Sigma Alpha Iota

Spring 2019 10 PAN PIPES J ust stay and check it out" are the words that permanently changed the trajectory of my entire collegiate career. One of my friends said this to me as I was leaving and she was arriving in the large rehearsal room at West Virginia University in the spring of 2014. I had just finished an hour of Trombone Studio, and I was dead tired; she was getting ready for the first rehearsal of the semester of the African Drum and Dance Ensemble. Of course I had heard about all the exceptional world music ensembles on WVU's campus, but I didn't think any of those were for me. I was busy trying to get into the right ensembles, adding voice as a secondary instrument, and starting my freshman classes in the Music Education curriculum. I didn't have room for one more thing in my class schedule, let alone a class from 7-10 pm every Thursday. But I am inherently curious, and I couldn't resist the sight of all those different instruments and big drums. I decided I would stay and try everything at least once. Suddenly the world became a much bigger place for me that night. There was this whole realm of music that I had been ignoring my entire life simply because I hadn't known it existed. Over the semester, I learned how to make a drum play a melody and how to tell time using a bell. The African Drum and Dance Ensemble showed me the hidden layers to this amazing music. That wasn't the last time my worldview was completely flipped on its head. In fact, I made it a goal for the rest of my time in college to regularly confound my perspective of the musical world. One semester, I found my way to Indonesia through Balinese gamelan. It really changes your definition of big when you play a gong that's large enough for you to curl up inside of it. Then there was the chance to try some Taiko drumming and understand a culturally unique tradition of Japan. The technique is unlike anything I had ever attempted before. And of course, I had to try the steel pans from Trinidad and Tobago. It still boggles my mind that artisans can take 55-gallon steel barrels and turn them into instruments that produce such beautiful and singular sounds. On the campus of West Virginia University, I was able to expand my world beyond the limits I had previously known; the world exists through music for those who are willing to open their ears to it. But I wasn't content with just the small taste of each WORLD MUSIC A Journey Into Music At top, Brownwyn Clagett plays a bonang, an instrument of the Indonesian gamelan. At left, sopranos gather to learn their parts by rote.

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