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A.S.: I’m Allison Seyler and I'm here with Y.E. on April 10, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: 2026, in the Brody Learning Commons, for our first-generation FLI college student oral history ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: interviews. So, I'll start just with a general question about where you were born, and if you ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: could tell me a little bit about your family. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: Yeah, so, I was born in San Francisco, California. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: My family are I want to say immigrants from Nicaragua and El Salvador, and they came to the US ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: in the late-'80s. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Okay, great. What did your parents do ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: for a living and did they bring that over with them when they emigrated, or did they ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: find new careers once they got here? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: Well, my mom's story is very interesting. I'll ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: start with hers. So, when she was 13, she was actually one of the pro-Sandinista people in ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: Nicaragua, where she organized all these different arts programs and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: music programs in her city, Bluefields, when she was 13. And she was pretty much like a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: freedom fighter with the family. But what happened, then, is when she came over to the US, when she ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: was 17, she pretty much dropped all of that, and instead, focused on just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: focusing with her family, just amalgamating to California. And she ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: eventually became a court interpreter, after I want to say four years of community college. And then, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: my dad, he just kind of like was a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: mechanic, and I think he was just a mechanic when he got here, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: something with manual labor and that's just kind of what he did. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Working with your hands, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: yeah. Did you grow up speaking Spanish in your household? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: I didn't. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: Growing up in the Bay Area, I moved around a lot, so I can't say I'm from one city ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: being, like, Richmond, California, or Berkeley, California, or Oakland, California, or San Francisco. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: I kind of moved all around. But I kept going to school in Berkeley, where it was a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: majority English-speaking community, so, going there, my mom didn't really prioritize ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: speaking Spanish to me in the household, but I grew up around it. So, if ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: I heard my mom saying something-something in Spanish, and then she'd point to the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: couch, so I'm, like, "Okay, she wants me to fix the couch." Or if I hear my aunt and my mom talking ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: real low in Spanish, I'm, like, "Okay, so they're gossiping." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: But that would be the extent of my learning Spanish. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: What did your parents – did they have specific thoughts about education, as you started ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: to talk about that, growing up? And if you could talk a little bit about your education ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: experience, like the schools you went to before college, that would be great. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: So, around education, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: my parents were very much just, like, "Do as much as you can when you're in school," ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: just getting good grades and participating and engaging with the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: classroom and all that. I want to say my mom was especially adamant about it, just being like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: you know, "We've come to this country, so you can have access to this information. And we want you ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: to know a lot and be able to extend that upon your ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: greater community." In terms of the way I got educated, I'd say, I mean, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: I went to elementary school, middle school, high school. And then, it was actually around middle ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: school I went to this community arts program and that really set me on the path of just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: being a teacher. And also, self-education. I came up through a community of teachers where I remember ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: I was just trying to do jazz saxophone. But then they told me, like, "No, you can't just do one. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: You have to do everything." So I had to do dancing, acting, singing, so I left being able to play ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: 30 instruments and being able to do stage monologues and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: having to do West African dance and Trinidadian steelpan or traditional Mexican son. And through that time, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: it felt like I was being raised by a community of teachers who are from – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: this is in Richmond, in the city of Richmond, and they all looked like us, they're ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: all Black and Latino students. And it just felt like we were being raised ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: by our own. And it was around that time where I realized, like, "I want to do this same exact thing," ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: which is to go to college, learn as much as I can, and to bring it back ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: to my community in the form of education and teaching kids how to play music. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: That's great. So, the community arts, I guess, program, what about that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: was appealing to you? And is that where you kind of discovered your talent or love of music? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Or is that something you've kind of always had and then that brought it out more? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: It definitely brought it out more. I didn't come from a very musical family, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: but it was in eighth grade where my teachers were very much, like, " ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: It's worth getting deep into this." This being, you know, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: if you're talking about jazz, you're talking about West African drumming. If ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: you're talking about West African drumming, then you're talking about Afro-Americans ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: and field hollers. And then keep going deeper and deeper into it, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: it's all just this cyclic thing where all music stems from West Africa. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: And then that came through Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Louisiana ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: and Georgia, and in Georgia they banned the drum over – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: I forgot – there's a specific event, but they banned the drum, because it caused an ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: uprising. And I learned that all in middle school and high school, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: just there's an intrinsic power to music that's not ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: just commodifying it. And this kind of came from this very just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: holistic, but also understanding the social and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: political aspects of your creation, which is very cool. I’m sorry, what was the question [both laugh] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: No, no, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: I was curious about how you came to music, and whether or not it was something ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: that was an inherent talent and that somebody kind of noticed and encouraged. It was ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: something that was cultivated over time. And then my understanding of myself as ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: an artist definitely came from my middle school and high school experience in that program. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: And then, I mean, also, just my high school band program, that was cool. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: That was just, I learned to play in time and in tune with a whole ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: group of people, but that wasn't really where I learned how to play music and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: understand it. It's more like foundations, I guess. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: Yeah, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: it was cool, but it wasn't where I got everything from, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: So, how did you decide to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: attend Hopkins? Can you tell me a little bit more about that sort of transition from high ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: school to college? And then, once you were accepted, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: what was your family's reaction to this? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: I'm trying to think how to – I mean, Covid was a pretty ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: big thing, so just, I only spent – this contextualized my high school experience. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: I only spent a year-and-a-half in person, and the second year-and-a-half – I graduated a year early – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: was online. And I was in Georgia. So I was attending online school in California, in Georgia, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: with a three-hour time difference, in a suburb an hour out from Atlanta, where, every morning, I saw ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: this guy – I lived in a cul-de-sac – he took out his life-sized cutout of Donald Trump, put ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: it right in front, and looked at me, he went like this every morning. And I knew he understood me and – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: it was crazy, it was a whole thing. But, yeah, for college, I think I knew I wanted to go to college ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: just to further what I knew about music, and also in terms of education. I wanted to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: have some sort of, you know, I wanted to come back with some sort of skill. When I say Hopkins, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: it was – I'm trying to say this in a way where it will be marketable for y’all. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Oh, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: you can say it – however you would like. There's no holds barred, here. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: [Both ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: laugh] Okay. It was a cool option, being that I was looking for music schools, and there was Peabody ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: and then there was also Berklee College of Music. At Peabody, I knew there's a ton of musicians ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: from the Bay Area, which was awesome for the first couple years when they were around us. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: And then, Berklee gave me a scholarship, so it was kind of between the two, and Peabody ended up ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: matching that scholarship, so I was, like, "Oh, you know what, I should go to Peabody." But I ended up ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: really like it, being just, you know, I think Baltimore as a city is a very, very ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: interesting just historically, just very cool city. But also, I just like the people ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: and the culture, here. It's like Northern ideology, but Southern hospitality. It's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: just very cool. And I'd say mostly I came to Hopkins just mostly for, I'd ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: say, the community aspect. I really like the community I met at Peabody, they're ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: all very closeknit and they all want to just raise each other up. And they also held each other to a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: very certain standard, just, you know, harmony and – also, just, they are very ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: supportive, like, how you expressed your artistry. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Were your parents hesitant about sending ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: you – – to the opposite coast? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: They were, well, I think they were less hesitant, because we moved ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: to Atlanta, at that point. And actually, around that time, I decided to go to Peabody, I took ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: a gap year where I went back to California, so it was kind of just, like, "Oh, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: well, you'll be in the East Coast anyway, we have family in Atlanta now, you know where home ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: is." It was just not as big of a deal as I think it would've been unless we moved during ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: Covid. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Okay, yeah, that makes sense. What was it like when you first got here ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: and acclimating to Baltimore? I think your description of Baltimore is insanely accurate, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: like, Northern ideology, Southern hospitality. What was that transition like when you ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: started to live in Baltimore and started to attend classes? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: It was hot, it was very hot, [both laugh]. I came ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: during August, for the orientation, and I think this is very Peabody-specific, but Peabody is a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: very small school, it's only a city block, in Mount Vernon. And, I mean, I'm just gonna trace back my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: experience when I first got there, I remember going on to the plaza area and seeing, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: like, 30 people. I'm, like, "Oh, yeah, everyone's still coming out." And then I see one of the orientation leaders go, " ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: Welcome to Peabody, everyone." And I was, like, "No way," and it was, like, "This is everyone in my class." It was ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: 30 people. I was one of two jazz saxophonists. And I got to know everyone immediately, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: within a week, and it was kind of nuts. Well, okay, to get to your, question, so was it about ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: Baltimore or – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Both, yeah, I mean, I think the setting is really important, thinking about Mount ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Vernon, because if you're living and working and going to school in that area, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: it's a very specific part of the city. Not all parts of the city are like that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Yeah, so I don't know if you want to talk more about ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: wider Baltimore, but that's a great anecdote about how – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: Yeah, I think Mount Vernon is just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: pretty much just Peabody, like, I think I met everyone very quickly. And I think after a year, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: Mount Vernon kind of became a bubble, for sure. I want say it was my second ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: year at Peabody where I joined this program called OrchKids, from the Baltimore Symphony ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: Orchestra, and I had the chance to teach in greater East and West Baltimore. Which kind of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: more gave me reference of, you know, what Baltimore is in terms of, like, the black ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: butterfly and redlining and all that. I remember the first time I went to – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: I was teaching in Edmonson. Yeah, I was 19 or something. I remember driving ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: straight west and seeing just this gradient. First ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:12:52.420 - 00:12:57.060

