Read Me Last!

Welcome to my capstone project! The word capstone insinuates that this project is wrapping up my entire writing career throughout college. However, I wanted to include more of my interests than just writing. But that wasn’t enough, so, I took this one step further to ask, “how can I wrap up not only my writing career, not only my college career, but my entire life into one, neat project?” Should be an easy task for a girl ready to graduate college and enter the real world entirely prepared for whatever will come her way, right? Right?

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After deciding I wanted this project to connect the most important areas of my life into one cohesive train of thought, I knew there was only one common theme that could connect so much of my life: music. “Wow, music plays a big role in your life? You are so unique!” Yes, fine, I get it, this isn’t new to me or anyone reading this story. However, I think that is the beautiful thing about writing about music, anyone in the world can relate to it. Music is within all of us. Our bodies all follow a rhythm like our own internal music. We all grew up listening to something, or are subjected to listening to something now, whether we like it or not. I happen to love it. 

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Music plays a funny role in my life, however. It is not only where my greatest passions lie, but also my greatest anxieties. I have been DJing for the past four years, and I get so nervous every time I play a set that I nearly quit. I hate talking about music with people. My own friends that I go to concerts with say terms like “wet synths” when trying to describe one of the songs on the way home, and I look out the window thinking the 30 mile walk home from there looks pretty nice. I don’t understand a lot about music. I play songs that I do not understand on a structural level. But I listen to them, and I like them, so I play them, and I therefore encourage other people to like them.

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When considering this capstone project, I boiled it down to an opportunity to research something that I have always wanted to learn more about. I picked music so I could finally become the annoying person that can say “acid basslines” or maybe even “wet synths” one day and know what the f I am talking about. I had a beautiful plan to research everything there is to know about music and become the master of it all in four short months. Can you tell I have a bit of high standards for myself?

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I went through all of my final class assignments for the classes I have taken for my writing minor and realized the only writing that has ever mattered to me is narrative. I love to research things and learn new facts. But writing is cathartic for me. I want to write about my life because I want to read about others’. Upon consulting one of my dearest writing mentors (hi Shelley if you’re reading this, you’re the best), the braided essay made the most sense. Here, I could combine the technical writing I wanted to do on the music topics I feel most insecure about now, but I could also talk about my narrative experiences with music. 

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The only way out of my insecurity of my knowledge on music history and technical aspects is to realize that none of it matters. Music is personal and being able to tell what genre a song is doesn’t matter. On the same timeline, I have been going through my own personal experiences realizing that certain labels I grapple with now or experiences I have had in the past that shape my current knowledge of music also do not matter. They have led me to where I am today, as a whole person with a beautiful creative outlet in this realm, and most importantly, it leaves me able to connect to you, my dear reader.

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So, after reading this braided essay, I hope you connected with me and with music in your life, but mainly, with your own passions. There is something so daunting about loving something so deeply, and I hope my essay encourages you to have fun with that passion, rather than try to understand it too technically. If you like something, just like it. There is no need to necessarily understand why. Unless it’s my braided essay. In that case, I hope you could tell me why you liked it.

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Thank you for one final opportunity to share my thoughts and feelings with you. I have shared a lot about my life with you here (debatably too much). Hopefully after this minor, I will just let my music speak for me. 

 

Xoxo,

Dimitra