Nicholas Elliott
What is your unique gift? – Do you believe in it enough to invest everything you have in it?
My unique gift is my ability to play trumpet. Yes there are many trumpet professionals in the world that are much better than I am in my current state, but my drive and passion for performing music will drive me to be the very best version of myself every single day. I’m already committing to another two years of study in a completely new city where I will have to learn to adapt to my new surroundings quickly or find a new way of surviving in a place I know next to nothing about.
What difference are you trying to make in the world? – How passionate are you about doing this?
I’m trying to vitalize the idea that performing in tuxedos every week and playing music written by dead composers is not for the snooty people that look down across their noses at those that don’t have a full understanding of music and why its constructs have brought it to the magnificence that it is. I will not let this go because I have met people that have treated me like dirt and those that have wanted to share their knowledge, but the ones that don’t share their years of training and wisdom drastically outweigh those that do.
How do you define success for yourself? – What challenges do you face in order to create success?
I define success as content within the soul. When I play a piece of music, I don’t get angry when I miss a note or two. Sure that diminishes the overall accuracy of my performance, but missing a note is inconsequential in the big picture. My biggest personal challenge of creating success is knowing when it is right to listen to other peoples opinions on the subject and following that direction versus listening to myself and doing what I find to be right.
What is your career vision and mission?
My career vision is to be performing in a top-rated symphony orchestra within the next ten years and be able to progress and grow within that realm of music and business to be the most successful I have ever been. I plan to be within the top fifty trumpet performers in the country within the next 25 years.
Can you innovate and create value and successfully communicate that value to intended audiences?
Innovation for me comes when I’m in dire need of a solution. I’ve been in situations before where I was put on the spot to come up with entire lesson plans for a band of 100+ students composed of instruments that I did and didn’t know how to use, but I found an innovative way to make sure their time was not wasted and that the director could count on me to do something similar in the future if an emergency circumstance were to come up again. I demonstrated the value of time and the process of rehearsal to the students in that rehearsal and communicated how beneficial their patience was to the success of that time frame. Hopefully they learned from that as well and can apply it to their futures.
Do you have a positive attitude?
As often as I can, even when I’m in a horrible mood and couldn’t care less about doing something or being around other people, I do my best to show that I have a positive attitude. Being recluse has had its negative effects on possible performance opportunities, but I never let my attitude about something that I’m doing directly impact how people can view me. Being stoic is much better than being negative and showing your ass for everyone to see.
Have you set your goals? What is your road map to success? Can you set inspiring and realistic goals?
My goals are absolutely set: performing in a top-rated orchestra, being one of the top 50 trumpeters in the nation, and being able to encourage people to learn more about music and everything about the instrument. I do set inspiring goals. In fact, performing the pieces I put on my senior recital was an inspiring goal in itself. While this may seem inconsequential to you, Cliff Newton, the retired Principal Trumpet of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, happened to come to my recital and I never knew he’d stopped by for my hour of soloing. He went to Gainesville and passed by a trumpet student in the University of Florida, noticed what the program consisted of and was shocked. He went on to tell Bill Watson, a Jacksonville “Big Name,” that he was extremely impressed with my show and then extremely disappointed at the program the UF student was getting away with for a senior recital. “The music was so simple. A graduating high school student would put more difficult music on their concert if they could.” Long story short, I set an inspiring goal simply by the music I chose to perform for my concert.
Do you have and/or acquire the necessary expertise to actualize your vision?
As I’ve learned through Professor Osborne, I’ve picked up many of the tools necessary to make my vision come true, but I know I can learn so much more in the coming two years through the faculty and artists at Carnegie Mellon. With these tools, extra years of education and access to a more refined music community in Pittsburgh I know I will acquire everything I need to make my visions come true.
What are your priorities? Can you set priorities?
My priorities are setting myself up for success in my career path, studying trumpet and learning how to conquer it to perform at the most professional level accessible to me through the education I have received. I would say that if I already have a priority then I am obviously able to set them.
What opportunities are you looking for? What opportunities are you creating or intend to create?
I am looking for any and all opportunities to make myself known in a musical community. If I am offered a job that pays a little and is going to have me interacting with the community then I will be very inclined to take it. Recently I had to turn down playing principal trumpet in the pit orchestra for the Amelia Island Theater that put on Annie Get Your Gun. If classes and other ensemble rehearsals weren’t already scheduled and set in stone, I would have absolutely taken that gig; but those are the kind of offers and opportunities I’m looking for. As I develop my musical abilities further, I intend to keep opening doors to all cases where I can apply my knowledge, learn more, and be successful in the performance career.
How comfortable are you with uncertainty? What risks are you willing to take?
