Arts Student of the Week - Autumn Baldwin

Niwot senior Autumn Baldwin is a talented trumpet player in the school's advanced jazz and symphonic bands, and also a member of the chamber singers choir group. Lately, she has also turned her talents to composing and songwriting, and has contributed to "several performance pieces," according to Niwot music director Wade Hendricks.

"The once-shy underclassman has become a terrific senior leader and role model for younger students in the NHS band program," he said. "She is not shy about grabbing solo opportunities in jazz band, arranging and editing virtual performance videos for a quartet of senior trumpet players, and even using her piano skills to fill in when needed."

Baldwin hasn't limited herself to writing or composing in any single genre, but said she gets "a lot of inspiration" from acapella arrangements. She also likes the "jazzy" combos she's written for bandmates, even if the pandemic has made it difficult to get together and play them.

Indeed, the past 12 months have been difficult for music students, as opportunities to perform together in-person have been limited. Baldwin admitted that has been the most difficult aspect of her senior year, but added that it has also given her time to work on songwriting and even a music video project.

After graduation, Baldwin is planning to attend the University of Colorado-Denver and study in the singer/songwriter program. After that, the versatile musician isn't sure where her talent will take her, so she's keeping her options open.

"Honestly, I'd be happy going a lot of different ways, but I definitely want to keep singing and playing instruments."