Y.E.: it was the freeway and I was, like, "Oh, this is a very interesting freeway," and then going through the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: houses and seeing it go from, you know, green juice smoothie shop to, like, a project, to just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: blocks of vacant houses. And then you're in Edmonson and then now you're teaching in the school ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: and these kids don't have any music program and you are their art education for the day. And it ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: was kind of crazy. I think that was very interesting, but it's also like it's not ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: something that was new to me, just kind of knowing where that city ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: kind of, you know, like, the Baltimore Plan or stuff like that. I knew about it ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: just from my jazz saxophone teacher. He hit me up to a lot of stuff. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: But, yeah, no, it was interesting. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Yeah, that transition, I'm sure, was [crosstalk]. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: Oh, when you see it, it's different, it's way different when you see it. Because you can hear about it, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: like, "Oh, yeah, this happened," and it's, like, "Oh, yeah, cool." And then you go, yeah, no. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: Yeah, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: seeing it for your own eyes is something. So, with that, you touched on it a little bit, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: but what are you studying, what have you been studying, and how did you sort of make the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: choice to study that, and what are your sort of long-term thoughts about how valuable or ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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A.S.: what the value-add of that is in your life moving forward. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: Yeah, so, at Peabody, I study ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:18.700 - 00:14:26.160

Y.E.: jazz saxophone and music education. The goal with that is to, I think I touched on it a little ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:26.160 - 00:14:31.320

Y.E.: bit, being, like, I came to Baltimore so I can learn as much as I can, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:33.200 - 00:14:37.800

Y.E.: to bring it back to my community. And that's through performance and education. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

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Y.E.: And this is something from my teacher, this is him speaking, that it's not enough to be ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:47.460 - 00:14:52.540

Y.E.: just coming from the school and then go teach in the school. So, like, go straight from Peabody and go ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:52.540 - 00:14:56.620

Y.E.: to the school, because that doesn't really contextualize where your role as a teacher lies. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:14:57.720 - 00:15:02.120

Y.E.: So he's told me, you know, with the performance, your goal should be – – you know, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:02.260 - 00:15:06.920

Y.E.: get as good as your instrument, go out and play as much as you can, you know. He was, like, "Be ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:06.920 - 00:15:10.460

Y.E.: on the road for ten years," he was just, like, "Just go play as much as you can and then go to the classroom." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:11.220 - 00:15:17.680

Y.E.: That way you can actually give, you can frame a context for where the music lies in your students, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:17.680 - 00:15:21.220

Y.E.: you know. Instead of just going straight from the school to the schools. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:22.080 - 00:15:24.300

A.S.: Yeah, you have that real-world experience to be able to help, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:24.300 - 00:15:26.480

Y.E.: Right, and it does help, you know, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:26.660 - 00:15:33.060

Y.E.: that was the first time I learned about, I guess, verbal contracts. I remember I played ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:33.060 - 00:15:39.440

Y.E.: this gig, it was in L.A., a couple years ago, but it was just this Nigerian Highlife musician ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:39.440 - 00:15:48.600

Y.E.: named Okwy Osadebe. It was the first time I played West African music on – or Nigeria ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:48.600 - 00:15:54.540

Y.E.: is in West Africa? Oh, no, well, playing Nigerian music on the saxophone, I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:54.660 - 00:15:59.380

Y.E.: usually play it on the drums, and I felt like everything connected. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:15:59.400 - 00:16:02.700

Y.E.: I was, like, "Oh, I've already played these rhythms on the drum, let me just put it on the saxophone," and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:02.700 - 00:16:08.620

Y.E.: it worked, surprisingly it worked. And then, anyway, that's a whole other thing, but ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:08.620 - 00:16:13.440

Y.E.: verbal contracts, I got told, they flew me out and then I got told, "We're going to pay you ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:13.880 - 00:16:19.400

Y.E.: to play out here." And he didn't say how much and he didn't say how they ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:19.400 - 00:16:24.360

Y.E.: were going to pay me, but I was, like, "Sure." So, I go out, I go play, and then they hand me, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:24.720 - 00:16:29.080

Y.E.: you know, 1,000 bucks in cash and they're, like, "Thank you for playing." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:29.280 - 00:16:32.240

Y.E.: That was it. I remember telling my teacher about it and he was, like, "Yeah, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:32.240 - 00:16:36.420

Y.E.: there was a very real chance he could've just not paid you at all, because ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:36.680 - 00:16:41.620

Y.E.: you're trusting their word and, you know, this is L.A., it's different. But luckily, they were very nice ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:41.620 - 00:16:46.920

Y.E.: to you," right? So that's just, like, but I wouldn't have learned that unless I went and did it, because ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:46.920 - 00:16:52.980

Y.E.: there will probably be a time where just, you know, they probably won't pay me. And, you know, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:53.000 - 00:16:56.360

Y.E.: talking to all my teachers at Peabody, and also my teachers growing up, they were, like, "This ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:16:56.360 - 00:17:01.520

Y.E.: is why you need to have a contract." Something written that says, "I'm flying out here, you're ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:01.520 - 00:17:05.920

Y.E.: flying me out here, you're keeping me in this spot. That's cool, but how much are you going to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:05.920 - 00:17:08.580

Y.E.: pay me? How are we going to do it? Are you going to pay me in check? Are you going to pay me in cash? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:09.220 - 00:17:13.260

Y.E.: That's all cool it's going be in cash, but you need to sign ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:13.540 - 00:17:17.440

Y.E.: this document saying you will pay me." And just stuff like that, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:18.660 - 00:17:21.300

Y.E.: yeah, I think that's something I should be able to tell my students. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:21.300 - 00:17:23.740

A.S.: It's interesting, yeah, because it's kind of like the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:23.740 - 00:17:29.080

A.S.: cultural aspect of music versus the business aspect where culture is, you know, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:29.080 - 00:17:30.500

A.S.: you take people on their word [crosstalk] you make deals, you show up, you know, for a gig. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:30.500 - 00:17:32.600

Y.E.: Yeah, just, like, "Oh, they're gonna pay me 50 bucks for the coffee ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:32.600 - 00:17:34.620

Y.E.: gig." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:34.620 - 00:17:37.400

A.S.: But the business aspect is you really do want things written down ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:37.420 - 00:17:37.470

A.S.: and – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:37.470 - 00:17:42.180

Y.E.: You have to be able to protect yourself with verbal agreements and also written agreements. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:43.640 - 00:17:44.840

Y.E.: It's a whole thing, but, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:44.840 - 00:17:46.960

A.S.: Yeah, that's a good lesson to learn. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:46.960 - 00:17:48.100

