by Taylor M.
Music has always been one of my passions. I have been singing since I could talk and have played a few different instruments over the course of my life. I was ecstatic when I was accepted to the University of North Texas, one of the top music schools in the country. My plan was to major in music, specifically in piano, and make a career out of teaching children the joy of music. That was my plan.
One day after Christmas break during my senior year of high school, my best friend and I got called into our band director’s office. We were both planning on going to UNT to major in music, and he wanted to talk about audition expectations with us. I hadn’t thought much about auditions, other than the fact that they would need to happen before I started school in the fall. My director looked up what my audition requirements would be, but gave me a concerned look. The preliminary audition for the piano studio was an audio recording that was to be submitted to the judging panel by November. It was now the middle of January. I had completely missed my chance to audition and hadn’t even known it. I held it together while my director continued to discuss audition requirements with my friend. When we left his office I was shattered. When I got home from school, I began wondering what I was supposed to do with the rest of my life. I knew I loved music and working with kids. I also felt like I was meant to go to college at UNT. I had received a scholarship, toured and fell in love with the campus, and found a roommate that I was beginning to become good friends with. I decided to go to UNT, major in elementary education, and keep pursuing music as a hobby.
Looking back, I definitely see how God orchestrated my circumstances and put a desire in my heart to attend UNT. If I had gone to college and majored in music I probably would have never discovered another one of my great passions, helping children find their voice and the field of speech-language pathology. After learning I couldn’t pursue my music education at UNT, I could have easily decided to go to a different university and pursue music there. But I was willing to give up getting a college education in music because I felt so strongly that UNT was where I belonged. There are only 19 undergraduate speech-pathology programs in the state of Texas, and UNT is the home to one of those programs.
People say when one door closes, another one opens. Don’t be afraid to walk boldly through that newly opened door. Make lemonade.
