Starring…Katie van Orden

Music is like doing homework. You can do both activities alone or with others. Although you may feel more comfortable playing your instrument in a practice room or sitting alone in your dorm room in order to power through WebAssign homework, remember that there is a lot to be gained from working with others. According to Katie van Orden, a freshman Mechanical Engineering major, one of the most important things she has gotten out of her 11 years of being a musician is that music “is a lot about friendship and comradery.” She explains, “you can play your instrument [by yourself] but when you get together in a group, you have to learn to work with each other, you have to learn how everybody else sounds, [and] you have to figure it all out together.” Collaboration both in music and in academia are important not only in puzzling through difficult musical passages and challenging design projects, but also in finding out how you fit into the mix and learning from others helps you become something you would have never thought achievable.
Katie is a trumpet player in the band, orchestra, and brass ensemble on campus. In addition to being passionate about music, Katie is also involved in the Society of Women Engineers, the Theta Phi Alpha sorority, and the Pinnacle Scholars program. In her free time, Katie enjoys watching Netflix, reading, drawing (sometimes), and going to the gym (sometimes).
Katie first started off playing piano. Her mom was a professional opera singer, and she wanted both her daughters to get into music and dance, “but that didn’t work out,” Katie says laughing, referring to the latter. Then, going into fourth grade, Katie chose to play the trumpet. Like most things, whether that is playing a sport or playing music, it requires practice. Along with the dedication and persistence needed to improve as a musician, Katie admits that even though she dislikes playing a piece for many weeks, she likes seeing her own progress, as well as others noticing it too. Through this, one you can accomplish things you didn’t think possible.
In retrospect, you may realize that getting to the “good stuff” requires going through the not-so-easy aspects of something, whether that is a piece of music or a class. Katie says quite simply, “You do have to go through crap to get to something good in the end.” In addition, she adds, “Persistence is key. You can’t just give up in the beginning. You just have to power through it and keep going.” Sound familiar, Stevens students?
Struggles are unavoidable when you are going after what you want, whether that is applying for internships or going out for an audition. Sometimes you prevail and other times you may fall short. Although you may think that you are really good at something, oftentimes there are going to be people better than you. The key thing to remember is that “if you want to be as good as them, and if you want to be respected by everyone the way that certain people respect you, you really do have to work for it and make sure that you are the best that you can be at [whatever you are doing] and represent yourself the best that you can,” Katie emphasizes. This message applies, whether it is college admission or co-op interviews. You must put in your best effort in whatever you do.
Balancing everything is difficult, but the key to getting to everything on your to-do list is to plan out your time. For Katie, music is something that is a priority. She practices despite her busy schedule and has learned time management, especially with late-night rehearsals, so she tries to get most of her homework done before then. She adds, “It’s all about Google Calendar for me!”
Despite the nervousness before performing, Katie admits that after the performance is over, “I [feel] better in general.” Katie adds, “It’s also a cool rush when you know what you are doing and are confident. It’s also a cool rush when you don’t know what you are doing and are [nevertheless] semi-confident.” Drawing a parallel to schoolwork, Katie adds, “It’s like going into a diffeq test confident and you know what you are doing and getting through it and being like, ‘yes, I did well!’,” Katie says, “and there’s also the going into a diffeq test when you kind of know what you are doing and [you] still get through it and are like, ‘I think I did well.’” This is analogous to what it is like to perform. Confidence is key, whether that is taking a test, playing in a soccer game, or playing a solo in front of a packed stadium.
Come check out the orchestra concert this Saturday, April 16 at 8pm. And come to the concert band concert on Saturday, April 23 at 8pm.