Y.E.: It's definitely something I learned ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:48.460 - 00:17:53.120

Y.E.: playing the music instead of just, you know, keeping up in the air. It's not a hypothetical thing, it's, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:53.120 - 00:17:54.960

Y.E.: this is a real thing. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:54.960 - 00:17:58.820

A.S.: Right, so tell me more about the professors that you've had at Peabody. So, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:17:58.820 - 00:18:05.000

A.S.: there's one, in particular, that's obviously made a big influence on you. You can ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:05.000 - 00:18:10.020

A.S.: tell me more about him. I think it's a him, I think I know who it is. [Laughs] But then you can also maybe ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:10.020 - 00:18:16.320

A.S.: elaborate on the other classes and things that you've taken, maybe, that were out of the norm ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:16.320 - 00:18:19.000

A.S.: or maybe unique to Peabody? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:19.000 - 00:18:22.400

Y.E.: To be honest, a lot of the teachers I like and the ones I talk to the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:22.400 - 00:18:26.360

Y.E.: most are the non-music ones. They're actually more of education and more ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:26.360 - 00:18:30.240

Y.E.: arts. But just talking about the music ones, not discounting them, but – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:30.240 - 00:18:31.660

A.S.: Talk about any of them. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:32.060 - 00:18:37.460

Y.E.: My teacher, Tim Green and Sean Jones, they've been very supportive in ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:38.020 - 00:18:41.660

Y.E.: what I do musically and they've always pushed me to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:41.660 - 00:18:47.160

Y.E.: develop my ability to play, so technique and building a context around my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:47.160 - 00:18:53.780

Y.E.: music. But I think the people who helped me grow the most as an individual were probably my music ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:18:53.780 - 00:18:59.800

Y.E.: education teachers. Mainly, Dr. Brashier and Dr. Parker, they're ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:00.480 - 00:19:07.240

Y.E.: awesome. I think it was them that really taught me how to think about how ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:09.160 - 00:19:15.520

Y.E.: teaching kind of falls within raising a community. And also, they gave me the chance to see it. So, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:15.540 - 00:19:22.780

Y.E.: you know, going to different schools in Baltimore and teaching, and then kind of seeing ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:22.780 - 00:19:28.500

Y.E.: a class being transformed. And it's not just by changing things around them, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:28.500 - 00:19:31.420

Y.E.: but it's actually getting them to think and giving them the tools to think. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:32.100 - 00:19:37.340

Y.E.: I think that was amazingly profound on their behalf, that ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:37.420 - 00:19:47.640

Y.E.: was a gift. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:47.640 - 00:19:48.740

A.S.: Is there a particular ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:49.720 - 00:19:53.100

A.S.: age group that you like working with, of children or young adults? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:53.100 - 00:19:54.960

Y.E.: I really like working with middle-schoolers. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:19:55.160 - 00:20:00.160

Y.E.: Recently, I've been working with elementary kids in Howard County, which has been very fun. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:01.420 - 00:20:05.660

Y.E.: Those kids, they have the most resources in the classroom I've ever seen, they have ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:05.660 - 00:20:10.300

Y.E.: everything over there – – every instrument you want, every book you want, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:10.440 - 00:20:16.720

Y.E.: every little – it's crazy. And it's really fun to teach in that environment, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:16.720 - 00:20:19.600

Y.E.: because I don't have to think at all, like, "Oh, I don't have to bring anything, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:19.660 - 00:20:26.220

Y.E.: they just have it. Yeah, elementary kids are very fun. With OrchKids, I've taught middle school ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:26.220 - 00:20:31.500

Y.E.: and high school kids. It's actually been everyone, and the way ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:31.500 - 00:20:36.120

Y.E.: they do it, they just place you in the classroom, under the assumption ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:36.120 - 00:20:42.640

Y.E.: that you can teach. And it's very cool, because there's no constrictions, there's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:42.640 - 00:20:47.220

Y.E.: no anything, but it's also, like, "Oh, wow, I'm just in a room with these kids for ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:47.220 - 00:20:52.380

Y.E.: an hour," and there's no way I know what they've been doing, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:52.460 - 00:20:55.600

Y.E.: because there's no lesson plan that kind of guided it. I'm, like, "Okay, they're playing clarinet." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:56.000 - 00:20:59.320

Y.E.: I ask them, "How long have you been playing clarinet?" "Oh, a year." "Okay, let's play our first note. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:20:59.320 - 00:21:04.520

Y.E.: Let's play a C." None of them played a C. I'm, like, "Okay, we have to start there." And it just, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:04.900 - 00:21:07.340

Y.E.: yeah, it's very – yeah, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:07.340 - 00:21:10.720

A.S.: That's great. I cannot imagine, because I feel like the – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:11.620 - 00:21:15.480

A.S.: it's probably pretty uneven what you get, like, you go in there and it's, like – [Laughs] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:15.480 - 00:21:17.680

Y.E.: Oh, it's incredibly uneven, it's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:17.680 - 00:21:22.260

Y.E.: crazy. And also, bringing kids not from Edmonson. They're bringing kids from all over, on buses ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:22.260 - 00:21:26.840

Y.E.: to the school. That's just the site. So, you're getting kids ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:27.480 - 00:21:32.900

Y.E.: who are coming from, you know, they have a music teacher ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:32.960 - 00:21:36.520

Y.E.: and they're getting weekly instruction or daily instruction. But you also ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:36.520 - 00:21:43.180

Y.E.: have these kids – there's this one school I taught in, in East Baltimore, where the principal is the music ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:43.180 - 00:21:50.100

Y.E.: teacher, and he's working on transferring the kids from one campus to another. And he hasn't ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:50.100 - 00:21:55.060

Y.E.: taught the kids for five weeks. So, my friend and I, we go volunteer and he tells us, like, "Oh, yeah, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:55.120 - 00:21:59.000

Y.E.: these kids haven't had a band class in five weeks and they haven't touched their instruments in five weeks." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:21:59.100 - 00:22:05.200

Y.E.: Which means everything that they've learned is gone, so he's, like, "You're starting from ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:05.620 - 00:22:10.520

Y.E.: scratch." So, you have these kids who are, you know, not low-achieving, but ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:10.560 - 00:22:16.140

Y.E.: they're at a different place. And you have these kids who have had all this training and all this ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:16.140 - 00:22:20.600

Y.E.: time put into them. And you have to meet them in the middle, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:20.600 - 00:22:22.460

Y.E.: where you have to engage these kids, but you also have to engage these kids. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:22.460 - 00:22:25.420

A.S.: Yeah, I feel like that's almost ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:25.420 - 00:22:27.900

A.S.: a talent, too, to try to figure out, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:27.900 - 00:22:31.280

Y.E.: It's a trip. And also, you have to make the language accessible ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:31.280 - 00:22:36.480

Y.E.: to everyone. Because some people know what an accent is, being, like, "Oh, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:36.580 - 00:22:41.760

Y.E.: I want to emphasize a note," but some kids don't. And they all have to understand it, in order to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:42.320 - 00:22:44.200

Y.E.: be on the same page. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:44.200 - 00:22:48.500

A.S.: Yeah, you might have to scale back or scale up whatever you're teaching them. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:49.940 - 00:22:56.580

A.S.: So, while you've been at Peabody, did you live on campus? Or what were your housing situations ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:56.580 - 00:22:57.780

A.S.: like while you've been here? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:22:57.780 - 00:23:01.560

Y.E.: I lived on campus for a couple years, being at the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:01.560 - 00:23:09.020

Y.E.: freshman dorms and then the PLC, which is this – it's like a converted hotel that was on ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:09.020 - 00:23:12.780

Y.E.: campus, but then they made it into student housing. I think it was a hotel in the '80s, but now ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:12.780 - 00:23:17.920

Y.E.: it's normal. Like, Ella Fitzgerald stayed there, it was crazy. And then, I moved off campus my junior year, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:17.920 - 00:23:22.500

Y.E.: in Mount Vernon. Then now I live up in Remington, closer to Homewood campus. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:22.500 - 00:23:23.700

