The First Day of Class.

Good morning, Arizona,

It’s just after nine AM and the clouds are in abundance today. I find it funny that I woke up earlier this morning, when I don’t have to go to class, then I did yesterday for my class (at one in the afternoon. Holla!). Of course, I woke up just a little later than I did today because it was the first day and I was nervous, etc.. Good thing, too, since after walking across the campus from my from my dorm room and while the about-to-meet-new-people butterflies dwelled in my stomach, I realized that I didn’t know my room number. Which resulted in me feeling not so much like a responsible, college kid. But, like many great and terrible moments in life, that moment passed and eventually I was in the right room sitting at a table, having an interesting conversation with a new classmate.

My class- or, “program”, as it’s called since we don’t have multiple, different classes- is full of people and as I learned yesterday, those people are all full of pretty incredible ideas. We went around the room, introducing ourselves, and explaining what our plan of study would be. We were also introduced to the four questions we would be carrying with us through out our time with the program. Allow me to introduce you, as well.

I. What do you want to learn?
II. How do you want to learn it?
III. What do you plan to do with what you learn?
IV. What difference will it make?

So, Arizona, I’m going to answer the first question for you right now, before I head out into the clouds for the gym to get my work out on:

What do I want to learn? In the simplest words possible, I want to learn how to come out of myself in my music; I want to progress in my performance and musicianship; I want to learn how to communicate with people and really get under their skin in the best way possible with art and music, the way art and music really influences me and inspires me.

In more academic terms, I want to delve into certain musical and artistic histories, the psychology and sociology of music, ways to communicate within and through music, an, of course, performing arts. More in depth, you say? Yeah, okay, here we go:

I want to explore different revolutions and social movements that used music as propaganda, morale boosters, influences, coping mechanisms, etc.. In the past, when discussing this, there’s always been the very obvious 1960s musical movement mentioned, but many times have political controversies in Africa and South America been brought up. I want to know what was used, how it was used, what it did or how it influenced people, and what other works it inspired.
I want to know what music does to us, on the inside. From “Why can music change our mood?” to “How can music therapies be used for peoples with sensory autism?”. I want to learn what happens to the brain when we listen to or play music, and what other activities do the same thing to the brain. (Of course, all of this will be learned through previous research because I don’t have the means or knowledge to do admittedly really awesome science experiments. Bummer!) I want to learn how it can connect diverse people, especially being something so diverse itself. I want to look at the “aggressive opinionsism” (as I call it. I don’t think that’s an actual term…? I don’t even think “Opinionism” is a word.) that people- mostly young people, however- place on music when discussing it and what that means in terms of it's level of purpose in peoples’ lives.
I want to learn how we communicate through music and how music communicates through us; the ways in which we are inspired by and connect with music. And, of course, I want to spend the year networking, jamming out, playing with people, and eventually playing for people in Olympia. I want to use the knowledge I’ve learned to create music that means something.

…it’s going to be a good, busy year, Arizona. I’m thrilled.
-Emily.