Most people on the planet have a relationship with music. In fact, we’d dare to say everyone does. No matter what one’s culture, experiences, abilities, location, or preferences are, there is, somewhere, a relationship to the sounds (and in some cases vibrations) that, when combined and layered, we call music. Because what is music, after all, but layered sound that speaks to us in some meaningful way?
Writing a college essay about music is potent because it is so universal and so personal at the same time. We all experience this thing, yet we all have individual relationships with it. The word ‘music’ itself is not a value judgment. In order to be called ‘music,’ only one person needs to believe it to be such. And that is, in and of itself, magical. It also accounts for a lot of stuff we personally wouldn’t want to listen to, but that’s beside the point.
If you’re thinking of writing your college essay about music, send us an email. We help students write outstanding applications.
Why Music?
In the broadest sense, writing a college essay about music is easy because there is so much material to pick from — literally. You can write about a song you love, or a song you wrote. You can write about an album that changed your life, or an album you’ve been working on. You can write about the experience of listening to music with headphones on or with a friend, going to live shows, or plugging into an amp for the first time and feeling that little jolt of electricity shoot up into your hands as you began to play.
No matter what it is you want to focus on, though, what you need to actually write about is your personal experience of music. Yes, you could fill 650 words describing a Taylor Swift album and those words would be called an essay, but that wouldn’t be an acceptance-winning college essay.
Writing about Making Music
If you are a musician, producer, or active in making music in some other way, writing about music can be an extremely compelling essay subject regardless of whether you are planning on majoring in music in college (and, in fact, we’d recommend this subject in particular if you aren’t going to major in music).
If you aren’t majoring in music, look for ways to subtly connect the process of making music to what it is you want to study. It’s important not to be too ham-fisted with this. For example, if you are a guitarist and want to major in history, you could connect the process of learning an instrument to the history of the physical make and model of guitar you play. If you are a saxophonist who wants to major in engineering, you can parallel improvisational jazz and problem-solving.
Writing About Experiencing Music
You can write about music even if you don’t play an instrument or aren’t involved in the creation of music, but only if music plays an important role in your life. It doesn’t need to be the end-all-be-all of your existence, but there should be at least one song or one artist who, for you, is immensely important.
Writing about experiencing music allows you to bring in psychology and science. You can write about how the brain processes music and how the body feels it. Music literally changes how our body functions, and that is wildly amazing and explains why we can’t listen to Michael Franti without inadvertently tapping a foot along.
This type of essay can be a great fit for someone who wants to go into medicine, or who wants to study psychology. Perhaps you even want to study ocean biology, and are interested in how other animals experience music.
Writing about music connects to so many aspects of the human experience, and it’s a powerful subject for a college essay if you harness it in a way that is focused and specific.
If you’re thinking of writing your college essay about music, send us an email. We help students unlock their perfect application.