A.S.: Oh, great, okay, cool. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:26.980 - 00:23:31.020

A.S.: Another thing I was interested in was extracurricular stuff. So obviously, you have ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:31.020 - 00:23:36.300

A.S.: your academics and you're pursuing your degree and doing those other sorts ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:36.300 - 00:23:41.220

A.S.: of things, so it sounds like maybe you did some volunteering. But did you do any other ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:41.220 - 00:23:45.940

A.S.: clubs or have work studies or things that were particularly memorable? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:46.420 - 00:23:49.620

Y.E.: I didn't have work study, but I did do – hmm, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:52.980 - 00:23:56.300

Y.E.: how much do I want get into? – okay. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:56.300 - 00:23:57.980

A.S.: Whatever you want talk about is fine. [Laughs] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:57.980 - 00:23:58.460

Y.E.: I was ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:23:58.460 - 00:24:05.260

Y.E.: a part of the Latino Student Union in both Peabody and Hopkins, so, Olé and then also ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:05.260 - 00:24:10.800

Y.E.: La Familia. And that was pretty good, because I did get a chance to meet a bunch of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:11.700 - 00:24:17.800

Y.E.: other Latino students who were first-gen. And we all did music, so we all had ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:17.800 - 00:24:24.440

Y.E.: kind of this commonality and, you know, we're – it's funny, here's the thing, for sure, all of our ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:24.440 - 00:24:28.440

Y.E.: parents are very supportive of us going to college and doing music. But it's also just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:28.440 - 00:24:34.180

Y.E.: a little grit that's just, you know, not static, but it's a thing, just, like, "Oh – " ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:34.360 - 00:24:39.740

Y.E.: they would bring up what their sister's kids are doing, like, "Oh, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:39.740 - 00:24:43.960

Y.E.: she's studying medicine and, you know, you're studying at Peabody." And I'm just, like, "Yeah," and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:44.180 - 00:24:47.260

Y.E.: it's, like, "Yeah, but you're studying – " you know what I mean? Just a little thing. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:48.120 - 00:24:51.760

Y.E.: And we all have that shared experience, so we all know it's, like, okay, we're doing this, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:51.820 - 00:24:55.240

Y.E.: but since we're doing it, we have to really do it, so we can show them, you know, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:24:55.300 - 00:25:00.640

Y.E.: you didn't come here for nothing. Which is not discounting what we're doing, but it's also just, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:00.640 - 00:25:06.180

Y.E.: like, it's just a shared experience. But, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:06.180 - 00:25:08.760

A.S.: Yeah, the shared understanding of, like – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:10.300 - 00:25:14.400

A.S.: the necessity of excelling at what you're doing. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:14.500 - 00:25:18.480

Y.E.: You gotta, you can't, yeah, no, that's so real. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:19.360 - 00:25:25.660

A.S.: I was going to ask you about other first-gen students. Is that something you ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:25.660 - 00:25:30.360

A.S.: encountered? Because I know sometimes the university hosts things for FLI students, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:30.360 - 00:25:34.500

A.S.: but it's not always clear where to find each other? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:34.500 - 00:25:38.300

Y.E.: Yeah, I think the student organizations ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:39.020 - 00:25:46.340

Y.E.: that are based around identity are pretty huge. Well, it depends on how much us as ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:46.420 - 00:25:50.260

Y.E.: the leaders in that organization are actually putting time into it, but they are very ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:50.920 - 00:25:55.380

Y.E.: beneficial to us finding each other. Even at Peabody, there's only, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:25:55.380 - 00:26:01.040

Y.E.: I wanna say, like, ten Latino students, when I was there, so. And we are all in the La ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:01.660 - 00:26:05.660

Y.E.: Familia, so we're all running things, so whenever we create these events, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:05.860 - 00:26:11.080

Y.E.: it actually just opens up our space to welcome everyone else in, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:11.260 - 00:26:16.380

Y.E.: whether that was Chinese international students or, you know, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:16.960 - 00:26:21.060

Y.E.: we did some collaborations with the BSU and just kind of inviting ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:21.320 - 00:26:24.560

Y.E.: them into a space. And we kind of all had a chance to meet each other, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:25.380 - 00:26:28.680

Y.E.: and at the same time, we also met a bunch of other first-gen students who were also trying to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:28.680 - 00:26:32.300

Y.E.: find a place in the community. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:32.300 - 00:26:34.540

A.S.: Yeah, I think there's some unspoken ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:36.200 - 00:26:39.240

A.S.: bond, so, I think that's neat if you can find it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:39.240 - 00:26:41.060

Y.E.: No, yeah, we're all in it ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:41.060 - 00:26:45.380

Y.E.: together and we're all also trying to find a place and, you know, how do we do college, because ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:45.380 - 00:26:50.780

Y.E.: our references are either our teachers, especially for me, I mean, this has ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:50.780 - 00:26:55.680

Y.E.: become my experience, none of my parents went to college. My mom went to community ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:26:55.680 - 00:27:00.500

Y.E.: college, but she was doing something – I think she was working for certifications, it's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:00.500 - 00:27:05.860

Y.E.: not the same experience. But we're all mostly learning as we go, whether that's through ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:05.860 - 00:27:12.560

Y.E.: our experiences or encounters. It's this kind of developing narrative ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:12.560 - 00:27:19.140

Y.E.: around what does it mean to be a student in college. Yeah, and it can be very ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:19.140 - 00:27:21.020

Y.E.: tricky, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:21.020 - 00:27:25.780

A.S.: Yeah, you have to definitely find the people to help you along the way. I know ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:25.780 - 00:27:31.200

A.S.: I've talked with other students, too, about counselors or people that were really ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:31.200 - 00:27:37.100

A.S.: helpful in the applications process. Because applying to college is not very intuitive, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:37.160 - 00:27:37.960

A.S.: I think. [Laughs] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:37.960 - 00:27:42.540

Y.E.: Yeah, oh, definitely not, yeah. Definitely, I'd say my teachers helped ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:42.540 - 00:27:49.120

Y.E.: me with the applying to college stuff. My parents didn't know what was happening. They ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:49.120 - 00:27:53.560

Y.E.: were, like, "Oh, I think you have to do FAFSA." That's the most that they knew, so it was up to us to actually ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:53.560 - 00:27:57.140

Y.E.: educate them, like, "This is how we do college. This is our responsibilities. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:27:57.560 - 00:28:00.940

Y.E.: You know, I can't just drop everything because you want me to do something. I actually have, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:01.760 - 00:28:08.800

Y.E.: 20 classes to attend." Stuff like that, it's just, like, yeah. Or just, I mean, even at ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:08.800 - 00:28:13.700

Y.E.: Peabody, we've had teachers that kind of found us and brought us together. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:13.700 - 00:28:21.720

Y.E.: We've had a – her name is Ms. K. She was a first-gen Trinidadian steelpannist, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:21.720 - 00:28:28.560

Y.E.: who, she somehow found all of us. But she'd just tell us, like, "Are you doing your ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:28.560 - 00:28:33.500

Y.E.: assignments? Did you do this paperwork. You should really do that as one document, because it does ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:33.500 - 00:28:39.330

Y.E.: x, y, and z." And she kind of would just guide us through college, you know, [crosstalk] – yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:39.330 - 00:28:39.530

A.S.: Yeah, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:39.530 - 00:28:43.180

A.S.: the helpers, I feel like those are the people you really have to find right away. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:44.140 - 00:28:48.460

Y.E.: No, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:48.460 - 00:28:50.980

A.S.: So, during your breaks, your winter or summer breaks, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:51.300 - 00:28:55.980

A.S.: what did you do? Did you perform during those times? Did you go home? What were you up to? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:28:57.060 - 00:29:00.840

Y.E.: I would mostly go home. Surprisingly, I haven't spent a summer in Baltimore, yet, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:01.000 - 00:29:03.080

Y.E.: and I heard that it's supposed to be fun or – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:03.080 - 00:29:04.660

A.S.: It's hot, but it's fun. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:04.660 - 00:29:05.600

