My Education: My Plan

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" This is a question that many of us recognize from days as early as kindergarten, perhaps even earlier. A typical answer of someone so young is "a princess!" or "a firefighter!" However, as we grow older, we begin to think about what we really do want to do with our lives and it seems almost inhuman to ask a child to decide what he or she wants to be, perhaps more so to ask him or her to think about growing up; especially when we consider what it entails: a loss of innocence and becoming responsible. In our senior year of high school is when we typically begin asking of ourselves: "Well, what do I want to do when I grow up?" Most of all, I find the pressures of knowing what it is I want can be overwhelming as they delve even deeper into a sense of self: What do I like? What is morally right to like? What are morals? Why do we have morals? Is something good or bad? How do I decide? Does it matter? Who am I...The list goes on and on. However, we'll save the cliche "What is the meaning of life?" for another time and focus on what this essay is supposed to be about: simply what I plan to do with my life despite whether or not I know why it even is. I am currently a music education major at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to learn more about the broad, incredibly fascinating world of music so I may be able to make a difference with the next generation. As such, the deservedly well-known music school here at UNCG has my entire four years already planned out, minus my own plans of learning Japanese and studying abroad in Japan. Unfortunately, UNCG's Japanese program does not offer Japanese 101 in the spring semester and therefore I am unable to begin this endeavor until the fall semester of my sophomore year - a strange concept for me, being comfortable as a "big, grown-up, college student," as I'm sure I will be very adjusted to life here when my sophomore year comes speeding right around the corner. I do have the years planned out though, with AP scores able to get me out of most GEC classes, I'll be able to take the few GEC classes I need while in Japan. With the incredible international connections UNCG has, I hope to find a program during which I may be able to study abroad during the summer and avoid falling behind in music classes. I know Japanese is a strange language or culture for a music major to consider; typically we'd be studying the Romantic languages and cultures. However, I think it's a good idea to be well-rounded and explore a culture so different from our own; Japanese will also offer a new market for me in terms of knowing a different language as well as a vastly different perspective on life than that with which I have lived. Japanese will also offer a new culture for the chorus students which I intend to teach. I will be able to show them a completely non-Western language and set of traditions different from anything they have seen. I hope to be able to show my students the wonders of music and how one can never ever stop learning about it and the world-wide cultures which all have some music within them. It's fascinating the way different cultures use music: traditional dances, entertainment, story-telling, ceremonies, religious practices, and so much more. For instance, I find it incredibly interesting that a particular African tribe uses the same word for "sing" as it does for "dance." Typically, these are seen as to separate areas of the performing arts, but when you think about it, you can't really have one without the other. When one dances, it's to music and when one sings, the soul dances. Your body has to move to the beat, be it be-bop or Baroque and one just has to listen and find it to know that both forms of art are intertwined. No matter what age one is, he or she can find this internal joy in music, which is why I am not sure which age group I want to teach. Any age from kindergarten to college has its pros and cons, but no matter who I want to teach, I want to be able to teach them well. For this reason, I would very much like to pursue my masters in choral education and perhaps even earn a PhD in some music education-related field; either way, I intend to work a little in the field and really get to know what I want before pursuing graduate school any further. Right now, all I know is I love music and teaching. Teaching gives one the sense of making a difference and chorus is a great community to offer students, especially in a world becoming steadily more focused on education for the sake of salary as opposed to for the sake of learning and enjoying the process. In music, kids do not have to worry about traditional grades or standardized tests, but are able to enjoy creating and learning what they can do both as an individual and in a community. Music is able to nurture the fun side of learning without the pressures of grades, one of the amazing things about this part of life. Music is all around us and is a part of life; to appreciate music is to appreciate life and the beautiful cultures and aspects of this world. I want and plan to be able to show this to the future generation of children and that's why despite the work load and time it takes, I will continue my education as a music education major to become a teacher of one of the true miracles in life: music.