Throughout my life, there have been many people and things that have influenced me as a person but the one thing that stands out the most is music. There has never been a time in my life where music has not had some form of presence.
In the fourth grade, I began playing the flute. I always knew that I wanted to play the flute because my mom did too. I remember walking into my room one day and seeing a chair, a flute, and a music stand. From that moment on I couldn’t stop practicing. I would spend hours a day practicing individual notes and songs until I could play them to the best of my ability. This is where I learned that I should never stop pursuing my goals. In the eighth grade, I went with my mom to the Tack Flute Festival and watched the flute competition. I sat in awe as I listened to the high school flute players play their solos and I told myself that one day I too would win the competition. For two years, that was my goal and finally my sophomore year, I became the first place winner of the Tack Award for Excellence in Flute Performance after years of hard work. Once again I learned that persistence pays off.
Not only has music instilled the value of hard work into my mind but it has taught me that the person I am is not measured by my wins but rather how well I rise after I have fallen. In music I am extremely competitive but loosing is something everyone experiences. Sometimes loosing a competition or a chair to someone can be frustrating but for me I strive to make each loss a learning experience. Instead of being critical, I congratulate the winner and take everything I can from my mistakes such as ways I can improve my own playing. Sometimes I even learn from the person in which I lost to.
Playing the flute can be stressful but I never hesitate to remind myself why I do it. I play the flute to create music. When I am on stage in front of an audience, I immerse myself in the sounds and beauty of the song I am playing and strive to make the notes come off the page. This past summer, I was given the opportunity to perform the song Hypnosis by Ian Clarke for the church where my parents grew up. When I stepped on the stage and played the first note, I didn’t think about anything but the music. It was as if I was in another world where there was nothing to worry about. Each note became a small way to express myself to my audience. For this reason, music is my personal escape, it allows me to be myself while escaping everyday expectations.
As a junior in high school, I spend each day creating a foundation for the time when I can go out in the world and share my love of music through music education and performance. I hope that some day, I can help to make music as important to someone else as it is to me.
With this said, I can say with one hundred percent certainty that there is nothing I believe in more than the power of music and the lessons it instills.