Music

Noëlle is a multi-talented artist based in Vancouver, Washington, whose passions span music, writing, and aviation. As a student at Clackamas Community College, she has earned a scholarship that will cover most of her tuition for Fall 2025. When she isn’t studying, she immerses herself in composing, using Finale 27 to craft jazz pieces, despite the software being sunsetted, and consistently pushing its limits. She’s refusing to make the leap to Dorico until she has no option, which will likely come when her favorite packs from Native Instruments all require an operating system above what Finale can run on (it can run on the current operating system, thankfully).

Noëlle’s musical heroes include Bon Jovi and Frank Sinatra, and her original works tend to lean jazzy, and she has come to realize she should have played the drums. One of her proudest compositions is “Behind the Headlines,” a theme she wrote for one of her published novels, a 1930s mafia‑noir tale centered on a female news reporter. Her books often feature characters connected to music. This was never intentional, but happened anyway.

Proof of my Bon Jovi obsessesion, and the to-be-mentioned only-had-to-be-a-60-second-transcription overachievementNoëlle is notorious for overdelivering. Request a short 24‑bar piece wth two voices, and she’ll deliver a fully-realized 106‑bar composition with several instruments with lyrics and video of the piece playing in Finale to demonstrate. Ask for a 60‑second transcription and she’ll produce the full song, again with a video playback. She approaches every creative challenge with enthusiasm. Unlike younger students, she isn’t here thinking about just getting a piece of paper to get a job. She is here out of a genuine love of learning absolutely all that she can.

The aforementioned only-had-to-be-24-bars-with-2-voices overachievementIn addition to her artistic pursuits, Noëlle is a pilot. She treasures her solo flights as opportunities to listen to a broad range of music, merging her love of the skies with her passion for sound, though Frank Sinatra features in her line-up more than anyone else. She is currently composing a theme song for the Rose City branch of Women in Aviation. She has a goal of turning Dave Fleschner’s “Satan is my Lord” into a four-part a cappella hymnal because why the f*ck not. When she first heard this piece, she didn’t yet know how, but now that she does…oh, yeah. It’ll be happening.

A staunch advocate for human-made art, Noëlle is passionately anti‑AI. She has a strong desire to show others the joy and fulfillment and pride that come from composing and creating without artificial shortcuts, believing that the soul of art lies in genuine human expression. Though AI may be adopted by people who don’t have a passion for anything artistic, she refuses to touch it with a ten-foot pole.  Anyone can write a prompt, but only those who truly love the arts, including music, will spend the time actually learning how to compose and produce it.