Interview with Moon Young
Moon Young is one of my best friends at Emory. We first met each other last September, and he always has been there when I needed him the most. One of the factors that made us really close has been our common interest in music. Moon Young loves music and is even trying to major in music. Therefore, I was really curious about how he would define music. As I sat on a chair in Turman lounge, Moon Young came in with a tired face. He complained that he had to finish his essay. Therefore, I promised that the interview would not last longer than 20 minutes. I started out with a simple question: "Moon Young when did you start music?" "Well I always liked music due to my sister who always listening to music. I was only 4 when she was in high school, and I still remember her playing music out loud after school whenever I came back from preschool. I do not know whether that is when I started music, but I started to enjoy music since then," Moon Young replied. I could totally imagine how listening to music every day affected Moon Young. I too was affected by my dad in terms of music. My dad played music all the time since I could crawl, and this made me perceive music as a happy and positive thing. "Then when did you start playing saxophone? I know you really enjoy playing saxophone haha. Why did you start?" "I started saxophone when I was in 7th grade. In 7th grade I moved from Seoul, Korea to Atlanta, Georgia. When I first moved here I was really timid and careful with this new environment and people. I really wanted to make more friends and wanted to be involved in a new school. Basically joining middle school band to play saxophone was a solution to me. I just chose saxophone, because it was the only available spot for me to play. I started to communicate with my new friends through music and learned how to be unified with other people through music," Moon Young answered. When Moon Young said communicating with new people through music and being unified with others through music made him happy it made me nod. I could totally understand what Moon Young was talking about. Music is a way of communication by sending a message to others. Moon Young also knew this and used it to communicate with his new friends. Music definitely has been a way of expressing his emotions. |
"I see music has been a great of communication to you right? I can totally understand that. I know I mentioned this before, but I also believe music is a way of communication. I sing and play guitar, because I want to express my emotions through my music," I mentioned.
"Yeah that is right. A way to express my emotions. Like whenever I felt distressed, because of difficult high school life, SAT scores, and GPA, I always played saxophone to soothe myself," Moon Young quietly nodded as he replied. Seeing the time, I realized that 20 minutes had already passed. Therefore, I decided to ask for the most important question for this project. "Hey Moon Young how would you define music? What does music mean to you? Is it your friend? energy? or power?" There was a short pause before Moon Young spoke. He seemed to be very thoughtful and careful for the answer of this question. After a few seconds he responded: "Well as I mentioned before music is my friend, energy, and a way to communicate. However, most importantly music is a way to unify. Every orchestra, concert band, and rock band make a unified sound despite having many different musicians. Only music allows this complete unification. By everyone focusing on what he or she wants to express through music and by listening to what other musicians' are trying to convey, everyone tries to harmonize his or her music. Therefore, this allows a complete unification that makes everyone to be one." I thought for few seconds after hearing his answer. I started to think about how powerful music is in terms of unifying people. I personally did not know my band member really well in the beginning of the semester. Nevertheless we harmonized pretty well, because there was this mediator called music. I never really deeply thought about his perspective of music and was so glad to figure out another great definition. "Hey Moon Young that is a great definition! I never really defined music as that way, but I truly have experienced the power of music which makes everyone harmonize. Like even strangers play along pretty well together when they play music together despite them being strangers. This is all due to your definition of music! Music has a power to unify people,"I agreed. " Yup haha I am glad that you have figured that out,"Moon Young smiled. Looking at the clock, I realized that the interview had been going on for more than 30 minutes. I apologized Moon Young for the prolonged interview and sincerely thanked him for his serious answers for the questions. |