Interviewing some of my floor-mates about music in their lives was interesting and it definitely opened up my eyes to some situations that I was unaware of. Both of my floor-mates did not have much interest in music during their time in high school and whatever they have learned has been self-taught.
My first interview with my floor-mate who is in the Arts and Humanities program talked about how music was forced in his life by his parents and that he did not get to enjoy it because he was not able to explore it himself. He was put into piano lessons at a young age and continued until he reached RCM 9. He did not enjoy piano lessons at all and has not played since he quit. It was unfortunate to hear how because he was forced to play the instrument, he did not enjoy music or the idea of playing. Later, he was able to find music again for himself and started learning the guitar and having an interest in the saxophone. He believes that his school offered a good music program and had after-school band and choirs, but did not take part in it. I can relate to being pressured to do something by the way that my dad always enforced the idea of sports in my head. I never had any interest in sports and wish that I found music earlier, but over time I have found myself starting to watch more soccer and basketball and it is very similar to Chuck, but unfortunately, his experience was with music.
My other floor-mate is in criminology and is studying to become a police officer. This stream related a bit more to the idea of teaching so it was nice to talk about how we can teach future students better. He played the clarinet until grade 10 and enjoyed the band because his friends were in it, but never really had any drive to continue. He also went to a school with a good music program but was only part of it because it was easy credits.
In both interviews, one important thing that came up was how music has a part in everyone’s life, but it would have a better impact if we allowed people to find music by themselves Music will always have a presence in our lives, but it is not for everyone and that is okay. As a hopeful music educator, this is one thing that I will always keep in mind with students and will do my best to try and keep music interesting and fun. It is unfortunate that my floor-mates have not had the greatest experience with music education in their lives, but it was nice to learn more about each other and our programs.
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