Scholarship Competition

Scholarship Essay Competition
NOTE: The deadline for submission this year will be January 30, 2015.

Each year, the Minnesota High School Music Listening Contest sponsors a $500 Scholarship Essay Competition to help further the post-secondary education of an MLC participant. The competition is open to any high school senior (12th grade) who is currently participating in this year's MLC program More details about the 2014-15 Scholarship Essay Competition will be posted here in August.

2014 Winning Essay

by Kristen Carlson
Austin High School

“Music, like life, is the contrast between dissonance and resolution.” These words were spoken to me during the sermon of a college Lutheran church service this fall on a visit to a prospective school. The sermon had directly followed a transformative performance of a choral motet by the school’s top choir and that sentence seemed to fittingly describe both the music I had just heard and also my personal quest of why I was on the visit. But, those words quickly were forgotten after the service ended until they suddenly reappeared in my mind a few months later, as soon as I heard the first sounds of Brahms’ “Shaffe in mir” in preparing for this year’s Music Listening Contest. For weeks, I couldn’t get either the quote or the haunting chords of the music out of my head. I knew that it had reappeared in my life for the purpose of connecting me to the music’s story while giving me perspective on my own life.

The more I listened to the Brahms motet the more I fell in love with its lingering beauty and noticed not only the unfolding detail and genius behind the composition, but also how appropriately that quote fit both the piece and Brahms life. Dissonance and resolution is foundational in both, and after completely understanding the piece I felt I could understand how these elements formed my own experiences also.

The sophistication of “Shaffe in mir” specifically uses the contrast between dissonance and resolution to bind it together, and to mirror the Psalm 51 text that describes familiar Lutheran doxology. Each gorgeous chord captures your interest and resolves into something else, as the rise and fall of the opening of the first section establishes a warm, prayerful tone. This quickly changes as the chromaticism of the fugue in the second section creates conflict between major and minor keys, mirroring the distress and dissonance related in the text. The piece is completed by Brahms restoring the first warm canon we heard and then ending it spiritedly. These musical elements all fit perfectly with the feelings Brahms was trying to portray, but one can only imagine that the sophistication of the specific elements of resolution and dissolve he uses stemmed from his own experiences.

Brahms himself battled dissonance throughout his life. During his musical career he constantly fought against the dichotomy of his own expectations versus others. Still frustrated he hadn’t written a symphony at forty he composed his first which was unfortunately dubbed “Beethoven’s tenth.” He was composing in a time where the comparison was Beethoven and the establishments of previous musical opinions were changing. Brahms also faced personal dissonance such as the death of his close friend Robert Schumann. Afterwards, he tried to comfort Robert’s wife Clara causing their relationship to deepen to the point where Brahms secretly but unfruitfully loved her until his own death of cancer. Contrasting these personal and professional dissonances Brahms faced many successes during his life including several long years of musical productivity and a strong international reputation. Brahms is remembered today as one of the most prolific composers of the romantic period and his skill can be clearly seen in “Shaffe in mir”.

After understanding how this piece was composed and what Brahms faced during his own musical journey, I saw how that quote so appropriately came into my life. I too have faced both musical and personal dissonance including having to conquer medical issues, facing the loss of friendships, and falling short of numerous musical goals and accomplishments. But these are just the tensions that had to happen in order for me to also enjoy the beautiful resolutions in my life. The words of the pastor that day ring true as ever as I’ve realized that dissonance and resolution complement each other perfectly and that you cannot have one without another. As I reflect on the part of my life that will soon end and the unknown journey I’ll continue I’m excited to face anything because I know that even when it’s tough something better is just around the corner. Brahms own life and “Shaffe in mir” is a gorgeous allusion to this principle and so poignantly supports the idea that both life and music are beautiful and complete only with dissonance and resolution.

