Age: 21
Major: Music Merchandising, PR Minor
How are you involved on campus? I do WRHU, PRSSA, and I play flute in the Wind Ensemble, Flute Ensemble, Symphonic Orchestra, and Symphonic Band.
How did you get started playing the flute? At the end of third grade, they audition you on every single instrument, and the only ones I could even sort of play were the flute and the drums. Then, when I was in 5th grade, we got a new music teacher, and she pushed me to do competitions and NYSSMA (which critiques your playing) and I did really well in them. When I went into middle school, that same teacher recommended I continue taking private lessons. I kept doing all sorts of competitions and going to flute institutions and doing well in all of them, so I just stuck with it.
Where is the coolest place you’ve gotten to play? The first time I got paid to play, which was in high school. I played at a church for the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day masses. It’s not necessarily a very cool place, but everyone in the audience knew who I was and was proud of me. Plus, it gave me a glimpse at what it would be like to play professionally, and, at 16, that was really cool for me.
What made you interested in the merchandising side of music instead of the performance as a career? I see myself dealing with people more. I’m very comfortable working with people. I knew I wanted to be in more of a business setting than teaching or playing in front of people. I get a little bit of anxiety for performances! But I do want to audition to play in pits after graduation — I think that would be less nerve racking.
Talk about the commercial you were just in for Hofstra! It’s a few shots of me in the WRHU studio. For the radio, I’ve done Alt Rock, Indie, and Jazz music stations. Apparently, that’s running on ESPN and ABC. They didn’t even tell me I was going to be in it! My mom’s happy because she says now people will believe me that I do WRHU when I put it on my resume…
What’s your dream job? I thought, at first, that I wanted to be a staff publicist, because I enjoy working with people, but now I think I’ve shifted more towards being a music supervisor, who is the person who finds all the music for TV shows and movies. I don’t have one favorite band or style of music, I just love listening to all different types, so just getting to sift through tons and tons of records would be really cool.
What are some things music has taught you? To do things simply because you love them. I was so nervous about this one solo for Symphonic Orchestra, because it’s known to be one of the most difficult flute pieces and it was being recorded. I stressed out about it for weeks… and then it didn’t even get on the CD because there was a problem with the microphone. I realized that music is such a personal thing, and you should do it for yourself. I’ll never hear myself playing that solo again, but it’s okay, because now those 10 minutes when I was playing it are purely mine. You should always do the things you love, and if it happens to tie into your professional life where you’re getting paid or whatever, you should still remember why you started doing it in the first place and not let any stress of the job ruin something you love.