1. SAMANTHA SCHICK MY MUSICAL JOURNEY

2.  My parents used to put on a Beethoven cassette tape to help me fall asleep when I was a baby  I remember hearing Billy Joel and the Beatles playing in my living room  I remember dancing around my living room to The Sound of Music soundtrack with my dad and younger sister  When I was little I remember “putting on shows” for my family in my living room, where I would sing and choreograph dances for my sister and I (against her will) EARLY MEMORIES

3.  When I was seven years old, I began taking piano lessons  I learned how to play on an old piano that my parents got from one of their friends  It was around this time that I started writing my own songs in the hopes of performing them someday on the guitar, which I did not know how to play at the time (they were horrible)  In third grade, I went to NYSSMA for the first time and had gone every year since then up until 12 th grade  In fourth grade, I began playing the violin and had a role in the school musical, which was my first realization that I love singing on the stage and performing for an audience ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

4.  In middle school, I continued playing the piano and violin  I had a few small roles in musicals, which discouraged me a little bit  In eighth grade I started to teach myself how to play the guitar  At this point, I wanted nothing to do with music ed. I wanted to work hard and go to college for performance MIDDLE SCHOOL

5.  In high school, I was involved in theatre, vocal jazz, orchestra, and chorus  I had a lot of mishaps with music in high school until my senior year that made me feel I wasn’t good enough to make it  Despite not always reaching my goals, I was a part of many groups that gave me awesome musical opportunities  I became discouraged in 10 th grade, and began to rethink going into music  I went to NYSSSA School of Choral Studies that summer and realized that I could not picture myself doing anything else but music HIGH SCHOOL

6.  My high school chorus teacher, Ms. Elliot inspired me to go to school to become a music teacher  She is such a beautiful person and loves music and her students more than anything else. She’s just a really special person  I remember sitting in my orchestra class that was held in the chorus room at 7:30 in the morning  I looked at Ms. Elliot working at her desk and literally had an epiphany  I realized that I could definitely see myself becoming a teacher  Prior to this, I was completely against becoming a teacher, I had just wanted to perform INSPIRATION TO BECOME A TEACHER

7.  I never was recognized as a significant musician in my high school until my senior year  I remember before going on stage to accompany the music directors band the music chairperson from my school district said to me “who are you again?”  I never forgot that and used it as motivation.  I worked very hard in order to achieve musical goals of mine all throughout high school, and finally senior year it all paid off  I was fortunate enough to be a part of both the All State and All Eastern conference choirs and was able to play Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls  These things gave me the confidence to believe that I could compete musically in the real world  I auditioned for ten schools and finally realized, despite my initial opinion of it due to distance, that Crane was my perfect match SENIOR YEAR