Music For A Weary Soul by Lucas

Music For A Weary Soul by Lucas - January 2016 Scholarship Essay

All my life I have been a man of music. As a child I was the backseat audience to my dad's vintage blues cassette tapes, in my primary schooling I was introduced to the trumpet, and in my secondary schooling I rushed to become the best trumpet player I could be. Most of my time spent from fifth grade on was of some sort of musical influence, all the way to my freshman year of college in 2015.
I did not play in any sort of band or ensemble my freshman year. College poised itself in front of me as a being of great power, something that would require every last drop of time I could give in order to be a successful college student. I took a step away from music in 2015, carving a piece of who I was out of my everyday life completely and filling the void with homework time, study time, work, and the occasional nap. For my freshman year my trumpet sat in the small closet of my dorm room, an object that was lifeblood to me in my assent to college but a mere token of remembrance as I arrived.
My well-being deteriorated as my first year of college progressed. I figured it was normal to feel down as college is supposed to be a challenge, an unrelenting pressure upon the human body until a diploma is achieved. While my scholarly knowledge grew I lost my appetite, formed horrendous sleep patterns, rarely spoke to anyone outside of my immediate social circle, and spent the majority of my free time sleeping. Nothing seemed to be missing in my life, at least in my eyes. I did not think about the carved-out piece of music that I left behind in high school, and for the most part ignored my trumpet in the back of the closet. College along with the separation from music made me feel okay to feel empty, as long as I worked hard and got good grades.
The trend continued to the start of my sophomore year. As the days remaining in 2015 dwindled I began to feel sick. Once I finished my schoolwork I would be alone, watching Netflix and rarely speaking to my roommates. After a punishing yet fruitful fall quarter I packed up my stuff to head back home to my parents’ house, including my trumpet, which at this point had not been played for quite a while.
Out of boredom back home I decided to go through old sheet music I found in my bedroom from high school holiday concerts. The nostalgic rush that encompassed me felt amazing; I felt what I carved out fit back into my body like a missing puzzle piece. I felt whole again. Throughout winter intersession I kept playing, feeling a musical rejuvenation and realizing that I sacrificed a core part of my well-being for the past year and a half.
My New Year’s resolution for 2016 is to be a whole person once more by playing the trumpet. There are a variety of things one can resolve to in order to be a better student, such as study more, sleep more, take better notes, etc., but ensuring a state of well-being is often overlooked in the eyes of a college student. Sacrificing a beneficial piece of who you are is not healthy when scaling the treacherous slopes of post-secondary education. By playing the trumpet and putting my foot back into the musical community I hope to achieve a state of well-being that can lead myself to be a better person and student in 2016, in and out of the classroom.

I did not play in any sort of band or ensemble my freshman year. College poised itself in front of me as a being of great power, something that would require every last drop of time I could give in order to be a successful college student. I took a step away from music in 2015, carving a piece of who I was out of my everyday life completely and filling the void with homework time, study time, work, and the occasional nap. For my freshman year my trumpet sat in the small closet of my dorm room, an object that was lifeblood to me in my assent to college but a mere token of remembrance as I arrived.