Y.E.: That's why I know ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:05.600 - 00:29:12.240

Y.E.: it's hella hot. I usually go back to the Bay Area, and what I do there is just, I would go teach, a lot ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:12.240 - 00:29:18.900

Y.E.: of the time, and play a lot of music. It would also just be a time to kind of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:18.900 - 00:29:25.560

Y.E.: recenter before you come back to college. Every semester, from freshman year till now, I just came back from ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:25.560 - 00:29:32.360

Y.E.: a gap semester, I'd have over 25 credits, and that would just lead to continual ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:32.360 - 00:29:37.220

Y.E.: cycle, just, I'd burn out the last week. So, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:37.340 - 00:29:40.700

Y.E.: the last thing I want to do is stay in Baltimore; I was, like, "I want to go back to the Bay Area," and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:40.700 - 00:29:44.500

Y.E.: just reset and then go play music again. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:44.500 - 00:29:46.740

A.S.: So, the reason I'm assuming that you have so many ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:46.740 - 00:29:48.960

A.S.: credits a semester is because you are the double major. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:48.960 - 00:29:49.260

Y.E.: The double major, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:49.260 - 00:29:53.400

A.S.: So, you're doing music classes and, with that, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:53.400 - 00:29:57.140

A.S.: performance, I'm assuming. And then also those education courses. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:57.140 - 00:29:58.580

Y.E.: It's insane what ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:29:58.580 - 00:30:02.920

Y.E.: they're doing. Okay, so you have your performance-based classes, which are ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:02.920 - 00:30:08.320

Y.E.: ensembles and your lessons and all that, so that's just a lump sum of credits. Then you ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:08.320 - 00:30:17.120

Y.E.: have your theoretical classes – well, how to explain it. Okay, so it's performance, being, like, you know, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:17.500 - 00:30:21.160

Y.E.: what I do, I’m a saxophonist, so I have my saxophone classes, which are mostly ensembles and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:21.840 - 00:30:27.600

Y.E.: lessons. Then you have your theory classes, which are ear training and which are ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:27.600 - 00:30:32.400

Y.E.: learning how to hear music and sing it. And then, keyboard, which is a whole other ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:32.400 - 00:30:37.500

Y.E.: thing. Then you have your music theory, which is analysis. And then you also have your ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:38.820 - 00:30:43.420

Y.E.: seminars and then you have your liberal art credits, which is just, they pretty ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:43.420 - 00:30:48.580

Y.E.: much just tell you to do whatever you want, but not really. And then that's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:48.580 - 00:30:54.620

Y.E.: just on the performance side, then you have your music-ed classes, which is a ton more, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:30:54.880 - 00:31:01.640

Y.E.: which is, you have your method classes, which is learning how to play string instruments, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:02.440 - 00:31:08.120

Y.E.: brass instruments, woodwinds, vocal pedagogy, and it's all this chunk of stuff. And then ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:08.120 - 00:31:16.660

Y.E.: you have your – how would I describe it – applied pedagogy classes, which ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:16.660 - 00:31:22.780

Y.E.: you're learning how to work in front of an ensemble, how to be in a classroom. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:23.320 - 00:31:28.100

Y.E.: It's kind of just our applied theory. And then you actually have your interning, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:28.100 - 00:31:31.440

Y.E.: which is when you go to these schools and teach, and then you get feedback on your lessons. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:34.540 - 00:31:35.640

Y.E.: And, yeah – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:35.640 - 00:31:36.920

A.S.: So, you're being assessed on your teaching [crosstalk]. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:36.920 - 00:31:39.280

Y.E.: Being assessed on how effective your instruction is. And ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:39.460 - 00:31:43.440

Y.E.: then you also have your certification courses, which is, you know, you have to get that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:43.680 - 00:31:48.420

Y.E.: And then, there's something I'm missing, but it's so much ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:48.420 - 00:31:55.580

Y.E.: and it's unreal, everyone in there are just, like – I think that's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:31:55.580 - 00:31:59.960

Y.E.: where I felt most sense of community within Peabody is the music ed students. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:00.400 - 00:32:07.040

Y.E.: We're all just in it. And none of the other majors understand, because they're all taking, like, "Oh, I've been ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:07.280 - 00:32:11.560

Y.E.: taking 14 credits." I'm, like, "Oh, what are you doing?" "Oh, I have to – " ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:11.820 - 00:32:16.800

Y.E.: this is the thing, I have to play saxophone on my ensemble and I have to do my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:16.800 - 00:32:22.120

Y.E.: keyboard homework and I have to do my lesson work. I'm just, like, "You are insane. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:22.940 - 00:32:26.000

Y.E.: The fact that you're not doing any of this work – " because the jazz musicians ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:26.000 - 00:32:29.820

Y.E.: don't do homework. "The fact that you're not doing any of this work and then I have to do ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:30.840 - 00:32:32.740

Y.E.: this, it's, like – " yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:32.740 - 00:32:33.070

A.S.: And then you might be performing... ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:33.070 - 00:32:34.180

Y.E.: And ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:35.300 - 00:32:39.760

Y.E.: they sound great, because they're not doing anything else, but they're just playing ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:39.760 - 00:32:43.500

Y.E.: all the time [crosstalk], yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:43.500 - 00:32:47.020

A.S.: [Laughs] No, it's interesting, and I think that that feedback, to me, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:47.020 - 00:32:51.680

A.S.: would be helpful to get. I don't know that they're soliciting it from music ed students, but I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:51.680 - 00:32:57.780

A.S.: feel like, if the program is that overwhelming – I mean, I'm assuming that most – do ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:32:57.780 - 00:33:01.140

A.S.: most students do it in four years? Or is it, like – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:01.140 - 00:33:03.100

Y.E.: I'm doing four-and-a-half, so I actually took ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:03.100 - 00:33:03.760

Y.E.: extra time. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:03.760 - 00:33:04.460

A.S.: Okay, I feel like it's good to take extra time. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:04.460 - 00:33:07.480

Y.E.: But everyone else in my class is doing four years, like, they're just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:07.480 - 00:33:11.800

Y.E.: going through it. And some of them are doing a plus-one, so they're trying to get master's. I have ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:11.800 - 00:33:18.400

Y.E.: one friend that's doing that and she's doing the four-plus-one, and she's, like, oh, my god, she ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:18.400 - 00:33:23.580

Y.E.: ran three clubs at the same time, she made two projects. For recital, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:23.760 - 00:33:28.320

Y.E.: she wrote a whole opera. And then she's also getting married the same year. So, I'm just, like, "Dude, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:28.580 - 00:33:30.580

Y.E.: this is insane." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:30.580 - 00:33:32.400

A.S.: Yeah, that's on another level. [Laughs] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:32.400 - 00:33:35.080

Y.E.: I can't believe she exists. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:35.580 - 00:33:40.240

Y.E.: But, no, I admire her ethic. No, that's amazing. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:40.240 - 00:33:42.000

A.S.: Yeah, that's really – it takes a lot of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:42.240 - 00:33:48.320

A.S.: commitment. So, while you've been at school, I think, so you mentioned going back to the Bay Area. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:48.640 - 00:33:54.100

A.S.: Have you had a pretty good relationship with your family? Or, you know, could you talk a little ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:54.100 - 00:33:59.000

A.S.: bit about maybe how they've supported you? And then also, if there's anything else you want to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:33:59.000 - 00:34:01.460

A.S.: say about your support system that you built here at Peabody? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:01.460 - 00:34:05.020

Y.E.: Yeah, I'll just focus on my family, for now. But ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:06.840 - 00:34:12.440

Y.E.: I'd say my family have been supportive. When I reach out, because I forget to reach out. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:12.800 - 00:34:17.920

Y.E.: Just being here is like a vortex. But my parents have been very supportive ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:17.920 - 00:34:21.320

Y.E.: throughout college, I call them whenever it's a tough day or just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:21.360 - 00:34:26.220

Y.E.: checking in. And same with my brothers, you know, I have three siblings ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:26.360 - 00:34:31.180

