There are so many opportunities to listen to live music on this campus. There are orchestras and a capella groups and student bands and student quartets and shows at Richardson and shows at clubs. We are surrounded by live music. It is absolutely amazing. And it’s something that won’t be as effortlessly accessible (or as free) once you graduate.
There’s nothing in the world like getting your face blown off by real instruments, crooning fifteen feet away from you. There’s nothing like feeling the sounds reverberate through your body as they fill up a twenty-by-twenty room. It is one of the greatest human experiences.
And there’s something to be said about playing to a smaller audience. Listening to music here is like having someone perform in your own backyard, in your own living room. It’s like being friends with the band. I’d prefer a good act in the dining room of a club filled with faces I know and people I like to anything at Madison Square Garden any day.
I didn’t realize how spoiled I was by good music until I didn’t have it for a few months. You may think you get your fill already. But there’s more out there. If I had to go back four years ago and tell myself anything, any piece of advice, it’d be that: go listen to more live music.