Samuel West is a Junior at Drew Charter School. He is a member of the Urban Youth Harp Ensemble and has been playing the harp for 2 years. He has competed in the Spring 2024 and Fall 2025 Solo and Ensemble Performance Evaluations and earned superior ratings for his performance of “Baron’s Blues” by Kathryn Cater and "Venetian Red" by Antonio Vivaldi. West is known for playing pieces in minor, often jazz pieces or Spanish style pieces. In addition to harp, West is an excellent golfer, winning awards and boasting a handicap of 4.5. He has won at least two tournaments every year since 2018. In his free time, Sam enjoys playing golf and playing video games. Sam hopes to be a collegiate golfer and major in economics in college.

Baron's blues is a jazz piece written and arranged by Katherine Cater played in a bluesy mood. Since it is a jazz/blues piece, the eighth notes are swung and often played in succession. Baron's blues includes a lot of hand movement in both the left and right hands when playing. This piece was my first Solo and Ensemble piece and taught me a lot about movement with my hands and focusing on the harp while looking at the music sheet.

Melissa's Circle is a gentle meditative piece for harp, composed and arranged by Susan Raimond and Angi Bemiss. It's mostly arpeggiated, and it's also a very calm piece. I like how the E-chords resolve the piece in part B. This piece also offers intermediate harpists  experience in playing and is a great piece to play at gigs.