Y.E.: and one of them is also in college, so we can talk every now and then about ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:31.180 - 00:34:36.640

Y.E.: how college is going, and they've all been very supportive. But I think the thing that's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:36.640 - 00:34:45.260

Y.E.: very, I guess, tricky with family in college is there's a lot of transitions that happen ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:45.380 - 00:34:49.560

Y.E.: and you can't really be a part of them. Whether that's, you know, mostly death – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:49.560 - 00:34:56.700

Y.E.: and in my family, like, this year, we've had two deaths and it's been very just, you ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:34:57.300 - 00:35:03.800

Y.E.: can't really be there for your family. Yeah, it's very tricky to know how to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:03.800 - 00:35:10.120

Y.E.: be there for your family, because you're not physically there. But, yeah – no, I think ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:10.180 - 00:35:12.820

Y.E.: it's a tricky thing. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:12.820 - 00:35:16.620

A.S.: And sometimes that's all you really want is to just be together, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:17.100 - 00:35:17.520

A.S.: be in the same space, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:17.520 - 00:35:19.500

Y.E.: Yeah, to be with your family, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:19.500 - 00:35:22.200

A.S.: Yeah, it's hard. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:22.200 - 00:35:24.160

Y.E.: My family's very supportive. They're very much ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:24.160 - 00:35:30.860

Y.E.: for what I do in college and, yeah, definitely with the education, my mom was very happy with ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:30.860 - 00:35:32.680

Y.E.: that. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:32.680 - 00:35:34.380

A.S.: So do you have three brothers? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:34.380 - 00:35:37.520

Y.E.: I have two brothers, one sister. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:37.520 - 00:35:38.240

A.S.: Okay, awesome. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:41.100 - 00:35:46.340

A.S.: I guess you did touch on it, talking about feeling supported as a FLI ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:46.340 - 00:35:54.140

A.S.: student, and you talked about the couple of clubs that you participated in. Are there other ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:35:54.140 - 00:35:58.400

A.S.: ways that you think, from your perspective, that the university could support FLI students? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:00.200 - 00:36:04.600

A.S.: Or, you know, I know one of the things that I often talk to students about is financial stuff, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:04.940 - 00:36:11.600

A.S.: and I feel like that is pretty good. But if you have had any experiences where maybe it hadn't ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:11.600 - 00:36:15.900

A.S.: been, you can also share that, too, because I know some students, they had a delay in some of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:15.900 - 00:36:19.320

A.S.: some funding for something, or those sorts of things. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:19.320 - 00:36:20.820

Y.E.: Yeah. I was very lucky to go to Peabody, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:20.820 - 00:36:25.820

Y.E.: because of that. It's just so small, we have a lot of resources for us. We have ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:26.840 - 00:36:34.160

Y.E.: our on-school counselor, which is awesome, Deb Gould. She's the best. She's like our ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:34.660 - 00:36:40.140

Y.E.: mom at Peabody. We just talk to her about, like, if it's financial aid stuff or classes or, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:40.140 - 00:36:44.320

Y.E.: you know, interpersonal stuff, we can just go to her and talk to her. And she's been ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:44.320 - 00:36:50.380

Y.E.: an amazing resource. At the same time, there's also been – we have had the LAUNCHPad, which ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:50.380 - 00:36:55.560

Y.E.: does help for grant writing and, you know, how to write contracts. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:36:55.560 - 00:36:59.340

Y.E.: One of the first people I talked to was from Launch Pad, when we talked about the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:00.100 - 00:37:04.280

Y.E.: verbal agreement and getting paid for the gig. I was asking her about it, like, "What do I do ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:04.280 - 00:37:09.460

Y.E.: in this situation?" She was, like, "Well, we have to write a contract," and then, yeah. I'd say, also, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:09.460 - 00:37:14.140

Y.E.: supportive is just having a community of people you can go to and talk about that. And the music ed ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:14.140 - 00:37:19.020

Y.E.: kids have been hugely helpful for that. We talk about financial aid a lot, because ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:20.220 - 00:37:24.820

Y.E.: we want to get paid – I mean, not get paid, but we want to not have to pay so much. So, we just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:24.820 - 00:37:30.860

Y.E.: kind of just share what we know and then kind of pool the information. Yeah, I guess it's like community ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:30.860 - 00:37:36.240

Y.E.: plays a big role in that. Even, I mean, for myself, within my jazz community, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:36.700 - 00:37:41.000

Y.E.: I was the one telling everyone to do their assignments. Even though I was behind ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:41.000 - 00:37:45.420

Y.E.: on mine, like, "Hey, did everyone do the theory assignment?" "No." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:45.520 - 00:37:48.800

Y.E.: I was, like, "Cool, we're going to do it right now. Does anyone understand this concept?" "No." " ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:49.020 - 00:37:53.240

Y.E.: Okay, I'm going to teach it to you right now," that was kind of my role. So, I don't know, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:37:53.440 - 00:38:01.640

Y.E.: community, and then, I guess, yeah, community, school facilities, and then, I guess, mentors around the ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:01.640 - 00:38:02.380

Y.E.: school help. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:02.380 - 00:38:10.320

A.S.: Yeah, awesome. I also think you've been, so you mentioned Covid. You've also been here ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:10.320 - 00:38:17.480

A.S.: while some other tumultuous things have happened generally. So, are there other things ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:17.480 - 00:38:22.560

A.S.: that have impacted your experience here at Hopkins, like social movements, political movements, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:22.560 - 00:38:28.340

A.S.: other sorts of things kind of going on globally or locally? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:28.340 - 00:38:32.400

Y.E.: That's what – okay, do want to get into that? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:37.360 - 00:38:39.800

Y.E.: Give me, like, two seconds to think how I would phrase it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:38:39.800 - 00:38:40.000

A.S.: Yeah, absolutely. [Brief silence] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:14.240 - 00:39:17.020

Y.E.: Nah, I can't talk about it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:17.020 - 00:39:19.540

A.S.: That’s okay, no, that’s totally fine. I know ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:20.440 - 00:39:23.260

A.S.: everybody's experiences have been very different and, you ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:26.080 - 00:39:33.760

A.S.: know, it's a weird time to be alive. [Laughs] Is there anything – I'm really curious, too, about your connection with Baltimore. Is ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:33.760 - 00:39:39.480

A.S.: there anything else you'd like to share about what community you found here in Baltimore. Are there ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:39.480 - 00:39:46.900

A.S.: arts programs or maybe even Latino cultural touchstones you found here? Like, I know there's some ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:47.040 - 00:39:50.280

A.S.: really good taco places. I don't know if you want to talk about that, at all. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:51.820 - 00:39:56.220

A.S.: The Latinos are hard to find in Baltimore. They’re mostly in the east, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:56.560 - 00:39:58.180

A.S.: which is interesting. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:58.180 - 00:39:59.240

Y.E.: Right, not where we are. [Laughs] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:39:59.240 - 00:40:02.940

A.S.: It's not where we are. And I don't know – – I think Baltimore ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:02.940 - 00:40:06.620

A.S.: is just interesting in that regard. There's only, like, five neighborhoods people hang out at, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:06.620 - 00:40:10.840

A.S.: and they're all the places that all the students go to, so, like, Hampden or Remington ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:10.840 - 00:40:15.860

A.S.: or Charles Village or Fells Point or Mount Vernon or Federal Hill. It's kind of like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:16.960 - 00:40:23.540

A.S.: in a way, it's really small and what is outwardly accessible, and everywhere ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:23.540 - 00:40:29.620

A.S.: else, it's just this fog. You have to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:29.620 - 00:40:33.480

A.S.: know someone, to figure out where to go. Whether that's, like, Highlandtown. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:33.480 - 00:40:39.620

A.S.: Highlandtown has the most Latinos I think in Baltimore. And mostly today, you have to know ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:39.620 - 00:40:44.580

A.S.: someone to know where to go, whether that's getting Mexican food or just, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:45.940 - 00:40:53.420

A.S.: yeah, I don't know. Did you ever play in Jazz in the Square? Did you perform for that at all? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:53.440 - 00:40:55.360

