I had the opportunity to see a friend’s college recital last weekend. Her name is Shelby Flowers and she is one of the most talented young musicians I’ve known in the last few years. More importantly, she’s a fabulous person. I sat in the concert hall with my four children and remembered so vividly my first days of college.
I’ve always wanted to be a musician.
See, I’ve always wanted to be a musician. When I was in high school, I was often annoyed at all the time I had to spend doing other things. I appreciate (most of) these other things now, but I was just really focused. All around me, students would be talking about their plans after graduation. They would speak of college and what they wanted to study. “Well, I don’t know. I like kids, so I’m thinking about teaching, but psychology could be interesting” or “to be honest, I have no idea. I hope I’ll figure it out when I get there.” Not me. I knew. I’ve always known. I’m a musician and I want to be a better one.
I studied music in college. What you may not know about music majors, is that we go to a ton of concerts and events. If you think that a music major is lightweight, think again. Classes in the morning, rehearsals in the afternoon, performances in the evenings, a solid four years, sometimes six days a week.
And I remember that first week, going to my first required recital, sitting in the new concert hall, in the cool dark during a humid August afternoon and thinking: I get to surround myself with music for the next four years. Music fascinated me. How does music work? Why does it work? Why doesn’t it work sometimes? What if we tried it like this? What if …?
That was over 20 years ago. Life has since become much more complicated and in many ways more difficult. But I’m still fascinated. And that’s my hope for my kids as we sit in Blair’s Turner Concert Hall. They don’t have to be musicians. But I hope they become fascinated and never lose it. Thank you, Shelby for reminding me.
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