My Passion for Music by Allyssa

My Passion for Music by Allyssa - February 2024 Scholarship Essay

When I go to college, I plan to study music. Music has been an important part of my life, especially for the past ten years, and it has in many ways shaped me into who I am today.
From infancy, my parents would sing songs to me. They used songs to teach me to count and spell my name, to calm me when I was upset, and to pass the time when there was little on hand to entertain me. I memorized hymns from church and songs from story time at the library. After I started school, I taught my younger siblings the songs that I learned during music class. When I was bored or lonely, I made up songs that expressed my feelings and sang them to myself until the new lyrics that filled my head were of a happier sentiment. I cannot imagine how the world would be without music.
What inspired my love for music the most, however, was probably when I started piano lessons at the age of six. Learning piano opened so many doors in my mind. It was amazing to me to be able to look at formerly meaningless symbols on a page and convert them into sounds on an instrument. Before long, I knew that I wanted to keep learning about music and sharing my passion with others.
For several years, I was content to study piano, but the summer I turned fourteen, that suddenly changed. That summer, I had the opportunity to hear some amazing organ music, and I knew that I would not be satisfied until I learned to play the instrument myself. Six months later, that dream came true, and I began taking lessons from a local organist. The day of my first organ lesson was one of the happiest days of my life.
But the joy found in playing music yourself, as I have learned, is trivial compared to the joy of seeing the same doors that opened in my mind so many years ago open in the minds of younger children. I began teaching piano lessons a little over a year ago, and it has been an incredibly rewarding experience.
These factors have all contributed to my desire to study music in college. To spend my life instilling the love and understanding of music in the minds and hearts of others is something that gives me joy and benefits the greater community at the same time.