Coming from a school that valued the arts as much as athletic and academic achievement, music has been an essential part of my life since picking up a green plastic Yamaha recorder in fourth grade. I played clarinet from fifth grade until I graduated high school. I was heavily involved with the marching band and picked up another instrument - the mellophone. I was also in choir. However, I am majoring in a STEM field. That leads to the question: what comes next after one decides not to continue down the musical road?

Goodbye?

Although everyone says, “Music can always be part of your life in one form or another,” it still is one of the harder transition musicians have to face before diverging on another road. For marching band kids, we will always start with our left foot and walk to the beat of a song that plays in the store. For choir kids, we will always harmonize to the songs on the radio. For musical kids in general, we will always cringe just a little when the clapping at a concert starts to get off beat. So maybe goodbye isn’t the right word, it’s a transition. Our appreciation never dies for music, just our priorities lie differently than before.

Transitioning

Free time. A concept we haven’t been familiar with in a long time. It’s quite an odd feeling to not have to practice, have concerts, or games to attend to anymore (unless we are spectators). We start to find new organizations on campus - Greek life, student government, comedy groups, etc. Slowly we start to feel the emptiness subside as we find new passions and new circles of friends. No matter how many clubs we join, we will always have a soft spot for music. Nothing will prepare us for when we visit our high school in the fall and seeing the marching band at practice, soon realizing that isn’t us anymore.

Options

Here are some suggestions if you are really feeling nostalgic or want to get involved with music again:

• Join a campus a capella group; most of the time they are really chill people
• Make a playlist featuring your old marching band music; prepare to cry
• Go to a concert
• If you have time in your schedule do a fun music appreciation class, marching band, wind ensemble, choir, orchestra, etc.