My STEP signature project was a creative endeavor focused on me finding time to persue something that offered me a chance to rest from the business of school. In this, I decided to further my knowledge of the guitar and take lessons. These lessons offered me a time to relax and focus on something besides homework. It also gave me a way to relax by doing something creative.

 

While completing my project I began to understand how much music can provide therapy to people. I noticed week after week as I took lessons that I looked forward to the hour I got to sit down and spend time focusing on something artistic.

 

Even outside of the studio, being home and practicing what I was learning granted me a lot of peace and relaxation in such a busy college career. I had always heard that music can be therapeutic, but I never understood how. Now I do! Practicing focuses your mind on something so much it drowns everything else out. Therefore, when it was just me and the guitar, everything else faded away and it was very peaceful.

 

My guitar teachers were very helpful when it came to this therapy. They were very understanding and patient with me, and always encouraged me to just enjoy myself (even if I wasn’t too good in the beginning!). They also showed me ways to practice what I was learning in unique and fun ways. Most importantly, every time I would go to a lesson they emphasized to learn the instrument just as a way to quiet my mind, not learn it to create the most beautiful and correct music. They encouraged me not to strive to be good, but strive to just let the time spent on the guitar block everything else out.

 

This was a key idea for me. I realized there was no way I was going to be playing beautiful music by the end of this. Instead of stressing and being intensely focused on playing music correctly and sticking to an intense regime to learn thoroughly, I used this activity as a way to just quiet my mind. Even if im not the best, if I focused all my attention on just practicing what I could, I don’t worry about anything else. It really helped me to be able to control my stress and anxiety.

 

By the end of it, I could play countless songs I loved, read music, and just had a more general interest in music. Even when learning, I learned new ways to memorize chords and move my fingers to strum. It was an interesting thing to learn how to use my hands in such a way I never had before!

 

This project has been really impactful for what I stated above. I have always struggled with a mind that never stops, and picking up the guitar showed me a productive way to calm and slow my mind. Instead of a racing mind, I traded in racing fingers over strings. It is a new way I learn to cope with the stress of my life and I still see that I reach for my guitar when I need a break from my own head.