Y.E.: Oh, the Billie Holiday thing? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:55.360 - 00:40:55.480

A.S.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:55.480 - 00:40:58.800

Y.E.: I haven't, but I've been there twice. I actually met Brandon ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:40:58.800 - 00:41:04.300

Y.E.: Scott, there, and he's super dope, he's very chill. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:04.300 - 00:41:05.140

A.S.: [Both Laugh] The Millennial Mayor. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:05.140 - 00:41:11.080

Y.E.: He's so mellow, it's, like, "Oh, yeah, you're Brandon Scott? Oh, good to meet you, man. Yeah, let's take a photo, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:11.380 - 00:41:13.760

Y.E.: yeah," and then that was it. Very cool, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:13.760 - 00:41:15.200

A.S.: Yeah, that's a good experience. I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:15.200 - 00:41:19.440

A.S.: really enjoyed that, because I think it's a way to get students into West Baltimore a little bit, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:19.440 - 00:41:23.440

A.S.: and just, like, for a festival, it’s low barrier entry [crosstalk]. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:23.440 - 00:41:24.460

Y.E.: [Crosstalk] I guess, just go check it out. That would be my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:24.460 - 00:41:29.120

Y.E.: general advice is go check it out to see what it is. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:29.380 - 00:41:33.160

Y.E.: I was in orientation lead, for a couple years. But I still have some freshman ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:33.160 - 00:41:37.560

Y.E.: babies who are just, like, "Oh – " I was, like, "Have you ever been to Homewood?" they're, like, "Oh, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:37.660 - 00:41:42.380

Y.E.: I've been once." I'm, like, "No, come. Come to Homewood. Just go to the Bloomberg Student Center, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:42.520 - 00:41:46.680

Y.E.: just to go check it out." Or, like, "Oh, have you ever been to R. House?" "No." I was, like, "Go to R. House, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:46.800 - 00:41:50.520

Y.E.: it's right there, there's really good coffee around there – " That whole area is just ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:50.520 - 00:41:55.380

Y.E.: full of stuff to check out. You don't have to be confined to just a little bubble of Peabody, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:55.820 - 00:41:58.780

Y.E.: it’s like, "You can leave, too." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:41:58.780 - 00:42:01.400

A.S.: Yeah, that's good advice. I'm glad you're ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:01.400 - 00:42:08.240

A.S.: encouraging them. Do you want to share a bit about your life after Hopkins? Do you have ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:08.240 - 00:42:12.300

A.S.: a plan for sort of next steps? What are you thinking? Or even if it's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:12.300 - 00:42:13.720

A.S.: a concept of a plan. [Laughs] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:13.720 - 00:42:17.700

Y.E.: Yeah, well, my concept of a plan is to go back to my community and teach. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:18.020 - 00:42:23.060

Y.E.: So that's going to be, what it's looking like right now is I'm going to go back to Oakland. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:23.340 - 00:42:30.060

Y.E.: I have my friend's dad – this is my little nepotism. My friend's dad is a principal in a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:30.060 - 00:42:35.340

Y.E.: school in Oakland Unified, and I've known this family for years and they've just been ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:36.260 - 00:42:40.480

Y.E.: very supportive, especially in college. But they were, like, you know, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:41.320 - 00:42:46.000

Y.E.: my friend's dad, the principal, he was, like, "Oh, so, when you come ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:46.000 - 00:42:48.980

Y.E.: back to Oakland, you're going to have certification, right?" I'm, like, "Yeah," he was, like, "Okay, so are you going ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:48.980 - 00:42:53.580

Y.E.: to be ready to teach in January?" I'm, like, "Yeah, sure, I can do it." Then I'm just, like, "Oh, well, that's ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:53.580 - 00:42:54.320

Y.E.: happening." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:54.320 - 00:42:55.980

A.S.: That's great! ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:42:55.980 - 00:43:00.140

Y.E.: Yeah, I guess I'm going to teach after I leave Baltimore. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:02.100 - 00:43:07.540

Y.E.: And then past that, I don't know, we'll see. I'm kind of just for ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:08.400 - 00:43:16.660

Y.E.: having some sort of – let me – okay. So, I've taken two gap eras. So, I've taken a gap year after ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:16.660 - 00:43:21.460

Y.E.: high school, my junior and high school were just after Covid, and I took a gap semester this ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:21.460 - 00:43:27.100

Y.E.: past fall. And around that time, I kind of realized that just having some sort of structure ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:27.100 - 00:43:31.560

Y.E.: is huge and kind of having some sort of forward momentum, because ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:31.780 - 00:43:36.920

Y.E.: if you just kind of go and you have nothing around it, it's kind of like there's nothing to do ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:37.060 - 00:43:41.880

Y.E.: and there's nothing to work towards. And so that's kind of my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:41.880 - 00:43:45.720

Y.E.: concept, like, after college, I want to have something to do, which is going to be teaching. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:45.720 - 00:43:51.760

Y.E.: And then playing- wise, I think that'll come, but it's also, like, I'm still brainstorming what to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:51.760 - 00:43:56.780

Y.E.: do with that, since that's also a nonlinear – there's no linear progression for ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:56.900 - 00:43:59.060

Y.E.: the arts or just, you know. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:43:59.060 - 00:44:03.320

A.S.: Do you usually play, when you perform, you're performing as ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:03.320 - 00:44:08.780

A.S.: part of a group or an ensemble? Or are you doing some solo stuff, too? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:10.980 - 00:44:14.040

Y.E.: I haven't been playing a lot of ensembles, recently. When I'm back in ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:14.040 - 00:44:19.040

Y.E.: the Bay Area, I usually just play in jam sessions or I go and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:19.060 - 00:44:24.600

Y.E.: I get called, more freelance, which kind of sucks. I'd rather have something like I have a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:24.600 - 00:44:29.600

Y.E.: group to play with, because then it's like a regular gig, you know, you're growing as a collective ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:29.600 - 00:44:33.380

Y.E.: rather than just, like, "Oh, it's cool that I play here and there," but it's like you're not really ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:33.380 - 00:44:34.420

Y.E.: doing nothing. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:34.420 - 00:44:36.670

A.S.: Yeah, and you're primarily playing saxophone? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:36.670 - 00:44:37.340

Y.E.: Mostly saxophone. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:37.340 - 00:44:39.960

A.S.: But you play lots of other things? You said ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:39.960 - 00:44:40.640

A.S.: drums – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:40.640 - 00:44:46.680

Y.E.: Well, I can play drums, but I wouldn't gig with it professionally. I wouldn't be, like, "Oh, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:46.760 - 00:44:51.340

Y.E.: I play drums." No, my friend's a drummer, he can whoop my ass on drums. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:52.780 - 00:44:58.960

Y.E.: But I can play a lot of styles, which I contribute to my arts education growing ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:44:58.960 - 00:45:02.660

Y.E.: up, having to do everything, I think I can do a little bit of everything, now, which ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:02.660 - 00:45:04.560

Y.E.: is great. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:04.560 - 00:45:11.960

A.S.: Yeah, that's really cool. So, I guess just a couple other last questions for you. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:13.420 - 00:45:17.880

A.S.: You know, is there a way in which you would summarize your time at Peabody or Hopkins? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:18.280 - 00:45:20.220

A.S.: Thinking about kind of bringing it to a close. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:20.220 - 00:45:22.160

Y.E.: [Both laugh] I don't know how ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:25.920 - 00:45:31.880

Y.E.: to describe it, I mean, it's a wonderful mess. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:37.120 - 00:45:41.400

Y.E.: Interesting – well, okay, I've grown, I've grown a lot. I'd say growth. Growth. I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:42.420 - 00:45:48.480

Y.E.: have learned a lot, being out here. This is one of my first times being ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:49.580 - 00:45:52.960

Y.E.: independent and just being, like, "I am responsible for a lot of stuff," or, you know, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:53.080 - 00:45:55.860

Y.E.: I'm responsible for getting school, I'm responsible for maintaining my ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:45:55.860 - 00:46:02.460

