November 13, 2007

Music at a Liberal Arts College

Christian Merchant epitomizes what a liberal arts education can do for someone. The math major and music minor “loves most things,” he says, most notably math, music, reading, and war history. Since he is interested in so many things, Christian has had a difficult time focusing. He came to PC without direction, and he came here wanting to grow up.

Over the past four years, he’s gotten direction, and he’s grown up. But that’s not all.

Playing the trombone in the wind ensemble, jazz band, brass quintet, and pep band has made him focus his playing instead of having him feel like he’s “just practicing without any sort of direction. PC has helped me refine how I play,” Christian added. The music program has done more than improve Christian’s technical skills.

“(The music program) has helped me identify the fact that music has become part of who I am. I am a musician,” Christian said. “That’s one of the first things I would tell people. That’s how PC helped me find my music.”

At PC, Christian has enjoyed the close contact with professors that all students in the music program enjoy. The close-knit community where the professors are “excellent and carefree” is one that fosters learning and creativity.

In addition to the education that’s changed him over the past four years at PC, the Columbia native had a moment that changed him almost instantly. Last year, he worked at a summer job that he disliked. One day he realized that he would be better off poor and happy for the rest of his life than working at a job he disliked. The experience made him, someone who loves “most things,” think about what he loved most. He discovered that was music.

“I decided I could not live my life wondering what would have happened if I had done music,” Christian said.

He has determined he wants to play in a symphony—Atlanta’s or Boston’s or the New York Philharmonic. He’ll continue to work toward that goal when he graduates from PC next May. Then, he’ll to go USC to get another degree in music. Christian admits he doesn’t know what the next decade or two will bring. Those who aspire to play in a symphony teach on the side and freelance and keep auditioning until something finally works out. He plans to do that and is ready to meet the upcoming uncertainty with the resolve of someone following his passion.

A liberal arts education teaches that you can be anything. Believing that, why would you want to be anything other than your truest self?

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