From IB Music to College Graduate Student
An Interview with Kelsey Choi
At the time of this podcast, Kelsey Choi was a graduate student of music at New York University. Follow her musical journey from being an IB Music student in Hong Kong to a performance major in percussion at NYU. She shared her thoughts on the IB and offered words of wisdom to any student considering the program. Kelsey reflected on how the IB shaped her life to pursue her ambitions, not only as a musician, but more.
Podcast: An Interview with Kelsey Choi, from IB Music to Graduate School
https://Kelsey Choi
An interview with Kelsey Choi
Background Music: Libertango by Astor Piazzola
Written transcription to follow:
Podcast on YouTube
Here is the complete Podcast on YouTube:
JIM: Hi everyone. Today our special guest is Kelsey Choi. Kelsey is a former IB student. She graduated from Saint Paul's High School in Hong Kong back in 2020. From Saint Paul's High School, she went on to study music at the University of Toronto, and currently, Kelsey is a percussion major at New York University. I thought it would be interesting to hear directly from a former IBDP student and her thoughts on the IB. To share what she was thinking about with students who may be considering taking the program, and any words of wisdom she might have from the perspective of a student.
So with no further ado, I'm going to pass it over to Kelsey and let her take over here for a bit. So Kelsey, if we could start off. First of all, thank you for being here today. Maybe you could start by just telling us. I've already mentioned a little bit of your background, but maybe you could highlight a little bit more about your background, about your experience from Hong Kong to where you are now.
KELSEY: Of course. Yeah. Hi, everyone. I'm Kelsey. As Jim has just said, I graduated from Saint Paul School Educational College back in Hong Kong. During my high school days, I was also a member of the Hong Kong Children's Choir for 15 years. I also acted as percussion section leader of the Hong Kong Festival Wind Orchestra. Back in school I also played as a percussionist in the wind band. I took private lessons and I chose music HL as an IB elective. And my mentor, Doctor Luton was such an inspiration. He is so knowledgeable in so many different areas of music.
I have learned so much from him. I recently graduated from the University of Toronto as well, and I did a Bachelor of Music in music history, culture, and theory. I am now pursuing a master's in percussion performance at NYU.
JIM: So perhaps we could start with your high school experience. Maybe you could highlight a little bit more for us what your music experience was like in high school, including your inspirations, and the ups and downs of being a high school music student. Being a high school IB student, were you doing the full DP program?
KELSEY: I was. So I did a pre-IB when I was in grade 10, and then I did the two years of the IB program when I was in grades 11 and 12. I was the only student in my class studying with Doctor Luton. So my class size made the learning environment very comfortable.
JIM: Could you tell us a little bit more about what you're doing right now at New York University?
KELSEY: So halfway through my undergrad degree, I decided that I wanted to pursue a performance degree and not a musicology degree, which is what I'm doing now. I am playing in five or six ensembles every week, practicing every day, performing a lot, and just doing stuff that I really, really like. Photo from Unsplash
JIM: Perhaps you can share with us your progression to the point where you are right now. What type of experience in high school led you to do what you're doing now? Did you feel prepared when you went to Toronto? Was there any relationship between that and what you were doing in high school?
Kelsey: Being a music HL student for two years was life-changing. I've always loved music, but when I was younger I hated practicing and had quite a huge stage fright, so being a performer wasn't really a potential career goal for me back in high school. But after immersing myself in IB music, I learned that music is not just about playing, it could also be about history and the story behind the piece. This is why I decided to pursue a musicology degree back in university because learning about composers’ writing intentions, decoding similarities and differences between music cultures, and identifying cool spots and pieces with our theory knowledge is so fun and rewarding. I’ve been able to view music with a different lens ever since IB. So I would say, IB music definitely changed me. It has led me to where I am right now. I'm so thankful for IB music.
"I’ve been able to view music with a different lens ever since IB."
JIM: Where do you see yourself going, say, after your master's degree? Do you have any aspirations or goals in terms of what you're doing now?
KELSEY: I would love to be a soloist. It is a very challenging career path, but that will be my goal. A little fun fact about me is that I'm also a tap dancer and I always thought that tap dancing is such a percussive dance form. I would love to combine tap dancing and percussion. I recently tried to create a little piece. I rearranged Piazzolla's The Libertango. I've joined with my friends from my studio. We played a little percussion ensemble. I played the vibraphone while tap dancing. I would want to develop something like that. I don't know, maybe like make a name for myself just to be like a tap dancer slash percussionist.
JIM: One of the things we talk about in our profession right now is that in order to be a music performer, you have to be more than just a performer. You have to be a marketer. You have to be multi-talented, multifaceted, and so on. So this idea of dancing and playing the vibraphone, for example, is very intriguing to me. Maybe we're on the horizon of seeing something quite unique with a new act that sounds exciting, That sounds very, very exciting. Could you highlight for us a little bit about the ways music has shaped your life now, both musically and non musically? You've already hinted at a couple of things, but could you elaborate on that just a little bit more?
KELSEY: Music is part of my identity, my life is surrounded by music. I am studying music, and pursuing music as a career. Being a musician has made me very open-minded. The curriculum forces us to be very independent as well. We need to be very innovative, think outside of the box, and think of any possibilities. There are so many other skills in IB music that will help me excel in life like time management, responsibility, and everything. So music has been my whole life basically. I don't consider myself outside of music. So this is just how music has shaped my life now.
