What I Learned From a Music School

I learned a lot of great things at Belmont. It was where I learned how to study for the first time, and it’s where I learned that science and dance truly were compatible. But I learned something from Belmont that I didn’t realize was unique until I graduated and went to a different school.

Belmont is a music school.

I found that out after I enrolled. 

What is unique about a music school is that the majority of the students are going to school knowing that they were going to be in debt and potentially with a low paying job. Even though the world tells them that they shouldn’t go to school for something they could just practice at and network their way in to, they still come by the hundreds to learn.

You could imagine how many times they have to explain why they went in to music.

Many of the students talked about how music impacted their lives. Some talked about how they were happiest when they were performing. Some talked about how they wanted to be able to serve the community through music therapy. Some described the teachers they looked up to and embody in their own classrooms.

The longer I was at Belmont, the more I noticed the variations in their answers. 

Even though there were blanket categories for “why music” they always seemed to have something unique to their story that brought them to Belmont.

They had a passion, and they knew it.

This mentality of pursuing a well understood passion permeated through the student body. Regardless of the field, everyone seemed to have a passion. Some had a very developed plan, while others simply had a community they wanted to continue to be a part of. Each person had developed their “why.”

By knowing their why, each person felt like they had a deeper meaning, a God-given purpose for being in this world.

It is difficult to understand why we are where we are sometimes. I would argue that most issues with faith stem from the fear that we are unimportant, that there is no reason for our struggles, that maybe God had forgotten us.

Without some purpose, some small voice telling us “keep going,” or some understanding of why we do what we do, life is very upsetting.

The most beautiful thing that I saw from Belmont was when someone had lost their passion and what the community did to bring them back up again.

When someone was lost or hurting, everyone found some way to engage the passion of their friend. If they were upset because they lost their job, then someone would try to incorporate aspects of that job in to a social media campaign or class project. If they were upset because they didn’t make it in to an ensemble, then someone would help them make a band. If they decided they weren’t going to medical school, but rather pursue a graduate degree, then they would ask them to explain why they loved what they were researching.

Over time, the hurting soul was renewed by the passion God had given them.

Had Belmont not been a place where passion was fostered, it would not have been so easy to encourage the community to grow.

When I left Belmont, I maintained my passion for learning and learning about others with me. I took the idea that knowing someone’s why was the best way to understand who they were as a person. 

I won’t go in to detail about how it impacted my lab, because I do not know what their experience was with my incessant questioning. However, I can say that I was personally affected by the responses I received from the students at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame kids in science are like Belmont kids in music.

It really is interesting to ask the students why they are doing what they are doing. Each student has their own backstory, their own goals, their own ambitions. Some of them have been blessed with friends and mentors who have taken enough interest in them to bring these passions out.

Others unfortunately may not have had anyone take interest in their underlying goals and passions.

The way that some of the students looked at me when I asked them the same questions my advisors, RD’s, and friends did was shocking. They actually were surprised that someone would take such an interest in their desire to go in to law or medicine or business.

And while I may have seen more people caring at Belmont, I can’t help but wonder how many of my peers hadn’t been nurtured by the community.

I know that there were definitely months where I thought I was pretty alone on campus.

And I was one of the more involved people. 

If our dreams are what allows us to become the people that God wants us to be, then maybe we should take the unspoken lesson I learned from Belmont more seriously. We should know why we are doing what we are doing, and we should start finding out why other people are where they are now.

Instead of asking what, we need to start asking why.

So when you meet someone new, or you are talking to your coworker, or if you are trying to find a topic of conversation…

Just ask why.

I promise you won’t regret it.