April ’24 Student Spotlight: Solace & Nasir Vanzie

Our Student Spotlight for April shines on two brothers who share dual musical passions – trumpet playing and electronic music. Solace and Nasir have the distinction of being the only two trumpet players at Stages and have both been part of the Electronic Music Production program for some time. 

Their teacher stays of these accomplished young men…

“When I met Solace & Nasir, I found two eager musicians who possessed strong musicianship skills already, but it‘s been amazing to see their skyrocketing growth. Solace has displayed humble leadership and Nasir has created a beautiful sound. They are talented, dedicated and always prepared to soar. I look forward to seeing where they both go in their solo efforts and with that certain tone that can only come from siblings in duets. Such a pleasure to teach Nasir and Solace!”

Read on to learn more about these highly accomplished brothers!

What do you study and why did you pick that instrument?

Solace: At 7 years old I loved jazz music and my favorite instrument in jazz was the trumpet. I thought it was a very unique sounding and looking instrument.  Because of this, I wanted to learn the trumpet. I’m studying right now “Nine Duets, pg2” but I also like to listen to instrumental jazz and hip-hop to get some inspiration.

Nasir: I play trumpet. I picked the trumpet because I like the sound and the type of music you can make with it.

 

What styles of music do you enjoy?

Solace: I like instrumental hip-hop and jazz and my favorite artist right now is Emapea

Nasir: I like all types of different music, but the main ones I like are hip-hop and the kind of orchestrated music you would hear in a movie.

What’s your favorite thing about Stages or a favorite Stages memory?

Solace: Easily my favorite thing at stages is the Electronic Music program. I’ve learned a lot about music production and sound design, and it even helped me with my trumpet music. It’s really fun learning how to use audio effects, managing the instruments, and making sure they all come together.

Nasir: The staff is my favorite thing about Stages. They all have been very nice and welcoming. And for my favorite memory? It would be when I played in a band.  The songs sound much better to me when you have multiple instruments playing in symphony.

 

What are your musical goals? What is one non-musical goal you have?

Solace: One of my musical goals is to make my own song with my trumpet being one of the main instruments. One of my non-musical goals is to become a professional pilot, as of right now I have flown 5 times since the start of my training and plan to do so again possibly next month.

Nasir: My goal is to get to the point where I can play trumpet with no problem. And my non-music goal is to master 3D modeling so that I can make my own models for animation or for action figures.

 

Tell us a fun or interesting fact about yourself not related to music.

Solace: One of my favorite activities is robotics, especially Vex VRC Robotics. I founded a robotics program that hosts two competitive teams called Agility Network Robotics.  As the founder and captain of this organization, I helped lead our teams to the Maryland State VEX Robotics Competition two years in a row.  VEX is a robotics competition where we have to create a robot that can complete the task for the game of that year as teams are randomly aligned to compete side-by-side as partners.  I’ve had to learn how to be an engineering project manager, strategist, and engineer to get our team to the states as one of the top teams in Maryland.  The game is different every year so that means you can’t use the same robot for every competition. So we have to be creative every year. Music helps me stay focused and be creative. 

Nasir: I am learning 3d modeling right now and also improving my drawing skills.

 

Many congratulations to Solace & Nasir on this latest win in their long line of accomplishments!

…

Do you know a student who deserves to be recognized? Nominate them for our Stages Student Spotlight!