Y.E.: relationships. And that's just been a thing of, like, maintain that essence, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:02.580 - 00:46:06.960

Y.E.: you know, always growing. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:06.960 - 00:46:10.640

A.S.: Cool. You touched on it a little bit, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:10.660 - 00:46:16.700

A.S.: but I don't know if you want to elaborate. This is kind of, you know, would you recommend ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:16.700 - 00:46:19.230

A.S.: Peabody or Hopkins to other first-gen students? And what kind of advice would you give them? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:19.230 - 00:46:21.760

Y.E.: Oo, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:22.260 - 00:46:32.580

Y.E.: would I recommend Peabody? Oh, shit. [Both laugh] If you have a community here, yes. If you don't, no. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:33.020 - 00:46:40.140

Y.E.: I think it's – oh, my god, what do I have to say about this school? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:41.640 - 00:46:45.140

A.S.: It could also be with instructions… ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:45.140 - 00:46:49.500

Y.E.: I think you need to be in an environment ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:49.500 - 00:46:53.920

Y.E.: where there's other first- gen students, because they will never understand what your experience ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:46:53.920 - 00:46:59.720

Y.E.: is. And it's hard to say that Peabody would be a first choice for, you know, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:00.620 - 00:47:08.640

Y.E.: especially Latino students, just because it's like their experience is not yours. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:08.640 - 00:47:11.900

Y.E.: It's something you have to figure out and you have to figure that out together, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:12.660 - 00:47:18.920

Y.E.: because you need to have someone to fall back on. So, in that respect, yeah, I probably wouldn't ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:18.920 - 00:47:23.160

Y.E.: recommend Peabody, but I'd say it's good if you know who's there. That definitely made me ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:23.160 - 00:47:29.260

Y.E.: feel comfortable, like I can express myself at my school. Because I had other people from the Bay Area, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:29.380 - 00:47:36.480

Y.E.: there's people who understood what it's like to be where I'm from. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:36.480 - 00:47:37.860

Y.E.: Yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:37.860 - 00:47:42.720

A.S.: And you said advice, earlier, I think, of getting beyond the bubble. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:43.080 - 00:47:43.780

A.S.: Is there more to that? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:43.780 - 00:47:48.340

Y.E.: Go, leave the bubble. Leave the bubble. It's a terrible bubble. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:48.760 - 00:47:53.820

Y.E.: It's a good bubble, but it's not a great bubble. I think my philosophy my first year was, like, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:53.820 - 00:47:57.660

Y.E.: every time I left Peabody was not just, you know, if I wanted to get coffee at Ceremony, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:47:58.220 - 00:48:02.340

Y.E.: it wasn't just because I wanted to get coffee. It's because I had to walk out. Because ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:02.340 - 00:48:06.940

Y.E.: it's a microcosm, it's weird. It's like a high school with college kids, but – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:07.260 - 00:48:11.580

Y.E.: it's like band kids who grew up, but didn't really grow up. It's crazy. It's a crazy thing. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:11.880 - 00:48:16.160

Y.E.: Especially being from a city like Oakland, I'm, like, "This is crazy that this is still happening." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:16.700 - 00:48:21.560

Y.E.: It's a trip. It's a trippy environment, that's all I can say. At least Hopkins is like a college. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:22.040 - 00:48:27.340

Y.E.: That's not a college. That's like a weird – I have a very particular sentiment and ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:27.340 - 00:48:32.180

Y.E.: obliqueness about how I think about Peabody. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:32.820 - 00:48:38.520

A.S.: Yeah, well, and I think, too, coming from California and having lived in different ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:38.520 - 00:48:41.220

A.S.: areas, it's just so specific and so Smalltimore. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:41.220 - 00:48:44.620

Y.E.: It's very specific, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:44.620 - 00:48:46.620

A.S.: It's like Peabody is almost an ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:46.620 - 00:48:48.740

A.S.: even smaller version Smalltimore. [Laughs] ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:48.740 - 00:48:52.060

Y.E.: Some people don't even leave Mount Vernon and they don't – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:52.060 - 00:48:57.360

Y.E.: yeah. I think the friends that, like, my closest friends I made at Peabody were people ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:48:57.360 - 00:49:03.180

Y.E.: from Baltimore. Or people from just other cities like Chicago or D.C. or Atlanta ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:03.180 - 00:49:07.380

Y.E.: or Miami. I think those are the people I kind of gravitate towards, because we kind of understand ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:07.380 - 00:49:11.240

Y.E.: this experience. I also have some friends who are from Appalachia who ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:11.280 - 00:49:16.300

Y.E.: we just kind of tell them, "This is what it's like being in the city." ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:16.300 - 00:49:16.980

A.S.: Yeah, getting out ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:16.980 - 00:49:19.190

A.S.: of or having those cultural touchpoints is, like, people who understand culture, I mean, yeah. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:19.190 - 00:49:21.400

Y.E.: I ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:21.400 - 00:49:26.420

Y.E.: was, like, "Oh – " if we're outside – never mind, never mind. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:26.420 - 00:49:30.040

A.S.: [Laughs] So, yeah, those are all the questions ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:30.040 - 00:49:33.900

A.S.: that I have for you today, but I always like to kind of ask, at the end, if there's anything ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:33.900 - 00:49:41.080

A.S.: you feel like we didn't talk about that you wanted to add. Or any topics we may not have covered. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:41.080 - 00:49:43.480

A.S.: Give you a minute to think. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:47.280 - 00:49:51.440

Y.E.: I'm trying to think of some Peabody-specific stuff. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:53.380 - 00:49:59.780

Y.E.: I guess self- education is pretty big, being that – and this is hypothetical, speaking ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:49:59.780 - 00:50:06.560

Y.E.: to people, I say this. You have to do something that's not just music, because you can't reduce ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:06.560 - 00:50:11.080

Y.E.: yourself to just that. It has to be, whether that's the form of activism or in a ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:11.080 - 00:50:15.400

Y.E.: role of just education, or just, you know, learning something just as well as music, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:15.600 - 00:50:22.740

Y.E.: I think it's so important to kind of being a well-rounded person in society. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:23.600 - 00:50:26.580

Y.E.: So, you know, the liberal art classes, you have to take the liberal art classes, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:26.580 - 00:50:30.520

Y.E.: because it's good for you. And I know it's boring, but you gotta do it. And ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:31.160 - 00:50:33.720

Y.E.: you could think it's boring, but try to find something you can learn from it. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:33.720 - 00:50:38.340

Y.E.: I don't know, yeah, that's my spiel. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:38.340 - 00:50:40.520

A.S.: Yeah, no, I think that that's great advice, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:41.560 - 00:50:48.440

A.S.: especially for students or kids who have always defined themselves with music or used music to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:48.440 - 00:50:49.560

A.S.: define themselves, that's good. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:49.560 - 00:50:53.020

Y.E.: No, yeah, I mean, that's a funny Peabody thing, everyone – ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:53.340 - 00:50:58.560

Y.E.: I think in some social experience, being the musician is a very novel thing, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:50:58.700 - 00:51:01.460

Y.E.: like, "Oh, that's the musician," and it's, like, "Oh, that's awesome." But then, when you're there, ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:01.460 - 00:51:05.500

Y.E.: you're not the musician, anymore; we're all the musicians. So, then you have to find different ways to ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:05.500 - 00:51:10.020

Y.E.: define yourself. I think that's actually the funnest thing I think I learned ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:10.020 - 00:51:15.800

Y.E.: at Peabody, because some people just limit themselves very quickly, and, you know, there's a mindset ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:17.080 - 00:51:20.560

Y.E.: and it's, I don't know, it's one of my favorite things to kind of have to drag them out of ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:20.740 - 00:51:24.820

Y.E.: that, like, "No, you can't just be this. You have to do this." And just show them books and stuff. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:25.060 - 00:51:29.840

A.S.: Yeah, that's great. Well, thank you so much for interviewing with me today. I'm gonna go ahead ⁠ ⁠ ⁠

00:51:29.840 - 00:51:30.960

A.S.: and stop the recording. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