College Admissions Essay: How Music Changed My Life

Music is a profound entity; it gives and takes, is forgiving or stubborn, and can change a person’s life immensely. I never expected my passion for music to take me on not only a rigorous academic journey, but an enormous spiritual journey as well.
Most people have heard the science: making music makes a person smarter. In practice, however, the true significance of music’s impact not only in our academic lives but in our personal character is immense. The day I chose to play the clarinet in fifth grade beginning band, I did not choose music because I wanted to be smarter, or better disciplined, or because I wanted to develop compassion and empathy for others. Instead, I chose the clarinet because I liked the way it sounded and my friends begged me to join with them. Even before the end of my first year of playing, however, both my parents and I had noticed a huge difference in the way I carried myself and in the quality of my academic performance. I began to have a genuine love for music, which motivated me to excel.
However, soon after I began high school, questions about my family’s Baptist roots started to surface. Taking the initiative, I inquired for myself; not satisfied with the answers I received, I went in search of something more. My quest landed me in a small Catholic church on the corner of the town square; I walked in extremely skeptical, as my Baptist roots strongly discouraged Catholicism. From the moment the choir sang the processional, I felt a tug in my heart. The beauty of this music called to me; I felt at home. Somehow, I experienced music in a way I never thought I would, and it affected not only my secular emotions but my spiritual self. At my first Catholic mass, I fell in love with music all over again. It held more power than I ever knew it