During intense vocal jazz rehearsals and high-pressure performances, I am confident in my ability to advocate for myself, as demonstrated when I have been jumpscared by the possibility of having learned my part wrong, but after enough practice I know that what I am singing is correct. I am able to advocate for myself when I feel that a part is out of my range and asked if I can sing an alternative harmony or sing an octave up to ensure that the performance is not at the expense of my vocal health.

Within the vocal jazz community, I recognize my potential as a jazz vocal leader, and this became evident when I have led every sectional that I’ve attended, given constructive criticism and corrected wrong parts while singing. I always check up on the others in my section and ask if they are comfortable with the current part before we move on, as well as play any part on the piano if we are confused. I also try to keep myself and the others in my section accountable for making sure that we practice and remember our part.

I actively identify opportunities to lead within the vocal jazz ensemble and make a positive impact, as seen when I have created individual focus tracks for many of our songs, such as Like What You Got, Glow, Hold Me, and the tenor track for Like Someone in Love. Although creating these tracks is a long and tedious process, it really helped the ensemble as a whole to learn our parts faster and sped up the process. We still could have finished all of these songs with a similar quality without the tracks, but I believe that if we didn’t have them, the process would have been a lot slower.