黄色电影

Inspired by his older sister鈥檚 piano skills, Theo Kalimtgis (鈥�24) said he grew up learning to聽

play the french horn, piano and guitar. Kalimtgis said his parents encouraged him and his sisters to play instruments from a young age, which is how he discovered his passion. Kalimtgis said he enjoyed playing due to the dynamic ranges of different musical pieces.

鈥淚t’s a cool form of expression because there are so many emotions you could be playing,鈥� Kalimgtis said.聽

Although he is passionate about music, Kalimtgis said he does not enjoy performing in front of an audience.

鈥淚 just get very nervous when performing my instruments in front of other people,鈥� Kalimgtis said. 鈥淚 don’t think any of the times that I’ve had to perform were particularly pleasant.鈥�

Instead, Kalimtgis said he finds his confidence in seeing himself improve on challenging pieces.

鈥淚’ll not have played a piece for two weeks, and then I go back to it, and I play it really well, like better than I had before,鈥� Kalimgtis said.

Required to learn an instrument in the Middle School, Kingston Bridges (鈥�24) said he settled on the trumpet and, from then on, realized how much he enjoyed creating music.聽

鈥淚t was really fun to get to explore this new instrument,鈥� Bridges said. 鈥淎s I started playing, I found that music is a really interesting medium of expression that really spoke to me.鈥�

Moreover, Bridges said as he continued to play the trumpet, he discovered trumpet players who inspired him, such as Alison Balsom.聽

鈥淥ne of the first pieces I heard by her was 鈥楲ibertango,鈥欌�� Bridges said. 鈥淭hat was really inspiring to me.鈥澛�

Bridges said his proudest moment was being invited to play in the Texas Music Educators Association.

鈥淚 was really nervous, but it felt really good to play out there in front of so many people,鈥� Bridges said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 by far one of my proudest moments, so I鈥檓 happy I got to play there before moving here.鈥�

Rion Emery (鈥�25) said she started performing in a musical theater group at a young age when a teacher encouraged her to branch out from her shyness. Emery said one can relate to characters through acting.聽

鈥淵ou can really find yourself in characters that you didn’t necessarily think had connections to your real persona and personality, but you end up really being able to analyze yourself and other people,鈥� Emery said. 鈥淚t’s really peaceful.鈥�

Emery also said that she has been involved in various summer camps to foster her passion for acting, including Interlochen, a performing arts summer camp. Emery said acceptance to this program was a 鈥渂ig accomplishment鈥� given the 鈥渋ntense audition process鈥� along with a 鈥渧ery low acceptance rate.鈥�

However, Emery said there are challenges to participating in performing arts, including the disappointment of not getting roles.聽

鈥淵ou don’t always get the part that you want,鈥� Emery said. 鈥淵ou kind of just have to live up with trying your best and never giving up.鈥�

Gus Bhatia (鈥�25) said he began playing guitar, bass guitar, piano and tabla because his mother encouraged him to try several activities from a young age. While he tried sports such as baseball and soccer, Bhatia discovered his true passion when he picked up an instrument.

鈥淢usic is just something that I ended up getting really attached to,鈥� Bhatia said. 鈥淚 used to spend all my free time just downstairs like messing around and playing with my instruments, and it just kind of grew.鈥�

Bhatia said his favorite moments throughout his musical journey are when he can perform in front of an audience.聽

鈥淸I love] those times when you get to play up in front of your entire school, you know, it sounds quite glorious,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 remember playing in Princeton town center, back where I’m from which is sick. I got to play for university students and stuff like that was really fun.鈥�

Bhatia also said he would advise students who are interested in music to jump in and attempt to pursue it.聽

鈥淚t’s hard at the start,鈥� Bhatia said. 鈥淭he start can make it really frustrating when you’re beginning, but if you’re really interested, I feel like there’s always room to move past that starting block and just give it a shot and persevere through it.鈥�

Fernando Hartogs (鈥�24) said he has always loved music and finds sound is the best medium for him to express himself. He finds inspiration through his background and looks up to other saxophonists, such as Sonny Rollins.

鈥淚 grew up listening to Brazilian music in my house and a few very influential teachers in my life,鈥� Hartogs said.鈥淚 just listened to a lot of music, and I wanted to reproduce it with my own choices.鈥�

However, Hartogs said one aspect he does not like about the study of music is learning about genres that are not interesting to him.

鈥淸I dislike] studying things that I know are good for me but are painstakingly annoying, like classical music,鈥� Hartogs said.

Nevertheless, Hartogs said even the mundane parts of learning music pay off when he improves at playing and finds a community of artists.聽

鈥淏eing able to get up and just play with anybody really, and just connect over music, that’s probably my best accomplishment so far,鈥� Hartogs said.

Sophia Ahmad (鈥�25) said her passion for singing and performing began in Grade 5 and has helped her build her confidence. Ahmad said her best performance was in Grade 8, singing and playing guitar for the Middle School on a Zoom call.

鈥淚 did a performance in eighth grade for the social justice week,鈥� Ahmad said. 鈥淎pparently, a lot of people really enjoyed it, so I think that was one of my best performances.鈥�

Ahmad said she has various inspirations, including singer Troy Crooks.聽

鈥淪he has a really nice style of singing, it’s sort of the style of singing that I want to go into,鈥� Ahmad said.

Above all, Ahmad said her most memorable moments are when she gets the chance to project her talents.

鈥淕etting any opportunity to actually perform and share my voice with people, that’s what I enjoy the most,鈥� Ahmad said.