Majoring in Jazz Performance meant overcoming fear. When I began planning for college, I didn’t know what to study. Music was my passion, but the whole starving artist image terrified me. I doubted I could make it as a performer, but performing was all I wanted to do. For a while, I considered studying health care like my parents and maybe playing in a band on the side. Although I never had much enthusiasm for that idea. I wanted to attend a college with a good school for my major, but without a major I was stuck. No way forward.
Even with my parents’ help, I couldn’t make a decision. Spring of junior year I was still stuck. Then my mom asked me, “Nathan, where do you see yourself in ten years?” And I thought it over. All the years learning music and all the joy of performing. My accomplishments and my potential. The terror of the starving artist faded away. I saw myself ten years down the line. A musician.
Jazz Performance is more than playing music. Teaching, marketing, and group leading have all been vital to my success as a performer. When I became the leader of a jazz combo called Groove Atlas, there were only a few experienced players available to me. I had to quickly create an extremely efficient method to teach the younger musicians how to play jazz. We performed together all year.
Leadership is as challenging in music as in any other discipline. Booking gigs. Organizing rehearsals. Providing sheet music for everyone. It is an exercise in patience as well as time management. Biting a saxophonist’s head off for missing rehearsal is a sure-fire way to lose a saxophonist. Sometimes difficult decisions have to be made. The pianist was very young. Not ready for a certain performance we had planned. As much as I wanted to keep the band together, I had to take her off the roster that day and call in a more experienced player. I felt awful, but it has prepared me to face similar dilemmas in the future.
Learning to advertise the brand is imperative. If nobody knows about the gig, nobody comes, and nobody gets paid. I had a wake-up call. Groove Atlas was performing regularly at a restaurant called Talayna’s, and the owner wanted us to bring more people. Social media became a valuable tool for advertising. I even dealt with other artists, promoting their shows in exchange for help promoting mine. Friends of mine offered services like flyer design and recording that gave me more content to spread around.
Jazz Performance means having the skills to work on a bandstand. In my case, it also means adopting these additional skills to maximize my potential as an artist. Jazz Performance is working with others, leading, and listening. When I graduate, I will be fully fledged Jazz Performer. A musician.
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In the Ancient Egyptian text, Maxims of Ptahhotep, speech is cited as being so powerful that it is “mightier than all fighting.” In this case, I am not referring to speech as a weapon in a literal sense. Instead, my desire to study speech-language pathology is driven by my belief that all individuals should have the opportunity to utilize speech to provide them with a sense of self-agency and to preserve their native language as an essential part of their culture
How did I choose my major? Simple. The Last of Us. The Last of Us in just its first few hours of play showcased what you could do with a video game as a storytelling medium, integrating aspects of film and gameplay to tell a passionate story, ultimately, of the love between a father and daughter. Despite our two protagonists not being related. It has the players not only experience the development of character not just through cut-scenes but also displays character through subtle lines through gameplay.
I came to my major through a long route of thought and interest. In middle school, I read a book about philosophy, which discussed the relationship between the brain and the mind. Oddly enough to me, the book discussed the mind and the brain as two different things, one immaterial and the other material, and provided several arguments as to why this is the case. After reading said book, I become engrossed in the branch of philosophy called “Philosophy of Mind,” which seeks to answer philosophical questions about the mind.
For two years before moving to the US, I worked eighty hours a week to pursue my dream of moving to the US and become a film director. I spent my days as a full-time member of an IT department, and three nights a week and Saturday I spent working shifts at a gas station. People called me crazy for working so much, but I knew I could do it. I was no stranger to hard work. From the age of 18 to 21, I served in the Israeli Defense Force.
Although active in the church, volunteering for the past five years, the experience of following politics has changed the way I look at most institutions. The church was no exception. I question many aspects of Christian dogma and have always used church teaching as I did politics, as a point of view and not necessarily an absolute. I’ve realized through my volunteer work that opinions on politics vary depending on social and economic conditions.
It has been in my raising that I have discovered a loving relationship with math and physics and the potential applicability of its mechanisms to solve real world problems. The fascination of being able to make something the most efficient functioning component of its denomination is a topic that has developed in me and inspired me to take on engineering to solve the problems of the world.
