Sam is a 10th grader at Brownsville High School and has been playing trumpet for over six years, beginning in 4th grade at Brownsville Elementary School. He chose trumpet because he liked the army tunes and wanted to play Reveille.

He joined the Brownsville Marching Band in 8th grade and is now in his 3rd year of Marching and 2nd year of Jazz Band. In May, he traveled with the school band to Hershey, PA, for the Music in the Parks Festival, where they placed 1st in Jazz, 2nd in both Marching & Concert Bands, and received the Esprit de Corps Award. In addition to performing at all the football games, he plays trumpet in many parades throughout the year, such as the recent Christmas parades in Washington and Waynesburg, the Veteran’s Day parade in Perryopolis, Halloween parades in Brownsville and Uniontown, Homecoming at California University, and the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Pittsburgh. He has also played with several college bands at their football games, including Pitt Band (Pittsburgh, PA) in September and Cal U Vulcan Marching Band at PennWest (California) in October. He received two individual marching band awards in Fall 2023:  Best Marcher (for exemplary posture, drill, and overall marching) &  Most Likely to Run Extra Laps. (He has been a Cross Country runner at Brownsville school for two years.)  

Sam likes many other instruments besides trumpet (and hopes to play them all someday!) He has been playing piano for one year, beginning when he received a digital piano/keyboard for Christmas in 9th grade. He taught himself to play a little on his own and then had Piano I as an elective during the 2nd semester. At the end of May, he had the honor of playing “Amazing Grace” and “Let There Be Peace on Earth” for the baccalaureate ceremony.  He currently enjoys improvising on the piano (including jazz) as well as learning and practicing (or improvising over) some of his favorite pieces, such as “Canon in D” by Johann Pachelbel and “Reminiscence” by Johannes Bornlof. He also wrote his own piano song titled “Twilight Reminiscence.”

Several years ago, he began writing original music compositions with the help of online resources and free software. He created and maintains his own YouTube channel where he shares much of his work (currently 21 songs), including orchestral, cinematic, and ambient music; fanfare; the piano solo mentioned above; as well as a special piece written for a brass quintet which he composed in order to enter Susquehanna University’s 2023 High School Composition Competition. Submissions were open to 9th-12th grade students from PA, NY, NJ, or MD. Entries were evaluated based on musical inventiveness and quality, notational standards, alignment with the specifications of the competition, and performability by undergraduate musicians.  Sam (9th grade) won the contest and earned himself a $1000 prize plus an invitation to attend a live performance of his winning entry, “Windswept Sea,” at the Student Composers Concert, which will be held (and live-streamed) on Feb 6, 2024, at Susquehanna University.

Other notable achievements include being selected to participate in the PMEA District Festival hosted by Yough Intermediate School in March of 2022 (8th grade) as well as representing Brownsville at the WVU Jazz Festival as part of the WVU Mountaineer Honors Jazz band in March of 2023 (9th grade).

In addition to trumpet and piano, Sam is also learning to play violin and trombone, which he taught himself over the summer (10th grade) while his trumpet was out for repair. He currently plays both trumpet and trombone in the Brownsville School Jazz Band and recently gave his first few trombone performances: first during the MVAA Children’s Choir & Brownsville Jazz Collaboration concert on Dec 18 and next at the Brownsville High School Christmas concert on Dec 20.

Near the end of summer break, he learned to play the fife so that he could join the MVAA Reg’t Fife & Drum unit. He has performed with the unit at various events for the remainder of the season, including the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall exhibit; “Party on the Yough,” an annual community event along the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail; Rostraver Historical Society’s opening ceremony, as well as the Big Show II.

Sam is one of 4 newest members to join the MVAA Twin Coach Jr Stage Band in August and – after several months of weekly rehearsals (playing trumpet) –  gave his debut performance during The Big Show II held on Nov. 5 at Charleroi High School.  He is also active in the MVAA Sam Bill Legacy Band, where he enjoys playing with skilled musicians of all ages!

In addition to his musical achievements, he competes on the BAHS 2023-24 Math Competition Team as well as Academic League (6 years). In July, he attended the Penn State Fayette and United Bank 4.0 Club recognition ceremony, where he was recognized as a new member of the (2022-23) 4.0 Club (for high school students who earn a cumulative 4.0 GPA).

Sam’s YouTube channel can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@eldorion/videos.