“Whenever I’d had a tough day or anything like that, I’d pull out my violin or guitar and it would help every single time.”

Senior Paul Crumpackers has been playing music ever since fourth grade and has always loved music, from the time his mom would play music in the car to playing instruments like guitar or violin himself. Music has helped him in several ways throughout his life, and may now even help him pursue a college career.

Like many kids, Crumpackers had a hard time fitting in in middle school. That’s when music helped him out. He played in his church’s praise and worship band, in which he played the guitar. “I would sort of just stream out on that and loose myself in that,” he said. “That would always be the highlight of my day.”

Crumpackers first realised music was something he wanted to pursue during his music theory class. He got an assignment to make his own music part. He said he went of his own thing and made his own composition, making him realise that he wanted to make music for the rest of his life. During his junior year, Crumpackers decided he was going to apply to college for music.

So this year, he auditioned to get into the music department of UIndy. He got his pieces to practice a long time in advance, and months of practice followed. Crumpackers said it takes a lot of focus and practice to get really comfortable with a piece. “Every single time I had free-time, I was practicing on my violin,” he said. “Sleep was something that I dreamed of while I was awake.”

And while practicing for a music audition may take several months , it takes several years to build up skill at an instrument, according to Crumpackers. He now knows how to play the piano, guitar, and violin, as well as sing.

Piano teacher Ms. Overmeyer had Crumpackers perform his pieces in front of one of her piano classes as a way to practice playing his pieces in front of people. She said that while you may know a piece perfectly, there are other factors to consider and practice at before an audition. “Sometimes the nerves just happen and something goes wrong,” she said. “So when I had Paul perform in front of our class, that was to make him extremely nervous and on edge so that he would see kind of the problems that would happen.”

According to Overmeyer, the practice in front of the piano class helped, and both her and Crumpackers think the actual audition was really promising and are very optimistic about the outcome. So far, Crumpackers has been accepted to UIndy, and is currently waiting for the university to call back about an acceptance to their music department.

Crumpackers is overall very thankful for what music has done to him throughout his life, and he said it’s definitely the most important part of his life. “It’s the driving force,” he said. “It’s the only thing I want to do for the rest of my life.”