First Year of Music School Complete!

It is incredible to think that I have finished my first year of music school, all during a global pandemic. It feels like just yesterday I was moving into my dorm room, holding on to my mother’s arms and hesitant to start life on my own, almost ten hours away from my hometown.

Now look at me! One year done, and I’m feeling sentimental. I will only be a college freshman once.

I learned so many things about myself this past year. For instance, I learned that I really don’t like dill, and unfortunately, the dining hall puts that stuff on everything. Second, cleaning out the lint trap is essential. I do not want to end up with a load of laundry with someone else’s lint on it. Gross.

But besides those things, I learned a lot about what it means to be a student in fine arts.

The first little lesson is that there is always time to practice. How many of us have spent hours mindlessly scrolling through social media only to look at the clock and say, “Well, it’s ___ (fill in time of choice) so I can’t practice now”. Imagine all the magic we could create if we just started in the practice rooms before doomscrolling? I eventually found a schedule that worked for me: breaking study time into blocks of music practice and bookwork. Then, when practice rooms closed, around 11:30 at night, I gave myself that well deserved social media break.

The second little lesson is that learning an art takes time, and progress does not continue moving forward at the same rate. Sometimes I would make a tremendous amount of progress within one week. Then nothing would happen for about three. It was hard; I felt like something was wrong with me. Maybe I wasn’t practicing enough, or maybe I wasn’t made to do this kind of thing. The time would pass, and then suddenly I would be making huge leaps forward again. The truth is, our bodies need time to learn new skills, and then internalize it so that we don’t forget it. That means that sometimes we might not appear to be growing, but really, we are just solidifying new skills. Just keep practicing! The magic moment will come soon.

The third little lesson that I will share today is that sleeping is important. That study session isn’t going to be beneficial if you keep on nodding off or getting distracted due to exhaustion. Sleep, and then start again tomorrow with a fresh and alert mind. Well rested brains retain information so much better compared to our sleepy “let’s pull an all-nighter” brains. Seriously.

Cheers to a fabulous first year of Music School! And here’s to the excitement for next year!

– Emily S.