2013 Winning Essay

by Emmet Hedine
Winona High School

Music has always been an integral part of my life. As a child I would fall asleep to my parents' lullabies, enveloped by the sense of safety and comfort only a mother’s voice can provide. In the third grade my dad played me “Octopus’s Garden,” precipitating a decade of personal Beatlemania and inspiring a series of mop top haircuts that made me feel as if I was one of the Four; I felt connected to John, Paul, George and Ringo. Then classical struck. I fell in love with Bach, Beethoven, and the rest, listening to symphonies and sonatas, concertos and solos. I simultaneously picked up the cello, wanting more than anything to play Bach’s first Cello Suite as passionately and as poignantly as Ma. By the time I was ten my thirst for music had surpassed my love for dinosaurs, Tonka trucks, and videogames.

Seven years have passed since I scratched out my first notes on the cello, and I appreciate it now more than ever. Furthermore, classical music, in particular, remains a main source of my interest in the performing arts. Because of this passion I joined the music listening team at my high school three years ago, hoping to somehow increase my understanding of music. And music listening has certainly done that for me—I’ve confirmed my deep-seeded appreciation for music and come to admire composers not just for their tremendous brilliance with the quill, but also for their incredible lives and unique personalities.
For me, however, my participation in the Minnesota High School Music Listening Contest has most affected my understanding of music. I’ve come to view it as a scintillatingly powerful force capable of inspiring emotion and creating energy. But I recognize that this sounds rather abstract and “off the beaten track,” and so I will clarify.

Before this listening program, music represented something conceptual to me. I would listen to a musical piece and hear the notes, content to engage on a surface level with the sounds I found so appealing—I didn’t delve into the history of any particular piece, and certainly didn’t consider the circumstances which led to the composition of particular pieces of music. In retrospect I listened to music as most people do. And for me it was enough—at least until music listening. Once I began flipping the pages of the study guide my sense of music changed. I began to appreciate a piece of music for both its tonal qualities and for its story, a perceptive shift that in turn influenced my reaction to music. For example, knowing that Haydn wrote his 91st symphony under immense pressure to please the English strengthened my reaction to the work. I identify with the type of pressure he faced in addition to enjoying the symphony as fine art, thus making his work significant in more that one respect.

And this reflects my previous statement concerning my understanding that music inspires emotion and creates energy. Listening to Mozart’s “Concerto for Two Pianos” after learning that he wrote the piece for his sister, for example, allows me to feel the emotion the music conveys; I can sense the energy, excitement, and interplay. I can also talk about it with other people on my team, discussing their reactions to the music and learning to view music from different perspectives.

In this respect music listening has enhanced my experience with music. And although these heartfelt feelings which music listening has enabled me to experience are often ephemeral, the lasting effect they engrave on my spirit makes the hours of study and concentrated listening worthwhile. I know that I will be listening to music for the rest of my life, and find the prospect exciting particularly because of the way music listening has affected my music experiences. For that I am grateful.

2011 Winning Essay

A Life of Listening
by Luke Hampton
Montevideo High School

J.K. Rowling’s fictional wizard, Albus Dumbledore expresses his feelings on the importance of music in this line, “Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here!"

His views reflect my own: music is the most powerful form of human expression. I have felt this power throughout my three years of involvement in Music Listening Contest. Music Listening Contest has allowed me to experience and understand music at a deeper level. It has exposed me to and made me appreciate many kinds of music that I never dreamed I would enjoy. Most importantly, Music Listening Contest has helped me develop a lifelong love for classical music.

I think it is interesting that although music is not a language, we can understand what a composer is saying by the sound of his music. I believe that this happens not when we are just listening to the music, but when we are experiencing the music. Music Listening Contest, in my opinion, opens doors to these experiences in music. Also, I feel that the information in the listening guide has helped me understand music at a deeper level. Dates, nationalities, biographies, and histories of the songs and composers all have helped me to better understand the motives behind and within the music. Each time I listen, these details help me to dive a little deeper, to apply my knowledge, and to experience more fully the power of the music.

