The ability of music to express ideas and pull me into worlds I never even knew existed has always been something that I cherished. Throughout my life, music has given me the ability and opportunities to understand others, express my own thoughts and ideas, and connect with people in ways that I never thought was possible. The ability of music to represent one’s own identity as a product of the world that they live in has given me insight into how we as people interpret the many things that happen in our lives. When I was 11, what started as only playing double bass turned into an undying passion for music. To me, music was the beating heart of the world and all of its art. Soon, I would find myself dusting off my sister’s old electric keyboard and using it to teach myself music theory. I would sit there for hours looking at the chords that would appear on the screen of the keyboard and watching score videos to see what the made music impact me the way it did. As I began to understand the more technical parts of music, I used music as an outlet to express my perspective both emotionally and intellectually. This didn’t come without obstacles, though. Throughout these years, I’ve had to endure family, school, and mental health issues that got in the way of my musical pursuits. Often times, I would be scolded and shunned by family members and friends because I wasn’t the person that they wanted me to be. I would go some days feeling lonely and ashamed, thinking I was a terrible person before I even was a person. During these times, I used music to help me stay grounded in my own identity and connect with the people that supported me. Alongside the many state trips and region achievements, music has helped me learn more about the human condition. Through music, I have learned that people don’t only lead different lives, but they also express them in different ways too. This realization is shaped by the way that different people from different places might interpret different chord progressions and tonalities. For example, What I view as a “hopeless” sounding work might sound “reminiscent” to others. This has helped me connect with people and understand them in ways that wouldn’t be possible without music. Also, performing in ensembles has led me to build great communities and a better ability to collaborate with people. In conclusion, I choose music as my artform because it is how I connect with myself and other people. Music is my way of staying intact with my identity, as someone else may use drawing or acting in their own life. Because of this, I have been able to use music as a way of staying true to myself in hard times. Music has helped me understand why human expression and connection are so important to life. To me, music is truly one of the greatest gifts that humanity could have ever been given.

The ability of music to express ideas and pull me into worlds I never even knew existed has always been something that I cherished. When I was 11, I was given the opportunity to learn an instrument and play in the orchestra at my school. I ended up choosing the double bass because I liked the deep, rich tone that it could produce. By this time, I had little to no idea how much this would mean to me. All I knew was that I wanted to make the most of it. What started out as only playing bass in orchestra grew into an undying passion for all the music that I could access. I couldn’t get enough of it. I would spend hours improvising on and practicing the double bass. Soon, I pulled out an old electric keyboard that had been collecting dust since before I was born. The keyboard in question had many presets, tools, and sounds. One showed chords on the piano’s screen after you played certain notes. As well as watching sheet music videos, tinkering with these chord settings helped me decipher what made music sound like music. Day after day, I would go through many playlists, exposing myself to all the sounds that the world could bless me with and trying to analyze them using the knowledge I had accumulated. As a result of this, I began to compose my own music. To me, every work of mine acted as a reflection of myself. This made music very important to me; it helped me connect with myself in a way that felt necessary. This led music to have a special place in my life. As I progressed in music, I began to become more social and partake in more region and state auditions. Normally, this would be fine, but my new friends were particularly competitive. The more I would chase their approval, the worse I would end up identifying with a chair number or how “intellectual” my compositions could be. Alongside my love for music, my confidence began to fade as I gave into these competitive people. “What will they think about my chairing? Why did they make fun of my work? Am I a ‘bad’ composer?”, I would constantly repeat to myself. By then, I was taking the wonderful gift of music for granted by trying to share it with people who didn’t care for it the way I did. What pursued was a tragedy: music had lost its meaning. It wasn’t until some of these people graduated that I began to realize the consequences of my actions. I didn’t connect with music the way I had before. Now, I related music to the resent and loneliness caused by the Hyper-competitive environment. Despite the fact that, by this time, I was extremely done with music, a small part of me told me not to quit. I began to attempt to avoid the competitive mindset and spend more time with people that I neglected while I was “chasing butterflies”. Though it was difficult, my life took a turn for the best. When I began to prioritize my own musical voice, I felt more fulfilled. I even began to befriend musicians who appreciated music in ways that I had. As I started to recognize and critique these thoughts, I started to become more appreciative of music and the people it helped me connect with. These healthy connections led to my works getting performed. As a result, I realized that musical expression is one of the most important gifts given to us by the world.

