Sofia DeLousia's Music Portfolio
Musical Life
Meaningful Musical Artifact
My meaningful musical artifact is my pointe shoes from when I took dance lessons in high school. They represent the year that my teacher chose the Carousel Waltz for us to perform to in our advanced ballet/pointe class. The recording of the song we used was so beautiful and elegant that I was captured every time we danced to it. It took me back to childhood when I would ride on the carousel and the dance itself was like imitating a carousel’s movements. Unlike every other ballet piece we had ever performed to, this was obviously in ¾ time because it is a waltz. We had never performed to a piece in ¾ time so it was another challenge for us to overcome. This music made me forget while we were on stage performing how painful the shoes were and how many long hard hours of practice we completed.
Musical Histories
My musical background began when my mom signed me up for ballet and tap lessons just after I turned four years old. I took class very seriously and admired my teachers so much. I remember thinking that I wanted to be just like that when I got older. I continued to dance and expanded my classes to include jazz when I was invited to join the competition class. This opened up an entirely new world to me. For eight years I was involved with this competition class. In competitions I performed solos, duets, and small and large groups. I was asked to be a dance demonstrator in some of the preschool and early elementary classes. This was an enjoyable experience that allowed me to see what it was like to teach something I love doing to children. This was my introduction to the world of teaching and it inspired me. I loved having the kids ask me how to do different dance steps and seeing them progress throughout the year. They were so enthusiastic to be there and you could tell that they admired us as teachers, as I once did.
Throughout my 13 years of dance I learned many different disciplines including ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, and musical theater. My favorite is tap dancing because of the complex syncopations created with the feet. I believe this helped me understand rhythms when I began playing clarinet in sixth grade. Dance helped give me the skills to remember things quickly and coordinating my movements when different parts of my body are doing other dance moves.
I began playing the clarinet when I was in sixth grade. I started playing clarinet because joining band was the cool thing to do. I continued to play through junior high school because I was a fairly decent player. In tenth grade my band teacher asked me to be the drum major for the marching band. I wasn’t really interested in doing the job, and I didn’t have friends in the marching band, but she talked me into it. Because I hadn’t been in the marching band before, many of the members hated that I was chosen to be the drum major. I found one friend to spend time with out of the entire marching band who has ended up being my best friend. The marching band grew, and the members became better musicians and marchers throughout the three years I was there. We won parade competitions and special awards for our spirit and togetherness. I gained many leadership experiences, listening skills, and confidence through my drum major role. The confidence gave me the ability to audition for PMEA festivals without choking. Because of the new-found confidence I acquired, I was not frightened to apply to Penn State, where I knew very few people.
Now I am pursuing a career as a Music Education major because of the experiences music gave me. Whether I look back on my memories of music through dance or through band, I can not help but smile and hope that I can have an impact on my students’ lives just as my many teachers have had on mine. I know that teaching others different aspects of music in various ways will be fulfilling, just as being a dance demonstrator and drum major was for me.
Symphonic Band 2007 First Concert Program
