Jams, Not Java for a Stress-free Week

by: Jenny Baxter – AWS Percussionist

I’m up at 1:30 a.m. and too hyped up on coffee to sleep. (Ironically, it’s the Breakfast Blend.) I drank coffee at 11 p.m. because I have two papers and a test this week. I drank coffee so late because I procrastinated during the day because I went to class went to practice, made a much needed grocery trip and cleaned my room. I obviously don’t just procrastinate during the day.

I was doing alright, merging ahead full steam with my paper, reminding myself that other people in the symphony will have to get up and go to work tomorrow and I can’t complain about just having to form my opinion and write a few pages. I can’t complain that I don’t have to be at school until 10 a.m., though if I don’t go to sleep soon that will change. Then I plugged in the Ethernet cord. Sigh. Facebook. Sigh. Useless surfing.

I know many other members of the symphony are stressing about finals, work, the FIRST NIGHT CONCERT ON DEC. 31 or the dreaded approach of in-law visits for the holidays.

And in seemingly stressful times like this, I remind myself that,
Number 1: It’s not that bad, I have a lot to be thankful for and I need to suck it up.

And

Number 2: Music is always something that can cheer me up or calm me down.

Right now I have a million things running through my head thanks to Starbucks and one thing I’m thinking about is my second favorite quote, by Aldous Huxley. Music has so much power to transfer ideas from the performer to the listener. Music can transform speeding thoughts into a love melody, a melancholy tone or an upbeat rhythm.

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”