whom I would record an album of original music. The process of creating an album was life-changing, not only due to the catharsis involved in the completion of a personal collection of music, but also due to the friendships made with the members of the band. Currently, I have three singles released under the name Sophia Bryter and my debut album of original music, some of which I wrote in middle school, is to be released soon. I am performing as much as I can through Baltimore/DC venues. Most recently, I became a YoungArts finalist in singer/songwriter and was able to join in National YoungArts Week in Miami where I was mentored by industry professionals and collaborated with other YoungArts winners. Next year, I plan to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston where I intend to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Contemporary Writing and Production. To have the opportunity to win this scholarship will help me on my path to continue my musical education at college next year. I have lived in the same small town near Glyndon my whole life. An extraordinary thing about growing up in a single location is that everyone in town has watched you mature and you have witnessed the same for them. For a few years my mom and I took on this self-invented challenge we called the “40 day project.” We would, for 40 consecutive days, take on an activity that would better improve our community. Some days it was donating clothes or food, or it was volunteering at a local animal shelter, and other days it was simply grabbing a few trash bags and picking up any litter we found. We also volunteered at the community crisis center a few times where we participated in stacking food donations and left donations ourselves. This process was incredibly time consuming, but being able to see our neighborhood’s positive reactions to our hard work was worth all our efforts.

My whole life has been defined by music. At five I was accepted into an audition-based choir through Peabody Preparatory, which I would stick with for nine years. Now at the age of 18, I continue the classical piano lessons I started at age six and have also taken up an education in jazz. After joining my first audition-based band through music school and recording studio, Stages Music Arts, I created my own band with whom I would record an album of original music. The process of creating an album was life-changing, not only due to the catharsis involved in the completion of a personal collection of music but also due to the friendships made with the members of the band. Currently, I have three singles released under the name Sophia Bryter and my debut album of original music, some of which I wrote in middle school, is to be released soon. I am performing as much as I can through Baltimore/DC venues. Most recently, I became a YoungArts finalist in singer/songwriter and was able to join in National YoungArts Week in Miami where I was mentored by industry professionals and collaborated with other YoungArts winners. Starting about three years ago, the world found itself in the midst of a pandemic. During this time, I found myself inseparable from my upright piano. I remember writing a song or more a day while quarantined in the house. Each song became an ode to isolation and near hopelessness. Still in my freshman year at high school when COVID closed down the world, I hadn’t had enough time to make any friendships that would stick through the great deal of time spent alone. When I met the girl who would become my guitarist around the age of 15, I had written multiple notebooks full of music and was very much in the mindset to start working on an album. Her name was Morgan and shortly after we met, she not only became my co-writer and guitarist - she also became a really good friend. The same thing happened when I met my bassist, Oliver, and then again with my drummer, Andy. So something wonderfully unexpected happened when my bandmates began to learn my songs - music I had written through a time of great loneliness had become the main connector between myself and the bandmates I considered to be family. My memory of writing these songs will forever contrast with my memory of recording and performing them. An incredibly discouraged person began writing this album in isolation and a strongly encouraged and supported person finished it. The change I felt in myself and the friendships I gained in the process were granted solely by the understanding and guiding hands of music. As an artist, my only hope is that my work can serve as being relatable to those around me. I have always viewed music to have the power to heal and it would be my biggest honor if songs I wrote could one day do the same to those within my community.

My whole life has been defined by music. When I was five-years-old I was accepted into an audition-based choir through the Peabody in Baltimore, a choir I would stick with for nine years. At the age of six I started classical piano lessons, again through the Peabody, and now at the age of 18 I continue classical lessons and have also taken up an education in jazz within the last couple years. I wrote my first song while in the 1st grade and really started classifying myself as a songwriter while in middle school. After joining my first audition-based band through music school and recording studio, Stages Music Arts, I decided to start up a band under my own name with whom I would record an album of original music. The process of creating an album was life-changing, not only due to the catharsis involved in the completion of a personal collection of music but also due to the friendships made with the members of the band. Currently, I have three studio-recorded singles released under the name of Sophia Bryter and my debut album of original music is to be released within the next couple months. My mother always joked that I came out of the womb singing. She claimed she could tell I was going to be a musician before I was born due to the way I kicked along with John Bonham’s drums whenever she’d turn on Led Zeppelin. So being a musician was never a dream for me, it has always been who I am and who I will be. Starting about three years ago, the world found itself in the midst of a pandemic. During this time, I found myself inseparable from my upright piano. I remember writing a song or more a day while quarantined in the house. Each song became an ode to isolation and near hopelessness. Still in my freshman year at high school when COVID closed down the world, I hadn’t had enough time to make any friendships that would stick through the great deal of time spent alone. When I met the girl who would become my guitarist around the age of 15, I had written multiple notebooks full of music and was very much in the mindset to start working on an album. Her name was Morgan and shortly after we met, she not only became my co-writer and guitarist - she also became a really good friend. The same thing happened when I met my bassist, Oliver, and then again with my drummer, Andy. So something wonderfully unexpected happened when my bandmates began to learn my songs - music I had written through a time of great loneliness had become the main connector between myself and the bandmates I considered to be family. My memory of writing these songs will forever contrast with my memory of recording and performing them. An incredibly discouraged person began writing this album in isolation and a strongly encouraged and supported person finished it. The change I felt in myself and the friendships I gained in the process were granted solely by the understanding and guiding hands of music. As an artist, my only hope is that my work can be successfully portrayed to those around me as a relatable catalog of truths I’ve learned throughout time. I always defined myself as a musician but it was only at this point in my life that I truly understood just how much I depended on the music to heal me.