February Musician of the Month: Jamie Panosh

Q: How many fine arts classes are you in?

A: I am in two marching/symphonic band and bass clef choir.

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

A: I play general percussion which I’ve been playing since fifth grade, so that’s seven years and I play piano which I’ve been playing for and that’s been 12 and a half I started lessons when I was five.

Q: How long have you been in choir? What voice part are you?

A: I’ve been in choir willingly for four years I took a break in my sophomore year because I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not. I’m a tenor but I’ve been doing baritone this semester because Mrs. Cavin asked me to, and I sing tenor and baritone.

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

A: I enjoy music, I enjoy playing piano, I enjoy singing, but it’s not something that I think I would be able to make a career out of and as fun as it is in high school it doesn’t really go many places in college when your at my level.

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

A: Outside of band, I practice about 5-6 hours a week. For choir, it’s not technically practice, but I spend about 12 hours of the week just singing in general. To balance your work, you need to set boundaries for yourself, because it’s very easy to get lost practicing music, its easy to get drawn that. You need to set timers, you need to learn how much you actually need to practice vs. how much you want to practice. You need to find a healthy middle ground.

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

A: The most challenging part is probably my own expectations. I say this a lot but there will never be a more harsh critique than yourself, no one will ever be able to hold you to as high of expectations as you, and I hold myself to very high expectations when it comes to music, so I have just to learn that mistakes are ok, mistakes are ok and there’s always room to improve.

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: In general, band has taught me to be early so you’re on time. My music has taught me the value of repetition in terms of going at something. If you have a problem you need to keep pushing at it, keep working, keep improving, and eventually the problem won’t necessarily go away but it becomes easier to deal with as time goes on. That can apply to just about any part of your life.

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

A: I’ve always been a musical person. I’ve always enjoyed playing piano; I’ve always enjoyed singing, it’s sort of my passion. When I got into high school, I joined the marching band and I joined the choir, not because I particularly enjoyed them. I joined mostly because I felt a sort of pressure because I had two older sisters before me, both of whom were in both of these programs, so I sort of felt I needed to live up to expectations, but I stuck around with it because there’s something enticing about being able to just sit down at a keyboard and tap out a melody and make a song and say that you were the one who was able to do that. There’s something thrilling to say that you’re able to do those things, and it’s just entertaining after a bit, it’s just fun.

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

A: If you’re scared don’t be, it is a whole lot less stressful than you’er imagining it to be. Yes ,there’s going to be stress, but there’s going to be stress in every part of your life, that’s not going to change. So, if you think you want to get in marching band or if you think you want to get into show choir, just try out, just audition. If you don’t get in, you don’t get in, it’s ok, there’s always the next year, or if you decide it’s not for you that’s fine. If you think that you’ll enjoy it, try it, you can do it, no one will ever be able to judge you as harshly as you. So maybe cut yourself some slack here and there.