The ability of music to express ideas and pull me into worlds I never even knew existed has always been something that I cherished. Throughout my life, music has given me the ability and opportunities to understand others, express my own thoughts and ideas, and connect with people in ways that I never thought was possible. The ability of music to represent one’s own identity as a product of the world that they live in has given me insight into how we as people interpret the many things that happen in our lives. When I was 11, what started as only playing double bass turned into an undying passion for music. To me, music was the beating heart of the world and all of its art. Soon, I would find myself dusting off my sister’s old electric keyboard and using it to teach myself music theory. I would sit there for hours looking at the chords that would appear on the screen of the keyboard and watching score videos to see what the made music impact me the way it did. As I began to understand the more technical parts of music, I used music as an outlet to express my perspective both emotionally and intellectually. This didn’t come without obstacles, though. Throughout these years, I’ve had to endure family, school, and mental health issues that got in the way of my musical pursuits. Often times, I would be scolded and shunned by family members and friends because I wasn’t the person that they wanted me to be. I would go some days feeling lonely and ashamed, thinking I was a terrible person before I even understood myself. During these times, I used music to help me stay grounded in my own identity and connect with the people that supported me. As of now, I have come to realize how many people suffer in life without the gift of music. Where I live, music education isn’t really accessible, and even kids who play instruments go their entire time in school barely understanding what makes music what it is. This leaves a lot of people without music as an outlet to express themselves. One of my goals as a composer it to bring music to people who don’t have access to crazy expensive lessons or programs. Soon, they will be able to use it to express themselves as well.

High achieving students from disadvantaged backgrounds have proven that they do not need a high income or the best environment to give everything their all and do great things. They’ve shown the world that they are resilient enough to push past some of the hardest obstacles and pursue greatness. With extra help from scholarships and grants, they can widen the scale of what they do. My family didn’t really start out in a great place. Alongside trying to overcome my dad’s addiction and mental health issues, my parents had to raise their grandson and provide my oldest sister, his mom, with necessities like a home and insurance for a significant part of my childhood due to an unexpected pregnancy. As much as I appreciate my nephew’s presence in my life, it was these events that set my parents back economically and mentally. Oftentimes, my parents would get into intense arguments because of the stress caused by everything. In late elementary school, we found out that my dad has a factor II mutation, which increases his chance of blood clots. Since then, he has been hospitalized in 2019 because of a blood clot and recently due to a stroke. As of now, these issues and their products have caused a lot of tension in my family, but despite their severity, I did not let them hold me back from achieving great things. In middle school, I was enrolled in a magnet program for Gifted and Talented student. During this time, my mom also allowed me to pursue orchestra because she saw opportunity in it and did band as a kid. These new investments led me to put more effort into school and music. Soon, my growing interest in music led me to dust off an old, cheap keyboard, which I used to teach myself music theory and composition. I also began to make higher grades in my classes. Throughout high school, I became the first in my family to take and pass an AP test by scoring above a 3. After this, I scored 4s and 5s on all of the other AP tests I took and placed rank 15 in my school. Alongside academics, I also worked hard to achieve things in music. By my sophomore year of high school, I made it into my region’s orchestra twice and a TMEA all-state ensemble. Impressed, my parents would begin to invest more in my academics and music. From then on, I made it into the region orchestra every year, made all-state again, and even won 3rd place in a music production contest at the state level. Alongside this, I would participate in community orchestras like the Pasadena Philharmonic and Clearlake symphony, my school’s symphonic band and wind ensemble, and even take on jazz band and place 1st in jazz region. Throughout all of this, I did not let the obstacles I faced hold me back. Instead, I gave everything my all and strived to become one who inspires others.

The ability of music to express ideas and pull me into worlds I never even knew existed has always been something that I cherished. When I was 11, I was given the opportunity to learn an instrument and play in the orchestra at my school. I ended up choosing the double bass because I liked the deep, rich tone that it could produce. By this time, I had little to no idea how much this would mean to me. All I knew was that I wanted to make the most of it. What started out as only playing bass in orchestra grew into an undying passion for all the music that I could access. I couldn’t get enough of it. I would spend hours improvising and practicing double bass. I even pulled out the old electric keyboard that had been collecting dust since before I was born. At this point in time, I was primarily self-taught in most aspects of music theory. The keyboard in question had all of these presets, tools, and sounds. One setting that I found to be very important showed chords on the piano’s screen after you played certain notes. I remember watching sheet music videos and tinkering with these chord settings in an attempt to try and decipher what made music sound like music. Day after day, I would go through many playlists, exposing myself to all the sounds that the world could bless me with and trying to analyze them using the knowledge I had accumulated. As my passion for music grew, I was confronted by many issues from money issues to my friends’ attitudes toward me as a “nerdy” composer. Out of these issues, I would only consider one to have acted as an aggressive limit to my growth as a musician: my parents did not approve of me as a musician. Coming from a more “sportsy” background, my parents, which was mostly my dad, wanted to see me pursue soccer. This dissonance between my parents and my own goals for the future caused a great amount of tension in our relationship. I would end up feeling a great amount of shame over something as silly as wanting to pursue my passion. Despite this, I looked forward. Fueled by my undying passion for music, I pushed through these struggles and proved that I deserved to pursue this path. I would end chairing in my region’s orchestra twice and a TMEA all-state ensemble by my sophomore year of high school. Impressed, my parents would end up letting go of soccer. From then on, I would go on to chair in region every year, make all-state again my senior year, and even win 3rd place in a music production contest at the state level. Alongside this, I would participate in community orchestras like the Pasadena Philharmonic and Clearlake symphonies, my school’s symphonic band and wind ensemble, and even take on jazz band and place 1st in jazz region. As of now, I will be attending the University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music in the fall. From here, I will pursue my goal of becoming a professional composer and double bassist. Alongside my goals of writing soundtracks for media like videogames and shows and composing for classical ensembles, I will use my own experiences to both bring awareness to and help aspiring artists, musicians, and passionate people in general overcome cruel environments and circumstances. The challenges that I had learned to face alone will fuel me as I strive to help people who struggle feel less alone.

