An early exposure to the arts makes for a solid foundation for the future.
Dear Parents, keep forcing the arts on your children. When I was five years old, I didn’t have a choice.
I was forced to take violin lessons.
I grew up not knowing there were other radio stations than the local affiliate of National Public Radio.
In fact, I was probably 10 years old or so when I finally figured out there was a way to change the station to something else.
I come from a very musical family.
My grandfather was an organist. My grandmother was a harpist. My aunt is a violinist.
My mother was a music educator for a number of years and plays the cello and the harp. Now that she has retired from teaching in the public schools, she just teaches private lessons and performs with various groups.
When my brother and I were very young, we were forced to attend symphony concerts and hear a lot of classical music.
I may not have appreciated it so much back then, but I have realized that it has helped shape me to the person I am today.
I played the violin from the time I was five years old until I turned 14 when I switched from violin to upright bass.
My brother played the cello and we were always involved in some type of musical activity growing up.
When we were in our teenage years, we would come to the University of Southern Mississippi to attend music conferences and be a part of honor orchestras.
I grew up coming to USM to hear renown cellist Yo Yo Ma and violinist Itzhak Perlman perform.
In the summer before my ninth-grade year, my mother told me she wanted me to go with her to Sewanee Summer Music Festival – an intense five-week long music camp in the hills of Tennessee.
Needless to say, I was extremely apprehensive.
During this stage in my life, I was playing a lot of soccer and the summers were spent playing State Games and taking trips to the beach with friends.
I had been to music camps before that lasted one week, but a five-week long ordeal?
I wasn’t so sure about it.
My mother had me talk to my school’s guidance counselor who said that I should give it a go.
So with much reluctance, I went to Sewanee Summer Music Festival.
For those who don’t know about Sewanee, The University of the South, it is located in Sewanee, Tennessee, between Nashville and Chattanooga in the Cumberland Mountains. It has one of the most beautiful campuses in the country.
The five-week camp was full of lessons, chamber groups, large orchestra rehearsals and having a lot of fun. It turned out to be one of the most amazing experiences I have been a part of and it was a very memorable summer.
I still have friends that I have kept up with through these musical experiences.
During the course of the years since then, music has remained an important part of my life.
I moved to Hattieburg fresh out of high school to pursue a music composition degree, but those things didn’t pan out.
But I never lost my love for music and the arts.
My music has evolved a little now and I still perform music in town from time to time.
I’m lucky to be able to know and be surrounded with such talented musicians and artists.
Throughout these years, I’ve often wondered who I would be without my childhood experiences, and I want to thank my mom for exposing me to the arts when I was young.
Sure, I’ve grown to love all different types of music and forms of art, but I feel like I owe a lot to being shown classical music at an early age.
I think this is true for all types of art – whether it be dance, painting, sculpting, crafting, or music.
The more exposure one can get in an early age, the better off the individual will be in the long run.
In Hattiesburg, we are home to an amazing art culture and children need this exposure.
Children need a little push to express themselves artistically.
So, I want to thank my family for pushing me into things as a child and encourage parents to get their children involved in the arts at a young age.
You never know where it might take them.
Massengale is a soon-to-be graduate of Southern Miss and one-half of the sometimes-critically-acclaimed local duo that performs under the name of “Massive J and Battle Cat”
