Music, a community | Aubrey Pohl

     I'll do my best to sound as objective as possible, because I want people to build their own opinions based on my thoughts. That being said, I also am a very opinionated person so I might just throw objectivity out the window (glass shattering to the floor as objectivity crashes through it). I’ll just jump right in. Music, to a lot of people, is portrayed as a form of entertainment, something to enjoy when you feel like it. Sure that’s true, but to some people, it becomes a lot more than that. To those who truly invest time into listening, reading, researching, and going to live shows it moves past the point of entertainment and becomes a study, a religion, a political movement, or whatever it happens to mean to them. On an individual level people can be influenced in almost every aspect of their lives by the musicians they look up to. However, nothing compares to the joy and excitement I’ve seen when people are brought together because of music, and this is where the community begins to build. We can go on and on about individuality, but if we weren’t forming communities within the music we listen to then every show would only have one person in the crowd, right? Everyone could get something completely different from a song, or group, but at the end of the day they are still going to come together with the others who felt something to support what they believe in. I’ve stood in the crowd of a Pixies concert full of moshing dad’s, teenagers, and first time by standers alike, just to name one example. All of them shared an experience, and because of that, the community grew. I guess what I’m saying is to truly experience everything that music, live shows, songwriters, and bands have to offer, you have to invest yourself in the community that comes along with it. People change their lives based on the music that influences them, and they find a place in the world where they fit. I’m not even speaking in terms of specific genres or groups, I mean across the wide plane of music from the beginning to modern day and every genre in between. Communities are constantly being formed, as well as growing, bringing people together in their ideals, beliefs, and interests, and all of it has a strong base in music. This is what I believe we are trying to build here at Mississippi State with Music Makers. We don’t want to be an exclusive group, we want to help build the community that comes together for live music. Every student, every community member, every person who has a chance to come to our shows has the chance to be a part of that community, and to help it grow.