 Check one, two. There is a video on YouTube that's been kicking around for almost 10 years now. Some people have already found it. Back when I was in high school, I was accepted into the New York State, call it all state. It's like I was selected to be the piano player in the jazz band for all state, which at the time coming from this tiny school where I graduated with like less than 40 kids, it felt like a really big deal. It's not that it wasn't. I mean, it was obviously like a very cool thing that I got to do, but it clearly didn't have any indication on my rank or whatever you wanna call it as a pianist in the state. But regardless, it wasn't something that happened all that often. So the newspaper wanted to do a video on me. So they came to my house, the reporter came to my house with some equipment and we did this interview. And it's something. I thought it would be fun to watch that video. And just see what high school Charles had going on at that time. My name is Charles Cornell. I'm 17, I go to Hartford Central School and I've recently been selected for this. I'm sorry. I went running earlier and it's not super warm out. And so I've got that chest and I'm terrible where I ever run forever, so I keep coughing, but oh my God, no. Why do I look like I have caterpillars for eyebrows? The lighting makes my eyes look like black. And I'm glad to see we made zero effort to set up the interview space. I could see stuff in the background on shelves and just a mess in my living room. Don't really know what the thought process was with the hair there. And I think I'm about 40 pounds lighter. Yikes. My name is Charles Cornell. I'm 17, I go to Hartford Central School and I've recently been selected for the Conference All-State Jazz Ensemble on piano. He just kind of gave me this. He was like, so just say your name, say your age, and why we're here talking to you today. And to deliver that yourself is just super weird. And I had no experience at that point ever being on camera or anything like that. So I'm just kind of like, okay, act natural. Just say the words. This is an original tune that I wrote and I will play a little bit for you. I didn't even name it. I had no idea what to say. I remember the guy didn't give me like, there was so little direction and he was just kind of like, yeah. So just, I don't know, just say something and then tell us what you're gonna play for us. Let's hear this tune and ugh. I have watched this video before. This isn't like my first time seeing it, but I don't think I've watched it in probably six years or more. So I don't even remember like how it goes. God, there's two camera angles. We are like really, this is a high scale production. This is a conference all state works through the New York State School of Music Association, which is better known as Nismo. When I was younger, I feel like a lot of young players have a tendency to fall into this trap where you learn how to play the instrument with like some technical proficiency. You know, cause I was also studying classical at this time and I could play some technically demanding pieces and whatnot. When you first learn how to improvise and you don't know any, you haven't heard enough jazz. You haven't like heard enough music, whether it's jazz or not, whatever you want to play to really understand voice and really understand like space. And so yeah, I just had this tendency of like, hey, I can play this instrument. Let me just fill up everything with as many notes as I possibly can. Students go and they perform a solo for adjudicators. We'll then score them and add any comments and any advice that they have. Oh man, dude. The acne was real. My whole growing up, that was a, it was very like, very genetic in my family. Like my brother had it. That was a time. Yeah, blue scale for the win. Oh no. I know that I'm the second student in Hartford's history to attend the conference. They asked me for that piece of information. It was just like one of these trivial facts, but it's just like, you can't deliver that line and not sound like a jerk. Or somebody would go back to that person and just be like, hey, metronomes are cool. I like how I'm also playing as if I have a bass player with me because I just wasn't really capable of playing solo piano. So I was playing everything just with all these cluster chords. Like I had a bass player covering the low parts. Dude, stop playing the blue scale. I also play the alto saxophone and the trumpet. What is my deliver, like what? I sound like a robot. Wait, wait, wait. Oh, I remember this part. I remember this part, watch this. Oh my God. I had no idea what to do because the guy didn't like, he didn't say anything. So I'm just, I finished the piece. And then I'm like, what do I do now? So watch, watch this. Oh my God. Oh, this is so weird. But on earth, you know, it's funny because like people get mad at you. Like when you go back and listen to something old or you watch a video of yourself from a long time ago and you're just, you can't just do anything but cringe. And I understand that because their point is like, but you, you were so good for, you know, for where you were and for your age and everything. And I'm like, okay, you know, I appreciate that. And, and I had put in a lot of work and I was getting better all the time and everything. But it's just one of those things where I know a lot of you guys are musicians. So you're, you know, you know this, like, if you listen to something from way back before you got good and you're just like, oh my God. Like, why did I ever think this was okay? And yeah, I mean, of course we were younger and everything, but still it doesn't make it any less painful to go back and see now. But oh my God, the awkwardness in my defense. Like I said, I was, they didn't say anything. I finished the, I picked my hands up and like silence. But the best part is they left it in the video. So great. That's such a difficult video to make anyways, like where you're asking somebody like, tell us about your accomplishments. What a weird position to put somebody in, you know? And so the delivery obviously comes off as being like, bizarre. Let's see. Oh, that's, is this my, is this my chart? Well, there you go. Screenshot if you want to, if you want to learn like the worst song ever that I wrote when I was 16 or whatever. I'm going to, I'm going to see if I can, did I really write that? Are you serious? Did I seriously write? I wrote, I wrote a B-flat. That is, yeah, I wrote a B-flat over a D-flat or a seventh chord. I'm guessing I probably went something like that. I mean, the changes are pretty, pretty standard. But I see where I was going, but yeah, just not, not going to cut it. So anyways, I'll put a link to the original video in the description if you want to go see it. I don't even know if that, if the newspaper does anything with their YouTube channel really anymore, but if all of a sudden you guys all go watch the video, they're going to be like, what the hell's going on? Cause as far as I know, I think only like one publication from back home has, has even really taken notice of, of what I've been up to recently. So that'll, that'll probably be a very bizarre experience to all of a sudden be like, oh, what's all this trap? Where's all this traffic coming from all of a sudden? It's safe to say I've come quite a ways since then, but I guess that's the whole point, right? So anyways, that's it. Thanks, thanks for watching. And now this is, now this is really out there forever. Hey, I guess we all got to start somewhere. So thanks for watching again. Please hit subscribe if you enjoyed the video. And if you like my content, I really appreciate it. And I will see you next time. And it won't be so awkward.