My Passion

There are two parts of me that are passionate. The first and one probably best not to engage me on, is my belief in equality. I sometimes get into trouble when I discuss this particular topic because I am quite a bit more liberal than my family and community. The second part of which I speak, is a passion for music. This is the kind of passion that if I am walking down the street and hear strangers discussing Morten Lauridsen or John Rutter, I will stop and impose myself upon said strangers.

It is not until recently that I have even come to describe my feeling for music as one of passion. I am in no ways a purist either. My friend Richard, who is in his mid-twenties, knows quite a deal about classical music, but can barely name a popular musician or hum a popular tune. And I'm not saying that this is necessarily a bad thing since it has been my experience that the average rustic does not even know how to pronounce Rachmaninoff [rakhmaninof] when presented with the written name, let alone pick out any of his melodies. I myself struggle to identify country or rap artists. I love the way music has evolved into a mash of genres so that it has almost become difficult to place groups or styles into categories. I absolutely adore the latest trend of pop and rock music with string instruments. I also love the return of artists who use the piano as a main instrument, that totally rocks! There is a song by Evanescence on their latest album called Lacrimosa. The song is a rock song but is a variation on a movement from Mozart's Requiem. The blending of old and new is so intriguing to me that I have decided when I have time to go back to school it will definitely be for music history. Richard incidentally despises that song and says that it is disrespectful to Mozart. We have decided to agree to disagree because the song is fundamentally the same but just now has a rockin' beat. How does he think music evolved if no one ever took a chance to try something different?

I majored in Music Therapy when I first attempted college because I was convinced that my future should involve somehow educating the unwashed masses on the effects music has on the brain. Unfortunately a wrench and several other tools were thrown in my plan and I became another statistic of the program in that I was part of the 80% who drop the program before completion. This equates to only 6 of the 30 students accepted into the program yearly, finishing with a degree in Music Therapy. There are several reasons the drop-out rate is what it is. First, a great deal of the classes are only 1 credit, so you may only have 13 credits but it may mean that you have 8 classes. This in and of itself is insane. Second there is an extremely rigid requirement as far as how many hours a week you practice not just one instrument, but 3. And honestly now I don't remember how many it was but something atrocious like 10-15 hours per instrument. Third, there really is no job market. For as important as I believe the profession is, the field is still in it's infancy, maybe toddler, stage. Plus there are the standards for all music majors which include concert attendance and write-ups of said concerts. So as a fresh out of high school 18 year old on her own for the first time, (and not necessarily on the most stable of ground mentally) I succumbed to my weaknesses and dropped the program.

So my purpose in all this is that the last few years have been ones full of self discovery for me, and as I have discovered and defined my passions, I wonder about those around me. I think people know that I am passionate about music. I have a friend who saturates his life with literature and it's something that is very obvious after talking to him even briefly. But how many of the people we know have some kind of passion that they don't share? How many of the people we are surrounded by do not even know what their passion is? Mine is such a fundamental element of me and my personality that if you don't know yours, I encourage you to find it. And if you already have one share it. The most enjoyable conversations that I have are the ones when someone is talking to me and I can really tell that whatever they are talking about comes from a place deep in their heart.