“Music is Life” (Student Essay)

This May, a talented group of 20 dedicated students from Milwaukee High School of the Arts will travel with the Milwaukee Symphony to New York City as we play in the Spring for Music Festival at Carnegie Hall.  In order to be eligible for this opportunity, the students had to meet a number of academic and personal requirements, and write an application essay. This essay is by Amy, a junior at MHSA:

Music is an important part of life. It is a form of expression. It has no boundaries, and it follows no guidelines. Essentially, to me, music is like air. It has no true shape or definition, yet we need it to live. Imagine a world without music. All you’re left with is dust. Music is life itself.

As a junior in high school, I’ve given considerable thought to my future. When I was younger, I saw myself as an architect or perhaps just simply an artist. When I grew to be a bit older, I saw myself in robotic science. Then, I was accepted into Milwaukee High School of the Arts. It was perhaps one of the best things to ever happen to me. When I first started, I had very little music instruction. Under the direction of Mrs.Garcia, I quickly was able to expand my knowledge. Less than a few months at the school, I realized that music is my calling. With college approaching at an ever increasing rate, I’ve begun to plan my life in incredible detail. The one thing that remains constant in my planning would have to be music. Music is my life.

This summer, I shall begin touring colleges. My first choice would have to be UW-Milwaukee. Both my band director and private lessons teacher went there. They’re both fantastic and I look up to them. Musical education would be an amazing thing to do. I want the opportunity to watch as a child grows under my instruction. I want to be able to have someone look up to me as much as I look up to my lessons teacher. I want to inspire a child to take up an instrument. I want to be able to be the one to show them the joy of music. I want to show them that music is life.

Every time I go to a symphony performance, I’m awestruck. I look up there and think, Here are people who spend hours practicing. Here are people who are doing what they must love. Here is where I want to be. As a timid person, I know how difficult it can be to get up on stage and do anything. I cannot speak in front of a large, or sometimes even small, group of people …. but if you give me a piece of music and an instrument, and I’ll jump at the chance to play. I am able to express myself in song much better than I am in words. Symphonic pieces often tell a story. I want to be the person who brings that story to life. I want to be that person who creates emotion in the listener. I want to be the person who shows how music creates life.

Music is one of the few things that can help you escape your reality. No matter how bad things are, music has the potential to make you forget all about it. Music can spark any emotion. It can hold memories. It can tell stories. It will always be there. It will never vanish. It will always be life. You can’t touch music, but music can touch you.

-Amy, Junior (Milwaukee High School of the Arts)