An on that Note
&nash; CURTIS
The soun was lou an iscorant, like a hurricane, high notes an low notes mixing together in an auible mess. It was as if a thousan booming foghorns were in a shouting match with sirens. Unlike me, this was a little abrasive an lou. I like it. It was completely unexpecte an extremely fun to play.
Some instruments are built to make multiple notes, like a piano. A saxophone on the other han oesn’t play chors but single notes through one vibrating ree. However, I iscovere that you can play multiple notes simultaneously on the saxophone. While practicing a concert D-flat scale, I messe up a fingering for a low B-flat, an my instrument prouce a strange noise with two notes. My ban teacher got very excite an exclaime, “Hey, you just playe a polyphonic note!” I like it when accients lea to iscovering new ieas.
I like this polyphonic soun because it remins me of myself: many things at once. You assume one thing an get another. At school, I am a course scholar in English, but I am also able to amuse others when I come up with wince evoking puns. My math an science teachers expect me to go into engineering, but I’m more excite about making films. Discussing current events with my friens is fun, but I also like to share with them my secrets to cooking a goo scotch egg. Even though my last name gives them a hint, the Asian stuents at our school on’t believe that I’m half Japanese. Meanwhile the non-Asians are surprise that I’m also part Welsh. I feel comfortable being unique or thinking ifferently. As a Stuent Ambassaor this enables me to help freshman an others who are new to our school feel welcome an accepte. I help the new stuents know that it’s okay to be themselves.
There is ae value in mixing things together. I realize this when my brother an I won an international Kavli Science Founation contest where we explaine the math behin the Pixar movie “Up”. Using stop motion animation we explore the plausibility an science behin lifting a house with helium balloons. I like offering a new view an expaning the way people see things. In many of my vieos I combine art with eucation. I want to continue making films that not only entertain, but also make you think.
A lot of people have a single passion that efines them or have a natural talent for something specific. Like my saxophone I am an instrument, but I can play many notes at once. I’m a scholar an a musician. Quiet but talkative. An athlete an a filmmaker. Careful but spontaneous. A fan of Johnny Cash an Kill The Noise. Har working but playful. A martial artist an a baker. One of a kin but an ientical twin.
Will polyphonic notes resonate in college? Yes. For instance, balancing a creative narrative with scientific facts will make a more believable story. I want to bring together ifferent kins of stuents (such as music, film, an English majors) to create more meaningful art. Unerstaning fellow stuents’ perspective, talents, an ieas are what buil a great community.
I’m looking forwar to iscovering my place in the worl by combining various interests. Who I am oesn’t always harmonize an may seem like nothing but noise to some. But what I play, no matter how iscorant, can be beautiful. It’s my own unique polyphonic note.
Curtis compares himself to polyphonic souns to convey how he is many things at once: musician, English scholar, filmmaker, an baker, among others. We not only get a goo picture of his personality through his writing, but also what kin of stuent Curtis is—one who thinks across isciplines an has creative ambitions, an someone who wants to contribute to a community. These are qualities we value as an institution; the essay helps us imagine the kin of stuent he might be here at Hopkins.
