The Spirit of Cerritos: Meet Cerritos High's Cristian Preciado

Editor's Note: Cerritos-Artesia Patch will be posting musician profiles of the  during their travels to Paris and London. 

Hello everyone, my name is Cristian Jacob Preciado, and I play 1st chair trumpet for the Wind Symphony. I believe being a musician makes me different as a person. Music is who I am, and what I do best. It is a great honor to be a part of this spectacular group

When I perform for the Cerritos High School Wind Symphony and Marching Band, what people expect from me as an individual is excellence at the highest level. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, consistency, and concentration in order to perform at this level. You need to be on top of adjustments, breathing, following Mr. Trost’s visual and verbal instructions, and being able to remember information over a length of rehearsal sequences. Once you get to that level, you begin to receive respect and feel confident in what you do, which gives you one of the best feeling of accomplishment ever. It makes you feel like all the hard work you did has payed off.

It was such a great feeling when Cerritos High School Wind Symphony performed at one of the biggest venues in Manhattan, New York -- Carnegie Hall. Not only did I get to perform with spectacular musicians from around the globe, but it gave me a chance to know what it’s like to perform as a classical, professional musician.

It also gave me the opportunity to embrace New York’s values; like its restaurants, Broadway, hotels, people, art, and museums, but most of all, it gave me a chance to bond with all my bandmates there. It allowed me to get know each and everyone of them as an ensemble and support them. 

I know that to be a good musician, there are times where you need someone else’s talents to make a masterpiece, and to do that, you need teamwork. Being involved with Cerritos High School Wind Symphony, and seeing such dedicated, hard working, versatile musicians, has influenced me to do the same. It also has inspired me to want to work harder with them at the same level of standards to make our “team” better than ever. We are a team of players of all spectrums of ability and skill working together to create the best possible performance.  Our Mr. Trost instills a level of integrity to each member of his ensemble that has left a lasting mark on my musical personality. He makes sure that each member of the ensemble knows his/her role in the music, however significant or insignificant the part. He never stops short of what he is trying to achieve from us.  My family has also supported my musical talents and has always been behind me to cheer me on in all performances.

I have been striving for this goal as a musician since middle school, and after being invited to perform at the Olympics, my determination is stronger than ever. I’ve been playing trumpet ever since fourth grade and am currently taking private lessons from a phenomenal instructor; taking some music theory classes, and also trying to make music of my own. In order to do this, I sometimes do not do my homework or activities like hang out with my friends or play video games on my PS3. I hope it will bring me one step closer to achieving greatness. I know that by practicing it will maximize my progress toward that goal. I also have a love for other instruments (guitar, saxophone, percussion, vocals, etc.) and have learned those instruments point of view as well.  If you want to be good at anything, you have to practice, practice, practice.  It is not easy because nobody is natural, you work hard to get good, then work to get better because it is hard to stay on top, but it all worth it for the love and passion for music and its excellence.

Performing at the Olympics is truly a great honor. It makes me proud to be involved with Cerritos High School and a lagoon of talents. I know this opportunity will be a great learning experience.

This Olympic performance, will also provide an opportunity for community involvement both as a group and as individuals, and finally, to provide the opportunity for musicians to practice and perform in a relaxed, supportive environment.

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Click here for complete coverage on the CHS Wind Symphony's once in a lifetime opportunity to represent the city of Cerritos and the country on the world's biggest stage.

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