Music Lyrics in Academia? Well...not quite.

Fallen Gypsies 2013

In recent years I have found that the greatest expression of my thoughts and feelings has come through writing. Probably not the type of writing you have in mind though. I'm not talking about term papers and academic scholarship, I'm talking about music. In my band, I take the primary responsibility for writing the lyrics for all of our music. I've written some things I thought were pretty strange and would never be made into songs, but every time we play a show I get to hear those words sung by my vocalist. I get to have my ideas and my feelings shared with a room full of people, (many of them strangers) and I don't anything except hide behind my drum set! It's marvelous. I get an outlet for my words without wondering what people are thinking. That can be very intimidating.



I'm able to do this because my friends were willing to give my lyrics a chance. I remember when we all met each other for the first time and started jamming. Our chords were basic and lacked any type of finesse. I had a stack of poems that I had written with the long held intention that they would one day be made into songs, but I never envisioned that they actually would be. I pulled them out with great hesitancy and fear for what my band mates would think. I had written the feelings of my soul in these words. I wasn't ready to take quick rejection. I remember my nervous anticipation the first time they read them. You know the feeling? When your heart start beating quickly and you think "I'm a fool. I shouldn't have shown you these things." But I was wrong! They liked them! I found success among my friends and have since received compliments from several other people on our music. It goes to show that if you have something you want to share with other people, you can't be afraid. Sometimes the first step to conquering that fear is to ask your friends what they think.

Given my past success with unveiling my simple poetry and having it transformed into the world's most mind blowing music, (okay I might be exaggerating here just a wee bit) I can easily see how doing the same thing with my academic work could lead to similar success. I mean, my friends were very accommodating at one point, who's to say they won't do the same thing for me again? There's only one way to find out. I've got to put away my fear, and just give it a try.

So what do music lyrics and academic papers have in common? The obvious answer is very little, but in reality (at least for me) they are conceived through the same method. Be receiving validation from my friends, I am able to accomplish greatness. I can't wait to see what my friends will help me with next!