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Growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood, I struggled a lot with fitting in. The only Black people I saw regularly were my family, and even they didn’t have a similar taste of music to me. My sister loved pop music, my parents loved old school R&B, House music, and Soul music, and I loved classic rock. I didn’t even fit in with my other peers at school or my friends, and it didn’t bother me until recently. Thinking back on it, there were so many times I’d want to share my interests, only to be ignored or shot down by others. There were also times where I’d just listen to music my friends liked to keep the peace instead of voicing my needs and wants. It even got to a point where I noticed I was starting to listen to artists who I thought my friends would like, instead of music I genuinely liked. And even when I tried to show them music they’d like, they still shot me down.  I even have unique musical tastes in classical music, so I found it hard to connect with my peers in orchestra during my undergraduate studies. I love baroque, renaissance and classical music mainly, while my peers loved romantic music.
I recognize now that I need to find and be around people who appreciate my interests, so I typically perform in whatever baroque ensemble is offered at school (I’m currently in Concerto Urbano and it’s fabulous). It makes such a difference to be around like minded people. My best friend has similar music interests to me, and I always feel comfortable showing him the music I like. It made me realize how a good friend should be. Being in the Hip Hop Collective also made me realize that I can trust my instincts as a composer as well! To anyone who feels their music tastes are too weird, trust me, they’re not! It can be hard to find people who appreciate your interests (especially as a BIPOC musician) but once you do, you won’t feel like you have to hide the best parts of yourself to get people to like you. Please keep making music and sharing your interests with people! Na’ilah Ali Before coming to UIUC, I had no idea about the electric strings program here (which is funny now, considering my best friend is an electric violin student here). I only knew about electric violin beforehand when Mark Wood performed in my school district when I was 12. We were in a rehearsal once and he asked me to play with him on stage because I had a great bow arm… it was the coolest experience ever and I had him sign my ½ size violin.  But I forgot about that until recently. I’ve been to a couple electric strings performances and masterclasses this semester and it has been a huge source of inspiration for me. It’s been so inspiring that I plan on getting myself an electric violin and taking lessons next semester!
I really love what Dr. Haken is doing with his students. There seems to be a focus on rock music (which I absolutely love), but also works specifically for electric violin. I currently take a class with Dr. Haken and I’ve learned that he is really open to whatever his students want to do. One person at the electric strings studio recital played a piece from a video game which was amazing! I recently got back into songwriting after a long break and showed him a tune I’d want to perform on electric violin. I was nervous he might not think it was a worthwhile endeavor but he seems very excited about my ideas. I even want to show him more of the songs I’ve written next semester. A lot of these songs are many years old, and I think now is finally the time I can present them well. Keep an eye out because you just might see me performing my own compositions in a concert very soon! Na’ilah Ali 
Being a first-year graduate student is no easy task in a “normal” academic year, but being a new Choral Music DMA student has even more limitations. Andy Bruhn, composer, educator, and graduate assistant for UI Chamber Singers has expressed his reactions to beginning his degree in this fashion:
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