NAISer's Stories: So-Called ‘Three-Minutes’ Enthusiasm Walks Me to Johns Hopkins University

NAISer this time is about NAIS's graduate, Lin, who has got the offer from Johns Hopkins university (the Peabody school of music). He is going to share his story about music with us.

I believe Anthony is goal-oriented, well-organized, highly motivated, and always works hard to expand his musical expertise and knowledge in and out of the classroom. Anthony does well in approaching new academic and creative tasks and strives to obtain an all-inclusive music education.

Anthony is a type of student who lives and breathes music and will do so effectively for a living in the future. He is a rising composer, whose critical thinking skills and career-long habits of self-motivated learning will bring him a plethora of success in the world of music education and music composition.

There are many unique traits to Anthony’s musical studies that I, and many others in the field of music, find impressive. First, he has a vast knowledge of music as a performative and an academic field of study and excels at critical discussions of current musicological and theoretical trends of modern-day research, as well as performance practice traditions of Western classical and American popular music. Second, he has a great understanding of music philosophy and the subjective nature of music as a speculative phenomenon. He has already started establishing unique viewpoints of holistic music education processes previously not seen in academia, something that led to his research accepted to an international 2020 Working in Music Conference. Third, he does well to understand and adapt to conducting under a variety of performative circumstances. His musical interpretation is beyond the typical capabilities of an eighteen-year-old student. Finally, what I think is most impressive, is the fact that he already established his own compositional style. His compositional portfolio is remarkable and was of much interest to the music composition faculty of Johns Hopkins University.

As a music teacher at the NAIS, my goal is to provide all students with holistic music education – a student-centered learning process for music-making, which creates an equal balance between content-specific academic and performative disciplines. Through the four semesters at NAIS, I taught college-equivalent courses, which include AP Music Theory, Honors Music History I: Western Classical Music, Honors Music History II: American Popular Music, and Research Methods in Music, in addition to college-preparatory courses, which include Music Appreciation I, II, and Music Technology. I also direct the NAIS instrumental ensemble and choir. Anthony has been a part of all of this. Anthony, along with other students who actively pursue music, whether as a profession or an elective, can carve out their musical future at the NAIS and beyond.

Due to the competitive nature of highly-selective institutions, my goal was to build Anthony’s music credentials around his interests through professional development opportunities, performance experiences, practical work pursuits in the fields of music theory and composition, and extracurricular activities. Speaking from the perspective of education, Anthony took a total of nine content-specific courses that I taught at the school. He has also completed a HarvardX program titled “First Nights: Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and the 19th Century Orchestra” and finished his first music theory college course, titled “Getting Inside Harmony”. He is on the path to complete the Certificate of Advanced Music Studies, after a successful examination in music theory and history, which he will take in May of this year. In terms of music performance, Anthony had numerous opportunities to play, sing, and conduct at the NAIS music concerts. We had a total of eight concerts, and Anthony was an integral part of all the performances. He served as a soloist, accompanist, and an ensemble member. More importantly, he conducted the NAIS instrumental ensemble and choir, both separately and collaboratively. Through the music-related events at the NAIS, Anthony conducted classical, traditional, and popular music. He additionally received third place at the Shanghai 9th International Arts Festival. Practical work in music theory and composition included his duties as a composer assistant, where he helped me arrange music for NAIS high school instrumental ensemble and choir, transcribe music for the NAIS band, and assist with creating original music for school-based concerts. He has also served as a middle school music tutor, and AP-level music theory tutor. He is likewise an integral part of the NAIS Music Computation Lab, a group of students who conduct research based on their musical interests. Anthony’s works appeared at two international conferences. As for extracurricular activities, Anthony is the president of the NAIS Music Club and is a vital part of the NAIS Band, a club that performs modern popular music.

I must say, however, that this is merely a beginning, and there is no end to preparation. Johns Hopkins University is a competitive institution, and once accepted, the amount of workload merely increases. Therefore, Anthony is currently in the process of preparing his musical compositions for international compositional competitions. He is additionally writing a book chapter on music philosophy and is soon to complete a series of rigorous exams on music theory and history. Furthermore, he is finishing another HarvardX course, titled “19th-Century Opera: Meyerbeer, Wagner, & Verdi”, and is in the preparation stages of completing a series of educational professional development courses administered by Columbia University.

We did not encounter any problems with the application process. Johns Hopkins University, as the majority of the schools, has a very straightforward application with step-by-step instructions available online. Students, teachers, and administrators have access to it, and the admission office on the side of Johns Hopkins University is always available to answer any questions.

I think Anthony should continue growing as a musician and enhance his learning in all spheres of music. He should actively pursue research, learn new content, and build connections by attending out-of-school workshops and conferences. I believe Anthony should continue expanding his portfolio as a performing musician, educator, and most importantly – composer. I will continue to work with him even when he goes to America since we have a few collaborative research projects going on at the moment.