Auto Biographical Narrative
Jazz Musician
Since I was younger, I’ve always been musically talented. Everything that has music involved has always came fairly easy to me. Whether it be, reading music, learning a new instrument, or even writing a song. In the summer of my 7th grade year, I went to my first jazz concert at Disneyland’s Downtown Disney. Most of the audience was dressed accordingly to the theme and I fell in love.
The band was called “The Wiseguys Big-Band Machine”. I knew I was in love with jazz when every measure gave me the chills up and down my spine. The brassiness made me feel exhilarating. I knew I had to have more of it. Throughout my 8th and 10th grade years, I did all I could to study and perfect my love of Jazz. For almost 3 years, Jazz was all I listened to, it was actually all I wanted to listen to.
I started off with the basics; Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday. I tried my hardest to imitate their singing styles and get the feel of their flow. About the the middle of Freshman year, I discovered Amy Winehouse. Her musical influence inspired me in everyway. Winehouse gave me a sense of freedom with my voice. I wasn’t afraid to express emotion and experiment with my sounds.
Sophomore year came quickly and it was challenging because I moved to a new school. I moved to Monache High School. The environment of that school seemed a thousand times more different than Lindsay High School. I guess the only positive thing about Monache, is their music program. I’ve always been in band geek, so the class I fell in love with was band, of course! In band, I played the Clarinet. I’ve played the clarinet for a while but I wanted to mix it up. My friend Ruth taught me how to Play the trombone and I really liked it. Eventually, I got very good at it, so good that Mr. Adams (the band director) offered me a spot on the Jazz band as a 4th trombone player. I immediately accepted! For me, it was one of the greatest opportunities that has ever been given to me.
Through my jazz adventures I’ve performed many times. I’ve had my own concerts, I’ve performed for rest homes, and I’ve even performed at the fair. One of my favorite performances is when we performed at the Sierra Hills rest home. I sang the song “You Do Something To Me” and as I looked in the audience I saw a little old woman mouthing the words that I sang with tears in her eyes. After the performance, she came up to me and thanked me. The old woman told me that she hasn’t heard that song since she was young and it brought back memories. We had a long conversation about my story, and at the end, she told me something that will stick with me forever. She said “If music is what you love, Then do it. You have the perfect voice for jazz. I know you’ll go places”. That conversation meant so much to me. I’ll never forget the feeling of making people emotional just from my voice.
I’ll forever be thankful for my musical abilities. I’m blessed to have the experiences that I do. Joining a jazz band made me feel accomplished. I believe that it’s one of the first times I’ve ever truly been proud of myself. I set a goal, it took a while, but I made it happen. In the future, I hope to join a professional jazz band and sing jazz aside from my regular job. I’ll always be in love with jazz because it’s who I am. It’s who I’ve always been.
Life Map
My life has always been blessed. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel, sing, perform, pick up an instrument, and do other cool things. There are 5 important events that I included in my life map. The first important event in my life map is when I moved to Lindsay in 2010. I met all of my closest friends at Steve Garvey Middle School and they’ve improved my life dramatically over the years. The next important event is when I discovered my love for Jazz. Jazz is a huge reason why I’ve gotten the chance to perform in front of huge audiences. It’s given me the confidence I have for performing and public speaking. The 3rd most important life event is when I moved to Monache High school in 2013. Monache definitely gave me a better sense of music. While at Monache, I was in the marching band, jazz band, and advanced choir. Those 3 classes especially jazz band have helped me musically so much. The next important life event is when I moved back to Lindsay High School and joined multimedia. multimedia gave me the opportunity to record my first song, write and produce my own music, and learn video editing skills. the 5th and final important event in my life is when I took a trip to New York with my family in May 2015. I’ve always wanted to go to New York. It’s been a dream of mine since I could remember. and it was truly one of the best weeks of my life.