HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – Charlie Truitt

“I feel my experience with COVID and staying inside all day was the same as everyone else’s. I stopped talking to people during my sophomore year because I didn’t keep in touch with them over quarantine. When I got back junior year, I didn’t really have any friends. Eventually, I was doing my homework next to a group of friends, and they [said], ‘Hey, just come and sit over here,’  and I have sat with them every day for the past two years, so that was pretty nice. The long-lasting effect of COVID for me was its impact on my social skills. 

My advice for my sophomore-self would be to stay motivated to create things, like music. There’s a computer program I use to write scores. I’ve written two songs we’ve played in jazz bands in school so far. I took piano and viola lessons when I was in elementary school until junior year, and I hated it. Then, I started learning electric bass on my own and liked that a lot more. I’ve been writing songs in one way or another since I was 5.

Whenever I had a performance, I would be a nervous wreck playing viola. But when I played with jazz bands and electric bass, I wanted to have performances. I had a lot of fun because of how inviting jazz music is because most of it is improvised. One of my favorite moments has to be last year’s spring concert. We played the channel theme from the Wii, which a lot of people found funny. Then, we played an original composition that I wrote a long time ago. 

I will be attending the University of North Texas for the jazz program; it’s one of the best jazz programs in the country. I’m looking forward to getting into a serious musical environment.

I’ll end up either working as a musician or a teacher. Going to music school is mostly about making connections and getting really good instruction so you can be a working musician on your own because it’s really hard. 

The last two years of high school have been the first time in my life where I’m learning something I feel like is going to  stay with me forever.”