Up until my senior year of high school, up until it was time to decide, I had been planning to audition for conservatories. I was in the Utah Youth Symphony. I played in several different ones, but most of them were under the umbrella of the organization that was called the Utah Youth Symphony. We had a fantastic conductor. We got to perform in Salt Lake City’s Abravanel Hall and those are just some of my best memories.
I initially joined Musica Nova with Dr. Rodriguez, which has been the most elevated ensemble I’ve ever been a part of musically. We are very down to business though, for the entire rehearsal. So it wasn’t much of a social outlet at first, and as we’ve gotten used to each other and as we’ve warmed up to each other, we’ll chat during breaks and they’re good friends of mine now. But that first year, we sort of just sat in silence. So I really was itching for more social interaction and music has always been the best way for me to make connections, I think.
The second semester of my freshman year is when I joined the choir. That was very sort of out of left field for me. I had never sung. Never did choir in high school. I think I mostly wanted to meet people, and I really, really loved it. I felt very timid at first and was one of the quiet singers, but Dr. Palant was just really great and it felt so at ease. It felt so collaborative and supportive.
My first semester, I enrolled as an engineering major and got about two years into that until I switched majors to study Information Technology. It was a very logical, practical decision. I feel like a have a very analytical mind. I feel like I am capable of dissecting processes. I don’t mind more tedious or technical stuff. The caveat has just been that I’ve really needed the spaces that UT Dallas has provided where I can be creative and I can forget about it all for the six hours a week that I’m in rehearsals. And that’s been very necessary.
I quite enjoy the dichotomy or the contrast. And it’s not that music isn’t hard work or that it’s not that quote-unquote productive. JSOM feels like eating my vegetables in a way and playing music is a dessert. It’s a good balance I think for my brain. It’s not been the easiest when I have to park near my class and then walk with my cello all the way to the other side of campus to rehearse. This semester and last semester, I’ve actually had a back-and-forth. So I’ll have classes in the JSOM building, then rehearsals, then a class, and then a rehearsal again. And they do have storage lockers for my cello, but that would feel like leaving my child in a cold, dark room. So I just I carry it with me.
I think that, that whole choir is mostly made up of non-music majors. They’re people who, like me, love music and weren’t ready to let it go when high school finished. I think for so many of us it was like we never expected to be there. I’d never would have expected to be there when I enrolled as in engineering student or when I changed my major to IT, or when I passed up the opportunity to study music on scholarship. I never would have guessed I’d be in Spain performing really good music with people I love.