My Musical Culture

Hi Everyone! My name is Evelyn Fitz, and I am a sophomore. I’m a native of Columbia, SC, yet somehow found myself at Arkansas Tech University for the last year and a half. By the time y’all will be reading this, I will have been at Converse for a solid 2 weeks, and hopefully, by then, I’ll have run out of newbie mistakes to make. Below is a picture of me, don't worry, next season it'll be a converse jersey :)

When I started thinking about this assignment, and what “my musical culture” really is, it was like diving down a wormhole. To put it simply, my taste in music/my musical culture is all over the place (much like my ADHD brain). As my little sister puts it, my music library on Spotify could give someone whiplash. 

Growing up, I was always around music in some way. Both of my parents loved a wide variety of music and could be found at the symphony, jazz concerts, and even the occasional drum circle. While neither of them really had extensive formal musical education, they had both somehow found their way into it. I grew up constantly hearing a wide variety of music playing over the speaker system in my house, and more often than not, my dad whistling, humming, or singing along.

Around 3rd grade, I started playing violin, and later some viola and cello as well. I was in orchestra for years, but eventually, volleyball took up a little too much time in high school, ultimately leading to me quitting orchestra/private lessons. Violin is really how I got my footing in music, teaching me skills like how to read music, developing my intonation, and giving me a much deeper appreciation for classical music. I don’t play nearly as often as I used to, but those years of training laid a foundation that has and will continue to serve me for years to come. 

Long story short, after my dad figured out he had pretty good pitch and got into singing, he decided to audition for the gallery choir at our church, St. Peter’s basilica. For whatever reason, he thought he might bring me along. Next thing I knew, I landed myself a spot in the gallery choir. My brother eventually started singing as well, and my sisters sang for the school choir at St. Peter’s while they were students there. To give you an idea of the vibe there, I’ve included a picture below of me, my siblings and dad in the choir loft a few years ago. When I first started, I was maybe 11 or 12 years old, surrounded by professional and seasoned choral singers. To this day I truly don’t understand how that happened, but I guess being 5’6” at that age makes you look a lot older than you actually are. Singing in that choir opened up a whole new world of music for me. Our repertoire included a wide range of music including Faure’s Requiem, Byrd’s Ave Verum Corpus, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Krönungsmesse, and Jonathan Dove’s Seek Him That Maketh The Seventh Stars.

1. An example of music I like right now:

Some of the staples on my Spotify playlists include Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Frank ocean. As far as songs I just can’t seem to get enough of right now, here are two of them. The first is Vienna by Billy Joel, and the second is Me vs Me by Moneybagg Yo. Yes I know, polar opposites, but let me explain. Vienna has always been my peaceful, chill, go-to song. I literally have a playlist built around this song. As far as Me vs Me, it is just such a hype song. It reminds me of two of my best friends and gives me the biggest serotonin boost the moment I hear the first line. If you ever see me out on the track running my weekly timed mile for volleyball, there is a pretty good chance I’m blasting it through my headphones. 

2. An example of music that is deeply important to me:

As mentioned earlier, singing in the gallery choir exposed me to a wide variety of music I may have never otherwise even heard. Strangely enough, none of it is really stuff I listen to very frequently, yet it still holds great significance to me. Handel’s Messiah is one particular oratorio that has been a favorite of mine for years. The composition of every part of it emphasizes the intense nature of the text, truly bringing it to life. Two of my favorite parts are both chorus parts from part II, no. 24 Surely he hath borne our grief and carried our sorrows, and no. 25, And with his stripes we are healed. Both are incredible pieces of music that couldn’t suit the text better. To this day I can’t read through the book of Isaiah without hearing the music in my head. 

3. An example of music I don’t really connect with:

One type of music I’ve always struggled to appreciate is heavy metal. I can understand why there is a desire and an audience for it, as I can appreciate the emotions it evokes, but I have always struggled to listen to it. To put it simply, I guess it isn’t really my vibe, and is just a little too much for me. Maybe one day I’ll find a heavy metal song I like, but until that day, I don’t think I’ll be listening to very much of it. 

Anyways, that’s pretty much just the tip of the iceberg of “My musical culture.” As I said, it’s a bit all over the place, but every piece holds significance in some way and connects to countless fond memories formed around it.