JIM: I noticed something when I was looking over your record here and that's that when you graduated from high school, you graduated in the spring of 2020. Is that correct? In May, May or June of 2020? If I remember correctly, that was the beginning of the pandemic, is that correct?
KELSEY: That is true. Back in high school, we had 2 terms in our year and the second term of my last year in high school was actually fully online. I did all my classes online. Actually that was kind of more beneficial to my end because being online allowed me to use more resources and had fewer time restrictions than in class. I don't really know why, but although it's very challenging to have classes online because, it was a pretty good thing that happened out of a pretty bad thing.
JIM: I’ve heard that more often from students during that COVID time, which were ensembles, of course, and for live music, it was a nightmare. We weren't able to do that anymore. But I also heard the upside to that, what you just highlighted. It gave students a chance to write music. It gave students more opportunities to practice. There was more efficiency of time used at home, developing musical skills and so on. So you're not the first person who said something like this. I'm just wondering whether there was any type of way, and this is something for us teachers to be thinking about is inspiring some of those benefits actually of what happened from COVID into the contemporary practice, what we're doing now in the post-COVID era. That's for us to consider. But that's kind of interesting that you went in and said that you talked about the IB study that you did the full. What were your other subjects in IB?
KELSEY: I took Chinese A as my HL as well and also English B as my HL. For the standard level, I took math, chemistry environmental science, environmental societies, and studies. I believe that's the full name.
JIM: What would you say were your experiences your most valued experiences from doing the full IB program?
KELSEY: There are two main things I would say. The first one is Independence. I sort of highlighted that a while ago, but the way that the curriculum is assigned forces us to seek knowledge on our own. Nothing was ever spoon-fed. I had to prepare for each class by reading upcoming materials and we were encouraged to fully understand each reading by asking follow-up questions that allowed us to further develop our critical thinking skills. The IA's, listening exams, and extended essays all required us to come up with our own topics, and do our own research and it was all up to ourselves to put in how much effort. This level of independence was very helpful, especially since I got into university, which allowed me to finish my tasks very efficiently.
...Independence and Diversity...
I would say the second thing is diversity. More specifically to IB music because I'm not sure if the syllabus changed, but back in my day, apart from the musicology part, we also had performances. We also had compositions, and as much as I like the scholarly side of music, I still really enjoy playing. Through my degree, I decided to pursue a career in performance and thanks to IB Music I was able to get a glimpse of what the life of a performer would look like in my undergrad. None of my studio mates had done a recital before 3rd year, but because of IB Music, I was able to come up with my own recital repertoire, perform, and then have it recorded in a pretty nice hall in my high school when I was just in grade 11. So if it's not for IB Music, I probably would not be as “professional” as I could be in undergrad.
JIM: If you had a chance to do anything differently in high school, what would you do?
KELSEY: I would have joined more ensembles. As I told you, I was a dancer. I am still a dancer actually, but when I was in high school I actually wanted to study dance instead of music. So I aspired to become a professional dancer and that's why I spent most of my high school years training with different dance groups. I was doing a lot of performances, dance performances, and then joining numerous dance competitions which left me little to no time for playing music with other people. Ensemble skills are such an important skill to have as a musician and I really wish I was able to start my ensemble training earlier and become a more all-rounded musician when I started my undergrad. My music class was one person. So my only friendship was with Doctor Luton, which is great, but I would also love to have other friendships develop from ensembles.
JIM: What advice would you give students considering studying the IB Music program?
KELSEY: One advice that I would give to students considering studying IB music is to be adventurous. Don't be afraid to try something completely new, and don't be ashamed of a crazy idea, because great projects always start from pure imagination. The task in IB music really requires us to have innovative ideas. I forced myself to think outside of the box for my musical links, I was able to come up with a lot of very interesting connections between two very distinct musical cultures. Who would have thought Baroque Aria music and Mali and Griot songs would have so much in common? Just think outside of the box. Anything could happen.
Be adventurous and think outside the box.
JIM: Do you have any closing thoughts or anything you'd like to share with everyone as we wrap this up?
KELSEY: I would just say I really recommend taking IB and IB Music. I am very thankful for IB. I'm very thankful to myself for choosing IB like 7-8 years ago. It has equipped me with so many useful and essential skills for life. It has shaped who I am as a student, even as a human. If it wasn't IB music, I probably would still be pursuing my little dancer dream and I would not have been a musician now. So IB literally changed me. So definitely take IB Music.
"(IB Music ) has equipped me with so many useful and essential skills for life."
JIM: I want to thank you for your time and your insight into your life and everything that's going on for you. It sounds like you're a very busy person. I think in the future we can look forward maybe to seeing some of your clips of tap dancing and playing percussion. We've got a new act on the horizon, Who knows what we'll be seeing in the future. So Kelsey, again, on behalf of the community here, the global community and the IB community, thank you for your time. And it was a delight to speak with you.
KELSEY: Thank you for having me.
- What do you think were the most intriguing or unique features of Kelsey's IB Music DP experience?
- If you were a student considering the IBDP Music Program, what points would you need to take into consideration after listening to Kelsey?
- If you are a teacher, how might some of the viewpoints present by Kelsey be helpful as you recruit potential students for IBDP Music?
- How might some of the suggestions presented by Kelsey be applied across the IB curriculum?
- What do you think Kelsey means when she says, "I've been able to look at music with a different lens through IB Music"?
- According to Kelsey, how might the IBDP Music program prepare one for music in the real world?