Let’s talk about music! As the saying goes, talking about music is like dancing about architecture. Don’t worry, I’m not saying we should all mime The Claw…

Instead, I’d like to spend this quarter discussing all the ways music fits into the world of a university. Stanford’s got a decent gig going, but there are some ways for the song to improve. How can we shape it fully into what we want? College music is mostly student music, so I say the more of us that jump in as players and listeners, the better.

This week, I’ll scan the overall picture and get into details later. Let’s start at the beginning: you arrive on campus, violin in tow, wondering how to work music into your new college life after years of lessons and performances. Or you’ve never touched a piano and are just looking for a place to plug in the speakers, hoping your roommate has similar taste.

You’ve picked suburban Stanford, where it takes initiative to visit any solid urban music scene. Our beloved bubble has hundreds of talented students and teachers, and some world-class musicians take time to visit every once in a while. But the cup of song doesn’t quite overfloweth amidst the saturation of engineering, computer science, business, medicine, etc. We live in Silicon Valley, not Nashville or New Orleans.

Academically, we’re not a conservatory—BFAs pop out in June as often as there’s gridlock in Petaluma. Except you weren’t looking for that when you applied—you wanted to take psychology or economics in addition to the instrument you loved (props to the handful of music majors). Meanwhile, non-musicians just look forward to knowing that kid who practices Rachmaninoff piano concertos before biking off to an interview at some consulting firm.

What about bands—talking about a “music scene” means we’re talking about rock and roll, right? Unfortunately, being an isolated student enclave in the ‘burbs makes it difficult. The few intrepid rock bands have to find college alternatives to their parents’ garage, and then the closest venues are…frats.

The flipside is that the “diversity” the admissions office brags about shows up strongly in our music. Filling a college with people from all around the world means many different cultures get to mix. So you discover a fair range of options beyond the standard western orchestra, choir and jazz band setup that I knew in high school, with groups like Taiko, Mariachi Cardenal, even Calypso.

At the beginning, it takes a little time to check out all the possible groups to join or concerts to attend, but you’re optimistic. Then, the reality of Stanford schedules set in. You manage to cram in a crazy computer music class at the knoll or an audition for an a cappella group. Soon, it seems like the closest thing to a concert you’ve been to was at a party where your ears were blasted over and over by the same 40 mp3s pumped in from New York and L.A.

As time goes by, you begin to figure something out. Here I am, beginning my senior year, minoring in music and playing in a group or two while wishing there were more bands, more available practice facilities and tuned pianos. It’s been a decent musical experience, but we can make it better.

Luckily, I’m not the first to talk about the music situation on campus. An arts initiative was launched by the administration in the last few years. Many look forward to the Art Affair in the spring, when all kinds of musicians get to come out of the sandstone.

But ultimately, Stanford music is student music. Sure, some professors perform, and outside groups do stop by occasionally, but it’s pretty much all about you, maestros.

I have seen the bubble and the bubble is us.

Tell Lucas how the picture sounds to you at [email protected].