As a member of the music academy at Salem High School, I was always surrounded by intelligent and talented peers. The academy director was deciding who should conduct, "the finale," a musical piece performed by every student of the instrumental academy, when I expressed my interest in conducting the song. Unlike …show more content…
Once the time came to decide on who would conduct the finale, the choice was clear. The director saw my potential and inclination to achieve greatness during our rehearsals and chose me over many other talented individuals. Over the course of the next two months, I alone spearheaded every rehearsal, often spending hours a day in the band room providing both artistic and technical instruction to an ensemble of roughly 140 members. It was not until then that I had realized how difficult it was to convey artistic choices to such a large group of students effectively, but I eventually overcame the many obstacles that my lack of experience presented and skillfully conducted the finale at our concert. The piece received a standing ovation from the audience, but more importantly, a profound emotional response from many members of the audience that manifested as both tears and elated shouts. My director commented that it was the most efficient and successful finale piece he had ever seen. Similarly, I recently placed first in a district-wide audition between all the high school tenor saxophonists across multiple cities for entrance into a symphonic band. Unlike almost all musicians of my caliber, I have not had to rely on private lessons from professional