The ability of music to express ideas and pull me into worlds I never even knew existed has always been something that I cherished. When I was 11, I was given the opportunity to learn an instrument and play in the orchestra at my school. I ended up choosing the double bass because I liked the deep, rich tone that it could produce. By this time, I had little to no idea how much this would mean to me. All I knew is that I wanted to make the most of it. What started out as only playing bass in orchestra grew into an undying passion for all the music that I could access. I couldn’t get enough of it. Day after day, I would go through many playlists, exposing myself to all the sounds that the world could bless me with. I would listen to all sorts of music, from dramatic baroque works to rock and metal songs with all sorts of interesting rhythms and textures. As my passion for music grew, I was confronted by one issue. My parents did not approve of me pursuing music. I grew up in a “sportsy” family, so my parents were hyper fixated on soccer. This led to a lot of tension and sometimes got a little too serious as I tried to pry myself free from the clutches of weekly practices and drills. Despite the guilt and hardships I would have to face, I pushed forward. Because of this determination, I would go on to accomplish many things in music. I make it into the TMEA all-state ensembles as a double bassist. Impressed, my parents would eventually relax on the soccer thing and allow me to pursue music. In this time, I would engulf myself in all of the music that I could. I explored all sorts of music, picked up bass guitar and piano, and further improved on my ability to compose music. I would then go on to have my school perform works of mine for various ensembles, play in jazz bands, make TMEA all-state again, and win 3rd place in a music production competition at the state level. As of now, I will be attending the University of Texas at Austin Butler School of music in the fall. In the years coming, I will further my ability to endorse myself in all that music has to offer. I will further my abilities to produce, compose, and play in different ensembles of many different genres. My passion for music will stay resilient.

As the music played, and its presence filled my mind, I was taken away to another world. This world, so familiar yet foreign, managed to be everything mine was not. Despite this, it carried part of my own world in it. As the music progressed, I would fall deeper. Every change would bring me to its highest peaks and lowest trenches, blessing me with sights that only it could present to me. As the music reached its end, I would be put back into my own world with a new perspective. This experience is one of the greatest things that life could give to me. The ability to become immersed in the unique textures, harmonies, and purpose that take place within music has been something that I have cherished since I was very young. In middle school, I decided that music would encompass my life and career and made it my goal to become a professional double bassist and composer. This dedication led my high school years to be very eventful and full of music. I’ve had the opportunity to perform in all sorts of ensembles: the Pasadena Philharmonic, Clear Lake Symphony, the TMEA region orchestra and all-state ensembles, and the ensembles that are run by my school. I’ve been able to recruit friends to record music that I’ve composed and have even had a piece of mine played by our school orchestra. It was these experiences that helped me understand what gave music its essence. In my first year of high school, I had this idea that I was some kind of special guy, which was mostly because of my achievements in middle school and ability to compose music. I had thought that I was going to do all these great things and prove myself to be better than everyone else. Because of this, I ended up not placing in state and had none of my pieces performed that year. This was primarily because I didn’t understand one of the most important components of music: community. Throughout that year, I had never really respected other people as musicians, which led me to believe that I was some “musical great” and that the rest were below me. This, again, could not be further from the truth. After this year of failure, I approached my sophomore year. The moment I decided to break apart from this idea that I was some great individual, I started to see great things happen. In this moment, I decided to ask my orchestra director for help. Because of this, I ended up making TMEA all-state. Not only did this help me with auditions, but throughout the rest of high school, I began to collaborate with other people more often. I started to respect other people as musicians that are equal to me in passion. I found that I started to take advice from others who were better than me in both the fields of music composition and bass performance. I found that it became easier to make friends and collaborate with them in creative ways. For example, I got together a string quintet that consisted of my friends to perform a piece for my college portfolio. From this newfound humility I found out what gave music its essence. It wasn’t just the passionate people who wrote, it was the passionate people that inspired them, who performed it, and the world around them. I began to see this everywhere when I performed with other musicians. In conclusion, what gives music its essence is all of the people and the world that inspired it to be made.