Benjamin the Musician
“I play the trumpet. I’m principal trumpet in the Symphonic Band and a bunch of stuff. I do a bunch of music at the Third Street Music School where I play in an orchestra, a jazz band and a winds ensemble. And I play some chamber music too.”

“Per week, I probably spend around ten to fifteen hours [on music].”

When He’s Away from the Trumpet
“I have the math thing or whatever going on also. And I’m interested in the stuff that I’m studying and, though, I mean, I love music, there is the sort of financial side of things, being that, chances are, I’m not going to be the next Miles Davis, so, unless you’re the next Miles Davis you’re not going to make a ton of money. But that’s not the real reason. If I, sort of, felt that music was life, regardless of whether or not I was the next Miles Davis I would go into it, and I would say that anyone who feels like music is their life should go into it. But I have so much else going on right now that, even putting financial consideration aside, I would probably not be going into music.”

The Roots
“I started off playing music. My brother took piano lessons when he was six and I was three. So, my brother started music when he was six and I would sort of bang on the piano or whatever when he wasn’t practicing. […] I started formally taking piano lessons at age five. My parents set that up for me and I started playing the trumpet in fifth grade because of the middle school I was at, Berkeley Carroll. My brother was in eighth grade. The middle school there goes from fifth to eighth. So my brother was in eighth grade playing piano in the jazz band already and I wouldn’t have been able to be in the jazz band, in fifth grade. And so I started playing the trumpet also. Gradually, like, the trumpet started to take over my musical life and I sadly dropped piano. I wish I still played piano. I really should still play piano. I know a little bit but I’m not very good. I don’t take lessons anymore. I’ve been taking music lessons, of some form or another, since I was five. So actually, in terms of general music lessons where people like bang on xylophones or whatever, I probably was doing that before five also.”

Sing—or rather Play Trumpet—for the Moment
“At the moment, in terms of how I see myself doing music in college, I see myself playing a lot. I don’t see myself majoring in music. I don’t see myself going to a conservatory. I mean, though I love music and I definitely want to play the trumpet, I don’t necessary think that will be my profession or what I’m going to focus on when I’m at college. I also have some other stuff going on.”

Conservatories Going Out of Fashion
“I’m not really sure. My guess is that at Stuyvesant, you have a lot of really bright students, a lot of really smart students, a lot of great musicians, who are also really good at other things. And sometimes the financial concerns move them toward those other things or they are drawn to those other things for other reasons. Some people are drawn for financial reasons. I’m not. I’m drawn for other reasons.”

Don’t Be So Modest, USA Mathematical Olympiad Qualifier
“I really have liked math. I’ve […] gotten more and more into math since I’ve come to Stuyvesant. I sort of think that the decision to come to Stuyvesant was sort of, in eighth grade, a minor version of the decision of not going to a music conservatory. I could have gone to Stuyvesant or LaGuardia and I decided to go to Stuyvesant, mainly because I knew that I could always still be playing music and be sort of learning this other stuff which I really like. I don’t really see myself not going into music. I see myself studying pure math or studying whatever I end up studying. […] I get intellectual pleasure out of doing all this other stuff in a very different way from the sort of basic pleasure you get from hearing a sound that you’re making, be it pleasant or unpleasant.”

“Math is just sort of entertainment for my brain whereas music is entertainment for my ears. And I mean I don’t see myself as not playing music. I see myself continuing to play trumpet, continuing to spend time on it, but not necessarily as a profession or a major in college.”