Before my involvement in Music Listening Contest, I never thought that I would one day be turning on my iPod and listening to music like Indian Carnatic music or Gregorian Chant. After a few years with Music Listening Contest, I find this happens very frequently and I think it really shows how much I have come to appreciate the diverse selection of music that is featured in our listening guides. Because of this, I have a taste for unique and uncommon music that I want to share with everyone I meet. Through this program, I have not only been exposed to eclectic music but also the “classics” of Western music. These pieces have had a dramatic effect not only the world but also me because it moves me.

I often wonder what my life would have been like if I hadn’t been in Music Listening Contest. I think traveling would be a lot more boring and confusing because my family frequently listens to is Classical MPR in the car. Now after studying, I feel like I can identify with it. On a larger scale, I think the biggest thing that I would lack would be a life-long love of classical music. If I had not developed this love, I would not be as inclined to major in music education. Because of this program I understand a great deal about classical music and this comprehension has made me want to listen classical music for the entirety of my life. This gives me reason to say that Music Listening Contest is one of the most important experiences of my high school career and for that I am glad I didn’t live a life without it.

2012 Winning Essay

by Jill Bachelder
St. Paul Central High School

It could be said that music is useless. That it is nothing more than a collection of enjoyable sounds that serve no purpose in the functioning of our world, and that it is unimportant by nature. There was a time, not so long ago, that I myself possessed these notions. I refused to accept the possibility that mere sound could be used as a means of expression to rival the writing or visual art; to me, music was entertainment, and nothing more. How could it be anything else?

My perceptions changed radically last year, after my orchestra conductor required that I, along with other students in our class, participate in the Music Listening Contest (MLC). This change was not immediate, as at first I had no intention whatsoever of putting effort into the seemingly inane job of memorizing obscure facts about irrelevant composers--my study guide spent many happy weeks buried under a pile of old math homework assignments, somewhere deep in the minefield that is my room.

It was on a cloudy December afternoon, following a severe fight with my mother,
which had resulted in my sitting in the garage and crying for three hours straight, that I happened to return to my room and uncover my copy of the MLC study guide. I opened it, thinking to distract myself from earlier events, and popped a CD into the disk player of my computer. The first track was a medieval song about crickets that I found very strange, so I picked another song at random. Track 5. A German lied by Schubert, about love, and loss, and despair, and regret.

“Lonely, I nourish my wound and with constantly renewed laments, I mourn my lost happiness.”

I knew nothing of course, nothing except the sounds -- the low, mournful voice of the singer, the soft piano accompanying him. I inhaled sharply, and could feel my spine tingling -- some creature that had, until now, lain dormant inside me lifted its head and began to purr as I realized -- I was listening to my experience with my mother. And, for some reason, where writing novels in my journal and walloping the backseat of my father’s car had not done me an ounce of good, this song, Erster Verlust, made me feel better.

This single incident sparked my interest in the MLC, as I felt a burning need to know why such a simple piece had made me feel the way it had. Thus, I immersed myself in the contents of the study guide and began to learn that music is far more than a source of entertainment -- it is a means by which humans document the emotional aspects of their existence. From the gritty sounds of Shostakovich to Fauré’s sweet melodies, all music written with sincerity depicts certain feelings held by the composer that are passed on to anyone who might choose to listen. Through sound, a connection forms, between the composer and all the people who experience and relate to the composer’s music.

My own heightened understanding of music’s origin and composition has both allowed me to discover the world of music for myself and helped me feel more connected with my family, my peers, and my community. In addition, it has unlocked doors within me that I never knew existed, leading me to an entirely new level of emotional comprehension of music. Learning about the how and why of different pieces’ compositions has helped me form stronger connections with composers and their intended messages. The results of these changes in my relationship with music have been life altering, adding a new source of passion and self-expression to my life. MLC has taught me to listen, love, and, most importantly, love listening; this is the power of the Music Listening Contest, to both highlight the beauty of human individuality and reveal that, amidst a cloud of hijabs, kimonos, face paint, turkey feasts, and fezzes, we humans all have so much in common.