January Musician of the Month: Addy Bickel

Q: How many fine arts classes are you in?

A: Three, currently I am in Symphonic band, Wind Ensemble, and Corale which is the advanced all women’s choir group.

Q: What instrument(s) do you play in each band? How long have you been playing them?

A: In Wind Ensemble I play tuba, and I’ve been playing tuba since 5th grade, so for 7 years now. And then for Symphonic Band I play french horn which I started playing in October of 2021.

Q: How long have you been in choir? What voice part are you? It doesn’t have to be just one class?

A:  I’ve been in choir since 6th grade, because there was Rebel Rams, so 6 years. I sing alto 1, altos 2, and middle. My favorite part to sing is alto 2 because I like to sing low.

Q: Do you plan to continue to play band or choir during college? Do you plan to make it a career?

A: Probably not choir, but I was thinking about continuing my band career with playing tuba in college, not french horn though. Right now I’m thinking about Iowa for school. I haven’t auditioned but I’m still thinking about it, and maybe their marching band.

Q: How often do you practice in a group/alone for band/choir? How would you give advice to balance your practices?

A:  I don’t know how much exactly but most of my week is practicing. I have three different sectionals to go to during the week. I go to the French horn sectional, I go to the tube sectional for wind ensemble. So I would practice every other day for sectionals, and I would practice every other day for wind ensemble. So then I practice at least every day, and then I have Ram on Monday, so everyday I am doing something.

Q: What do you think is the most challenging part of your musical experience?

A: It’s always the learning of new things that’s one of the most fun parts but also the hardest, whether its band or choir. Just going through the process of having to put it together is the hard part I would say, but also it’s always fun.

Q: How do you think your music experiences will help you your future? Are there any lessons that your classes have taught you that you can use in the future?

A: I love band and choir. Over the many years of being in them, band and choir have shown me what it’s like to always find happiness in the darkest places. Because every time I’m in an upsetting mood, or I don’t want to go to school today, I always remind myself that I have those classes today. Which reminds me that “hey, I love this.”

Q: Why have you stayed in music classes all these years? What’s so special about them to make you wanna keep learning and coming back? Would you ever stop doing music?

A: It’s always been my life, it’s something that I can fall back on. I feel like I can never too much insecurity or unknowing in. It’s always something I can be like I know this, I love this. I feel like everybody has those moments where they get fed up of the hard parts, but I feel like everyone gets through those parts. The parts where I thought about quitting, have made it better in the end. They’ve made the rewards better.

Q: Do you have any advice for future students who want to pursue music, whether it’s band or choir?

A: Theres always a million different things you could say like keep going, you’re gonna be so great. But I think just take care of yourself before anyone else, because theres always a lot. When you get into one of these settings it always feels like a lot, and overwhelming. But when you get through that like I said it’s so rewarding. And I love band and choir. There’s always a lot of things you could say but, take care of yourself before anyone else. You need to make sure you’re happy in order to do what you want.