Tell us about your background. Why did you choose Vanderbilt and what influenced your decision?
My name is Tao-Tao He and I am a sophomore, double majoring in math and music and minoring in data science. I was born in San Jose, California, but spent most of my childhood years in Wuxi, a city near Shanghai, China, where my family resides right now. I chose Vanderbilt because of its combination of academic excellence and an elite music school, as well as a tight-knit but diverse community. The financial aid aspect did play a significant factor in the decision, as the full tuition may not have been feasible for the household short term but with the scholarship Vanderbilt was the most appealing option.
Tell us about some of the extracurricular or community service activities in which you participate.
I joined my first student band, The Deltamen, in the second week of my first year. The five of us have performed in various shows, presenting sets of original songs crossing styles from rock to country to funk and R&B. We have also released our first EP this May. I am also a member of the Vanderbilt Recording Studio (VRS) organization, which runs a recording studio with free access for Vanderbilt students. I have taken part in mini-concerts by VRS as part of their effort to foster a singer-songwriter community at the university.
I am also in my second year at Camp Kesem, a non-governmental organization that holds free week-long summer camps for kids whose parents have or once had cancer. I was at camp this August as a counselor, making sure the ten-year-old boys I was responsible for were having the time of their lives, and so did I. This year I have taken on an increased role, putting more input into fundraising events and recruiting friends to join the cause. I am also in charge of the sound and music for the Vanderbilt University Chinese Drama Club. I am also preparing to participate in Alternative Spring Break, which takes students to do volunteer work for underserved communities. I am still waiting for my assignment but am excited for the opportunity.
What has been your favorite course thus far and why was it your favorite? What did you take away from that course?
My favorite course so far has been the Composition Workshop I took under Professor Samuel Zyman in the spring of 2023. It was a course with only five students, and we would study different genres of compositions, write our own pieces, revise them, and have them performed over the course of the semester. It is my favorite course because it improved my skills as a composer and gave me experience working with players. Professor Zyman was very encouraging and dared us to express ourselves freely. The relationships I forged with him, and the rest of the class, were extremely valuable.
A cornerstone of the Vanderbilt community is overcoming challenges through collaborative discovery. Describe a time when you solved a problem or learned something new through collaboration.
This September I was commissioned to produce an easy-listening piece by a friend outside of Vanderbilt. The friend gave me a two-minute piano melody and asked me to do whatever I wanted with it. It was my first ever producing project, and I was learning on the fly. I did most of my work in the Blair lab, which helped me write music efficiently. Using inspiration drawn from my Music Technology professor, I decided to use an Erhu (Chinese violin) as a main feature and took advice from my composition professor to improve the orchestration of the piece. Then I needed to find a player to perform the Erhu. After reaching out to many friends in Blair, Kevin, a senior in Blair, helped me connect with an Erhu player, and helped me coordinate a recording session. Due to inexperience, I did not communicate well enough with the player before the session, resulting in unnecessary time expenditures for Kevin, who was volunteering his time to help me in the first place. I learned an important lesson about communicating my needs and specifying down to the smallest details as a composer asking a player to perform. Finally, since I was not very good at mixing, I asked Sean, a first-year student I connected with earlier who was good at mixing, to collaborate with me. In the end, I was able to produce a satisfactory music piece with the help of the Vanderbilt community, both from the student body and the faculty.
