With a heavy passion for music, senior Joah Clark, senior Blake Gray and junior Josey Crossley are driven to pursue music beyond high school. They all plan to study and participate in music in college and have hopeful careers involving the musical arts.
The Role of Music
Clark has been heavily involved in music for eight years. She is currently involved in a variety of music activities, including the Olathe Youth Symphony, jazz band, pep band and symphonic band. For Clark, music is more than something she enjoys playing or hearing, it’s a universal way of communication.
“I think my favorite thing about music is how expressive it is,” Clark said. “There are so many different types of music, and there are so many different expressions through music, whether it’s pop or rock or jazz, there’s so many different meanings. You can speak any language and understand what is going on with music, it connects so many people.”
Gray has been participating in choir ever since the fourth grade and joined theater his freshman year.
“I feel like music has helped me get out of my comfort zone, and it also helps me meet a lot of new people,” Gray said.
Like Gray, Crossley is also a member of choir and theater. Additionally, she is a part of a women’s quartet. Although Crossley played the piano and trumpet briefly as a kid, she didn’t truly understand music until later in her childhood.
“A lot of my childhood revolved around sports, but I got burnt out over time and fell back into music and got to understand the love later on than most students,” Crossley said. “My favorite thing about being a musician is hearing what other people compose for other musicians to play. Some songs can be virtually relatable, even if you’re 17 and the composer is 47. It helps remind me that life is very universal no matter what life you live.”
Fueling the Passion
Clark, Gray and Crossley did not choose to pursue music solely because it was something they enjoyed. They were all inspired or pushed by someone to continue with music in the future. For Gray, it was his choir teachers, Laura VanLeeuwen and Jessie Reimer.
“Both my choir teachers throughout high school, Coach V and Ms. Reimer, helped a lot,” Gray said. “They both pushed me a lot in all directions, and they helped me consider the idea of pursuing music in some sort in the future.”
Originally, Crossley was very active in many activities, including volleyball, softball and basketball managing. According to her, she might never even have had the option of pursuing music if it wasn’t for her dad.
“Every year, while signing up for classes, my dad always made me sign up for a music class. In high school, I ended up joining Mill Valley Choir,” Crossley said. “In that 10 years of playing those sports, I had experienced major burnout and struggled mentally with my passions as a teenager. Having already been in choir, I had something to fall back onto and would not exchange the experience for the world.”
After meeting band director Deb Steiner, Clark found many similarities between them, which encouraged her to follow in her footsteps.
“Seeing another female band director and female trumpet player, she inspired me a lot just because you don’t really see a lot of female brass players or a lot of female band directors out there,” Clark said. “And I was like, ‘She’s exactly who I want to be.’”
A Future in Music
After graduation, Clark plans to major in Music Education at Pittsburgh State University while also being a part of the band. In the future, Clark hopes to inspire kids as a music educator at the secondary level.
“I was in seventh grade, and then I just realized that this is what I want to do,” Clark said. “I just want to inspire kids to love music as much as I do.”
Similar to Clark, Crossley also wants to pursue a career in music education. Crossley plans to sing collegiately at the University of Kansas and also audition for shows on campus.
“At the end of the day, my goal in life is to inspire other people’s lives through the arts and help them find the love for it when it’s needed the most,” Crossley said. “I want to continue making music in life because of the memories it’s given me. Meeting people, making friends and sharing other people’s stories makes music pursuable in life for me.”
Gray plans to minor in Music or Vocal Performance at Emporia State University, where he won a $3,500 scholarship that he auditioned for. Although he does not currently plan on pursuing a main career in music, he plans on continuing his music through community work in theater.
“I kind of always wanted to continue music, and once I started thinking about my future, I wanted to think of a plan that would actually be sustainable for my future, so I thought I would do something with the community,” Gray said. “[Music] is something that’s a talent of mine that I like to share, and I also like to meet with other people and perform something that I enjoy.”
