Before October break has even begun, Webbies are already immersing themselves in Webb’s creative spaces. From the music rooms to the art studio, Webbies are taking this year to explore some of their unique and quirky skills, hoping to showcase their hard work to the rest of the community. We are highlighting five students through brief profiles of their artistic occupations – keep an eye out for their talent around campus!
Oliver Yuan (‘25) – Beatboxing
Meet Oliver Yuan (‘25), a maestro of sound, who effortlessly recreates melodies, sounds, and mesmerizing beats with his voice, a skill widely known as beatboxing. As a self-taught virtuoso, he has impressed many with this rare talent on multiple occasions, including Webb’s own open mic event. During the pandemic, Oliver dedicated his time surfing through YouTube tutorials to hone his craft. His passion grew when he met Jordon Sun (‘23), a former Webb senior whose electrifying beatboxing performance left Oliver awestruck at one of Webb’s open mic events. Oliver believes that beatboxing serves as a firm foundation for his personal growth, fostering greater extroversion and enhancing social skills. As the former leader of his middle school beatboxing club, Oliver aspires to organize Webb’s own beatboxing club to promote these ideals, with already garnering interest from prospective members. Amongst Webb’s constellation of talents, Oliver’s beatboxing prowess stands out as like a soloist on a stage. So, when you attend the next Webb open mic event, be sure to keep an eye out for Oliver, gracing the stage with his captivating beats!
Bella Schnurer (‘27) – Chess
Bella Schnurer’s (‘27) journey with chess is an inspiring story of rediscovery. She entered the world of chess but soon found herself too busy with school to keep playing. It was only after a friend challenged Bella in a chess match that her interest was rekindled. Despite a later start in a chess academy, she rapidly ascended through its ranks, overtaking many players with years of experience. Bella’s exceptional skill has even allowed her to defeat players rated significantly higher than her. As a female player in a male-dominated field, Bella has faced occasional underestimation from her male counterparts; however, she has never failed to prove them wrong. One of Bella’s favorite memories is defeating a highly ranked opponent, who was overconfident due to Bella’s low rating at that time. This left him speechless by the end of the match at a SuperStates Championship in Valencia, California. While she enjoys the adrenaline that comes with securing a win during hard matches, her favorite moments are the shared glances and laughs with friends during tournaments. For Bella, it is not just about winning – chess is a reflection of her life’s broader strategies and decisions.
Cynthia Lou (‘27) – Irish whistle, ocarina, kalimba
The distinct sound of the Irish tin whistle in the Titanic soundtrack immediately entranced Cynthia Lou (’27). While most people would simply admire the composition of such unique and captivating music, Cynthia takes it a step further and teaches herself how to play uncommon instruments, resonating with the unique timbres. As a long-time alto and soprano saxophone player, she uses her musical expertise to pick apart and master not only the Irish whistle, but essentially any instrument that catches her attention. She utilizes similar finger techniques (for wind instruments) and standard musical notation to adapt her skills and knowledge to new instruments. Cynthia loves the expressive freedom her “casual instruments” allow, and the fact that she can use them to manifest any creative idea she has into a tune. Ultimately, Cynthia views music not as a stand-alone art form, but rather as something integral to the culture of a community. Recently, she was inspired to take up the kalimba, a miniature finger keyboard, after she traveled to an ancient Chinese town in which locals were selling kalimbas among other traditional keepsakes. One of Cynthia’s favorite culturally significant instruments is the ocarina, a traditional Central American wind instrument that she plays on a regular basis outside of her dorm. Cynthia passionately investigates the intersection of music, history, and culture as she experiments with playing both familiar and original pieces on an impressive range of instruments during her weekends at Webb.
Bella Choi (‘24) – digital art/3D modeling
While YouTube animation videos first sparked Bella Choi’s (‘24) interests in digital art, the subsequent projects she undertook prove that she is serious about this passion. Bella continuously emphasizes the importance of learning the fundamentals of digital modeling. The goal of creating original stories also pushed her to keep improving her skills. Over the summer, Bella attended the Gnomon Program, an intense four-day training camp in Hollywood that introduces high school students to the basics of 3D animation. Animation requires mathematical calculations, persistent illustrations, and flowing creativity with character motions. It’s all about anticipating the characters’ movements and understanding why we act the way we do –– unearthing deeper emotional motives.
“It’s hard work,” Bella said.
Similarly, Bella cares deeply about people with neuro divergences –– a traditionally underrepresented group –– while illustrating 3D models. She cautions against using the word “disability,” and instead “differences,” because people who see things in scattered ways are shown to organize shapes in more unique ways. Just like a fever dream, people with neuro divergences are able to create meaning out of nothing. On a different note, Bella gravitates toward horror concepts, not jump scares, but images that create unsettling moods. As a student in Honors New Media and Communications, she is currently working on an animation film that portrays a creature pained with grief, expanding the boundaries of horror as a category.
Armen Xue (‘25) – music composition
Armen Xue (‘25) is a magician of sound, who brings forth an often underappreciated and misunderstood genre to Webb: dubstep. The genre evolved from drum, bass, and grime and is commonly described as having a dark tone with syncopated rhythms and aggressive synth melodies. While drawing during quarantine, Armen’s playlist randomly shuffled him to “One Two” by Virtual Riot, sending him tumbling down the rabbit hole of dubstep. Using nothing but a laptop, GarageBand, and a pair of headphones, Armen worked toward making 100 tracks, learning from YouTube tutorials and Deadmou5’s masterclass. Armen has played the piano for about a decade and learned a small amount of music theory; however, he relies mostly on his intuition, which has built his own voice in dubstep. While he experiments and tries different genres, Armen’s signature style is a cutesy aesthetic form of color bass, which unlike the atonal dubstep many associate with the genre, is melodic and emotional. He shares his music on Instagram with his friends, and now uses Logic, an upgraded form of Garageband. While he still uses a minimal setup of a laptop and headphones in his dorm room, he has begun using a DJ controller this year to try remixing and playing with others’ music. More than adjusting a volume knob, DJ requires not only skill in transitioning songs but also in appeasing an audience. As a member of student government, he is now the main DJ for Webb’s social events, and he hopes to bring with him a new appreciation for the complexity and beauty of music and dubstep.
