Hey there, my name is Cole Schneider. I’m an aspiring musician, in my senior year of high school, and applying to colleges. My goals are to graduate from Kennett High School in June 2020, and in the fall of next year start a four year degree program in completing a Bachelor of Music in Saxophone Performance. So the purpose of this website, is to be a virtual portfolio of my musical and artistry progression.

When asked what major or degree I wanted to go to school for, and the. what career path I wanted,  my answers were separate for a long time. I believed that I wanted to go to school for music, and playing instruments – that has always been the next step in my education. But I also desired a career in theatrical performance, because I live to act with my body, and create characters, and perform in the manner of character acting. An important part of this being a development of my career aspirations, was when I worked my first paid acting job, as a haunt actor in The Ghoullog, during my junior year. The job was to create a terrifying experience for guests, in a walkthrough, interactive, hour-long haunt. As an actor, I clocked in at 5 p.m., received a location, costume, and sat in the makeup chair, and started scaring people for up to five hour shifts. My favorite thing to act in was the hospital section of the haunt, in a heavy, orange, chain-wrapped straitjacket. I worked in the outdoor section of the haunt, as a nun, a clown, a wood creature, and a scarecrow. The energy I sustained the whole shift, treating my body horribly, was the key for me to get some good scares in unsuspecting tourists.  The Ghoullog season has been the highlight of my year since I went for the first time in seventh grade.

My passion for music, and playing instruments, has always dominated what I want for my goals. Going to a university for music, has always been what I wanted for the next step in my life. I’m excited to be in college – a bigger, more competitive performance set, and college will be my Act III (and come on, ‘Act II: School, High’ is really dragging). I am excited to play, study, and learn music as a full time music student. Throughout my high school academic career, my time has been forced to do things they are not music, and for some reason, I thought that AP United States History work would be more fun to do in a practice room than practicing. I challenged myself academically, all through high school, even though in at least five out of six of my English classes, I didn’t turn my brain on for more than one minute of class. Biology was fun, and I learned a lot, but I spent my nights sophomore year playing Minecraft and being sad about a crush I had on a boy from theatre camp in eighth grade. That sucked to write.

In high school, I didn’t do homework as often as I was supposed to, especially not in October, because I was busy writing haunted versions of Hickory Dickory Dock to sing in the Ghoullog, and busy getting into All State, applying to colleges. I didn’t focus on my essays due junior year because I was struggling with “severe” depression, and “extreme” anxiety my parents could not afford treatment for. So when I told people I was tired, it got taken as though I had stayed up all night balancing chemistry equations, but really it’s because I couldn’t get out of bed in the morning, and stayed awake all night fearing that I would only be good enough to go to school in my home town. I practiced a lot though.

Now that I have over shared, welcome to my MusiCole (!!!! That pun!!!) blog. I hope that readers of this blog will judge me Good Enough to go to school. Ta for now!

Cole