Campus Views: Making music part of your life
Most of the great musicians started playing an instrument when they were young, just look at how all the greats got their start: Jimi Hendrix taught himself to play on a five dollar guitar; Billie Holiday did chores and sang along to jazz records; Beethoven’s father gave him piano lessons before he was even 6-years-old. Everyone who loves creating music began in their own unique way for their own unique reasons.
I was 6 when I started piano lessons and didn’t fall in love with it immediately. Sometimes it takes prodding from parents to keep their child interested because there are only so many melodies they can play.
If there’s one piece of advice I can give to parents listening to their child screech out “Yankee Doodle” on the violin, it’s this: they will get better.
After years of practice and dedication my hard-work has paid off and my love for piano has grown along with it.
Someone who also started music lessons at a young age is Whitefish High School sophomore Eric Holdhusen, who started violin at age 4. Today he prefers trumpet and plays in the WHS band and jazz ensemble. He described music as being one of his passions because, “It’s an art form that allows me to express myself in ways other than speaking.”
For him, it’s about the emotions that music can hold.
Jazz is an artform all its own, and it’s Eric’s favorite music to play. He recalled a particular gig at Coffee Traders when everyone was really feeling the music. The solo section is when “everyone gets their own time to shine. You just sit back and enjoy the music.”
Music can be an individual endeavor, but growth as a musician can be accelerated by playing with people who inspire each other to try new directions.
Senior Maybelline Green began playing the violin in her required sixth-grade music class. Her love of music developed unusually from a childhood obsession with pirates.
“If I couldn’t be a pirate, I had to at least have something to do with being one,” Maybelline said.
She started learning the “Pirates of the Caribbean” soundtrack and performed those songs for her family and friends. Now she plays lead electric violin in her band Stikbopik and looks forward to new possibilities.
She loves “playing an instrument in ways that are different than how it’s typically played, in genres that it’s rarely found in.”
Her journey with music has given her confidence rarely found in young musicians.
Eric plans to pursue music education in college and hopes to make music part of every child’s education. Maybelline is very open to change regarding her future with music, but hopes to form a band similar to the one she is in now.
As for me, I plan to take a divergent career path from music but still find ways to play with others or on my own. The amazing thing about music is that if it’s important to you, then there are many ways to make it an enjoyable part of your life.
It’s never too late to start.
— Cassidy Grady is a senior at Whitefish High School