Majoring in Jazz Performance meant overcoming fear. When I began planning for college, I didn’t know what to study. Music was my passion, but the whole starving artist image terrified me. I doubted I could make it as a performer, but performing was all I wanted to do. For a while, I considered studying health care like my parents and maybe playing in a band on the side. Although I never had much enthusiasm for that idea.
I transferred to Towson University from Howard Community College in the Fall of 2015. At Howard, I first worked as a math tutor for one semester. I then campaigned and was elected Vice President of the Student Government Association for two semesters. I filed for permission to work outside of school (OPT) and worked in filming and editing with an entertainment company. After a year my OPT expired, and it was time for a new Vice President to take my place. After I had transferred to Towson, I tried to find a job on campus but with no success; and as of this moment I am not working.
In the Ancient Egyptian text, Maxims of Ptahhotep, speech is cited as being so powerful that it is “mightier than all fighting.” In this case, I am not referring to speech as a weapon in a literal sense. Instead, my desire to study speech-language pathology is driven by my belief that all individuals should have the opportunity to utilize speech to provide them with a sense of self-agency and to preserve their native language as an essential part of their cultures.
The world, throughout centuries, decades, and even the last couple of years has accumulated quite a bit of problems that range anywhere from global health to climate change. It has been in my raising that I have also discovered a loving relationship with math and physics and the potential applicability of its mechanisms to solve real world problems. The fascination of being able to make something the most efficient functioning component of its denomination is a topic that has developed in me and inspired me to take on engineering to solve the problems of the world.
In 2004, I travelled by car with my family to Washington DC on vacation. To pass the time, my father devised a game. He would ask a question related to history, government or politics. The first answer was free. After that, my sister and I would win a dollar for every right answer we could repeat and would lose twenty-five cents for every wrong answer. How many members in the house of representatives? What are the three branches of government? Who’s the Secretary of Defense?
I came to my major through a long route of thought and interest. In middle school, I read a book about philosophy that discussed the relationship between the brain and the mind. Oddly enough to me, the book discussed the mind and the brain as two different things, one immaterial and the other material, and provided several arguments as to why this is the case.
Drought in the American West has thrown water conservation into the spotlight. Average citizens are becoming more aware of water issues, and as a resident of Southern Arizona and a believer in individual advocacy and education, I believe that this cultural shift is long overdue. As water levels in Lake Mead continue to drop, Arizona is threatened by a reduction of its allotment of the water supply. My concern for the future water security of the Southwest inspired me to pursue a career in hydrology.
I feel that my education will help me to become a strong resource and advocate for children and families who need additional academic and social-emotional supports. In my capacity as a school psychologist, I can help teachers and administrators to provide strong academic and social supports to all students, to identify and support students who need additional help, and to pinpoint areas of difficulty and potential interventions for those students with the most needs.
Until about age 10, whenever someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I alternated between a doctor and a lawyer. I suppose that’s because two of my role models were my pediatrician Pamela Black, and my immigration lawyer Gloria Goldman. These women were quite similar. They were both so tall and confident. Even at 6, I just knew they were incredibly intelligent. Dr. Black could ask me some random questions, poke and prod for a minute, then exactly determine what was wrong. It was like she was solving one of those 500 piece puzzles in her head but she didn’t even have the box to look at.
A veterinarian helps you make the toughest decisions you’ll ever make when it comes to your animals. The veterinary career is owned by a group of individuals that are 150% dedicated to their passion and what they are doing in their day-to-day life and helping people and animals reach a better point in their lives. It is a great desire of mine to join this group of dedicated individuals that are highly motivated and very compassionate.
I feel that my education will help me to become a strong resource and advocate for children and families who need additional academic and social-emotional supports. In my capacity as a school psychologist, I can help teachers and administrators to provide strong academic and social supports to all students, to identify and support students who need additional help, and to pinpoint areas of difficulty and potential interventions for those students with the most needs.
At age nine, everything was perfect. I could wake up from a dream about how I was Batman’s sidekick and run around the house jumping from wall to wall. In each room I ran to, I could see my happy family going on with their day—my mother waking up ecstatic to see her cubs, my father rushing around to get ready for work, and my sisters watching their daily cartoons and shows. I had no worries; home was my safety blanket.