Undergraduate / Umich school of music supplement [2]

Hello- this is in response to the question: School of Music Theatre & Dance: As you prepare to pursue a career in music, theatre or dance, what are your thoughts on the relationship between the arts and today's society? How relevant has your art been to your community and to you?

Thank you for reading!

As I step onto the stage, I concern myself not with the size of the audience, but with the way I might be able to affect those in my audience. The way I might connect with the older gentleman in the last row, the way I might reach the middle-aged woman sitting to the right of the stage. If I help just one person, that will be enough. As Karl Paulnack, the director of music at the Boston Conservatory once said, "Someday at 8 P.M., someone is going to walk into your concert hall and bring you a mind that is confused, a heart that is overwhelmed, a soul that is weary. Whether they go out whole again will depend partly on how well you do your craft." I believe music has the ability to understand, to listen, and to make sense of what words fail to describe. Like poetry, it is the unspoken, the implied, and how the listener interprets this that will allow them to be affected by music. It is for this reason that I play music, that I pour my heart into every performance- for the hope that my unspoken message and passion will reach someone, anyone, that is listening. To the grandmother in the first row all the way to the man on the far left, music is enough to ease their troubles and to help them remember. Something about music alone can have such an effect on people, and I only hope to share this effect throughout the rest of my life.