Being uncertain is like being handed a box of Russell Stover’s assorted chocolate that no longer has the interior map and you’re allergic to peanuts. You never know what you could get and it could hospitalize or kill you. But it’s chocolate and you know it’ll be great until the moment you pick the wrong one. Taking risks is so similar to gambling with your life and your career that I’ve grown to appreciate those that do it in moderation. Risks I’m willing to take, especially now, would be moving to the Northeast while knowing a grand total of one person there and hoping that I will somehow turn out to be successful in a two year turn around.
When facing challenges, do you persevere or do you walk away?
I will persevere when I know it is the right thing to do. Challenges are presented to us as an opportunity to learn and to grow and without them we would do nothing with our lives, we would have no ambition, no internal motive to do anything out of our comfort zone. But, when it is time to walk away from a challenge is when you know it will hurt you in the long run. Sometimes challenges are meant to be met at different times than when they are supposed to be conquered and that is totally okay. Every day stands as a new milestone to accomplish the next great thing. So in short, I will always persevere, but I will do it with time and confidence.
What experience have you learned the most from?
I have learned the most from the time I was applying and auditioning for undergrad schools. I thought I was top notch and could do the unthinkable so I applied to Curtis Institute and New England Conservatory. I was told no by both after my live auditions and had a really bad case of failure on my shoulders. I thought I couldn’t do what I had been training for, for six years, and wanted to give up. That’s when I learned that I don’t have to give up. That I don’t need to give that dark part of my brain the satisfaction that I could control how I felt and that I could persevere and do anything I set my mind to. Things got brighter when I was accepted into the Brevard Music Festival that very summer and, before I could even tell you that he would be my up and coming graduate professor, met Neal Berntsen of the Pittsburgh symphony and I completely changed my attitude and approach to playing trumpet. It set me back up on my feet and showed me I could overcome what the Conservatories told me I couldn’t do.
What actions are you taking to realize your vision? Are you consistently taking action?
I am taking a huge action in the coming fall semester. I have planned this move for over two years, prepared myself for auditions, performed pieces specifically tailored to the masters programs I was interested in and set my sights wide and far to allow me to take in as much as I could before every audition. I know I’m talking about this a lot, but it’s because I’m excited so bear with me. Every single day over the past two years has had some sort of development into making this dream come true, so I would say yes, I am consistently taking action.
How well do you put things in context? Are you able to easily respond to changes in your environment? What’s your best example?
While I can always put things into context, I sometimes have trouble adjusting to changes in my environment. Making big changes can cause me to be confused about what to do or where to be, but changing little things slowly lets me adjust quickly and effectively. Coming to JU was a small change for me because I’ve always been local to Jacksonville and I’m not far away from family and old friends, but moving to a new city could mess with me a bit. I’ll need to figure out where to get groceries, what places of town are safe, what restaurants I like and make a whole new set of friends.
What is your plan to continually grow and evolve? How have you grown or evolved in there past year or three?
My plan to grow and evolve is to always be open to learning more information about everything. We take for granted what it means to have a degree and we think that we know everything. Just because a school says you can have a piece of paper with the completion of their studies required for your degree of focus, doesn’t mean you are fully prepared for every twist and turn life decides to hand out. I know I have grown and evolved because of this open-minded approach. I have let people teach me things I had never thought of before and I have done likewise for them. I have found that I don’t make the same poor choices in life because I have chosen to learn from my mistakes and others and I know I have become a more mature person that is far more seasoned for the world to come than I was even a year ago, let alone when I was a freshman.
How easy is it for you to reach out to others to ask for support and to offer help?
Reaching out for support has always been easy for me. This directly refers to the previous question because being open-minded has to go hand in hand with being humble and owning your mistakes. Being humble is probably the most beneficial characteristic of any one person for the success of their career, and that’s because it shows a level of respect for one’s self and for others at the same time. I offer help though only when I feel like my offering could potentially be greater than what others have already provided. Otherwise I simply feel like an echoing voice. When I know I can provide true help or support, I am with that person to ensure their success or realization of a solution.
How are you inspiring others to join and/or support your mission in order to create a financially sustainable enterprise that allows you to live your gift and contribute something valuable to society? – If you aren’t currently, how do you intend to?
I hope to inspire others to join and/or support my mission by taking all steps necessary to ensure that I am humble, strong willed, passionate, and above all else, doing everything I can to make this dream of mine come true. Support doesn’t come through ticket sales and money. Those are just facets of life we all have to learn to live by to make a living. The true support comes from being a good and honest person. Do what it takes to be successful for yourself and when people see your success and support you doing the thing you do, you will be supported every step of the way.
