Music isn’t just about sound, it’s about people

Hi! My name is Thea Crosby, and I am a junior in high school. I am strongly passionate about all components of music: listening, playing, and expressing myself through lyrics and sounds. My musical journey began when I was four years old and my parents enrolled me into music school once a week. I began to learn the basics of classical piano,  taking on music theory and solfeggio classes soon after. Immediately, I was hooked on the complex and intricate sounds a piano can make that can touch your soul. 

A couple of years later, I discovered my passion for singing. I adored musical theater and often combined my singing with piano to perform modern songs. In eighth grade, I wrote my first original song with my best friend: a bossa nova tune with a simple chord progression, along with emotional lyrics written in Spanish. At this point, I was entering high school and becoming more explorative with my musical interests. I joined a rock band as the lead singer, and there I developed an interest for electric guitar, teaching myself the basics. 

Currently, I am using all of the musical skills I have learned in a music production class I take at my high school. I am in my second year of taking this course, and I am creating projects on GarageBand where I record all of the instruments I learn in a song I choose. In class, I learn my way around Garageband and other production platforms, how to create sounds and loops, and how to record and mix tracks. I enjoy breaking songs up into pieces and rebuilding them, learning about the effect a certain instrument, mix, or sound effect has upon a song as a whole. Whenever I listen to music, I like to pay attention to every bit of a song and organize all of its components in my head. I also like to put myself in the artist’s shoes and discover the emotions and messages the music is conveying, noting what aspects of the song make me feel a certain way. Throughout my musical journey, I have had many different genre and instrument phases, all of which have shaped who I am as a musician and music listener today.