High school is where my identity as a singer and performer was solidified. In my junior and senior years of high school, I sang in multiple capstone choirs, singing both classical choir music and challenging vocal jazz. I once counted up the amount of time I sang per week, and found that if I didn't have any additional concerts in a week or do an unusual amount of practicing, I would sing for at least 11 or 12 hours a week in my senior year of high school.

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This experience made me very good at blending and having confidence on stage, as I got experience with everything from singing in a choir of hundreds of performers at the Kennedy Center to gigging Christmas music in an ensemble of eight or fewer members.

 

I ended up singing with very talented musicians that have gone on to study vocal Jazz performance, music teaching, and conducting in college. One of them, Julia Smulson, has even become a very successful vocal jazz singer in her own right, winning the Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition in 2022. I a very grateful to have sung with such incredible people, as I think I would never have become as good a performer as I am without their immense talent right next to me.