Gus - This I Believe

When I walked into our school’s “petting zoo” in fifth grade, I wanted to play the viola or the trumpet. The petting zoo is the term we give to the process of choosing the instrument that you would play in middle and high school. I eventually put my bias aside, and went with the instrument that felt natural. At the time, I didn’t realize how much the decision to play standing bass would mean for my confidence, and how much of a passion it would become for me. I earned a spot for Junior Western Regional Orchestra both years that I auditioned. I went on to become one of the leaders in my section as a freshman in high school. It’s ironic that after this experience, my passion turned from the sound of beautiful melodies to the sound of silence.

After my freshman year of high school, I moved from North Carolina to St Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was a time of transition made more dramatic by Hurricanes Irma and Maria just a few months after I arrived. The new school that I attended lacked a strong music program, and it is hard to maintain the condition of instruments on an island. It was time for me to discover a new passion.

I had always thought that once on St Croix, I would do a lot of fishing. It turns out I have fished only once since moving to the Caribbean. Instead, I decided to try scuba diving. I enjoyed snorkeling with my family, but I had always yearned to be able to swim at depths with the amazing wildlife that this island offers. I believe that diving and orchestra are related to each other.

The feeling of Zen that I get when at depths of over 100 feet is comparable to only one feeling I’ve ever had. It reminds me of the feeling that I get when I used to play the standing bass. Maybe this is because both of these are my passions, or maybe it’s because the two are somehow related. I thought about the two for a while and came to the conclusion that it isn’t the sound of the bass that I loved so much, but rather the feeling of relaxation that i had when playing it. This is the same feeling that I get when scuba diving. Watching the fish move simultaneously is similar to the sight of the bows of violins moving simultaneously. I can see how it seems strange that I would compare these two but hearing is just one of our six senses and I believe that these two activities have more in common than meets the eye.