Performers You May Know
September 30, 2015
Name: Ella Tazuana Johnson ’17
Hometown: Los Angeles
Major: Linguistics & Arabic with GIS focus
On-campus performance involvement: The Silhouettes (#silslove) and Solidarity performances
What is your favorite part of performing?: My favorite part is being able to hear the hard work that me and everyone else has practiced come to life on stage, because we arrange our own songs.
Name: Amanda Miller ’18
Hometown: Kutztown, Pa.
Major: Music education
On-campus performance involvement: Symphonic Band, Jazz Band, Pep Band, Orchestra, Rooke Chapel Ringers
What is your favorite part of performing? My favorite part of performing is the interaction with others. I love being able to collaborate during the incredible experience of creating music with fellow musicians and friends, as well as share the final product with an audience.
Name: Alex Horowitz ’16
Hometown: Syosset, N.Y.
Major: Managing for Sustainability
On-campus performance involvement: Jazz Bassist for: Jazz Band, Jazz Piano Trio (Including Dave Levengood ’18 on piano and Director of University Pep Band Phil Haynes on drums) which plays Jazz gigs on and off campus, freelance Jazz bass.
What is your favorite part of performing? My favorite part of performing is definitely the feeling you get from immersing yourself in the music. You turn the right side of your brain off and feel through the music, erasing all of the day’s worries. The passion that you have for the music truly surfaces in that moment, and it’s extremely euphoric. It is almost an out-of-body experience, feeling as though your body and mind are not completely linked; you are aware that your body is slapping the strings but the creation of the music is not a 100 percent conscious effort which operates on an entirely different brain-wavelength. When the piece of music you are playing comes to a close, you feel yourself return back to complete consciousness in a wave of warmth, and all is resolved. This may sound super obscure, but others who are passionate about music feel this way as well (I’m not an English major so my description may not be as elegant/detailed but I think I generally nailed it). However, it is truly the feeling I get from playing and creating great music with great musicians, and it is one that I hope others feel when they are engaged in their respective passions, whether it be music or sports or writing. In other words, the feeling of realizing your passion and immersing yourself in it wholeheartedly is something that I would never trade away for anything in the world.
Name: Rodney West ’17
Hometown: East Stroudsburg, Pa.
Major: Theatre and English, minor in Arts Entrepreneurship
On-campus performance involvement: Bison Chips; Theater department: currently in “Radium Girls.”
What is your favorite part about performing? My favorite part of performing is being able to share with the audience emotions that cannot be expressed through the monotony of daily life. I love engaging everyone in a dynamic setting where humans can truly connect.
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