Leah McCann Smith | Writer & Editor

Get this.

I’m sifting through my word documents, gathering inspirational interview quotes and a mix of quirky, serious and creative writing pieces for the opportunity of a lifetime—OK, fine, an informational interview—when I found a document titled, “UNC Essay. My Inner World.”

This must be some reflection essay I wrote for a class at Carolina, right? It wasn’t.

This was one of the application essays I wrote for my admission to UNC before I began my undergraduate career as a student at Carolina. I wrote this essay more than four years ago, and 100% of it still holds true today.

AP Style aside (I hadn’t learned that yet), I’m sharing this because it shows exactly why I did what I did at UNC—Cadence All-Female Cappella, Carolina Choir and Spotify binging. Even if music does not become a part of my professional career, I know I will carry it with me. My classmate Brittany Raia explained it best when she said that she would bring her passion of acting to her future law career, that she would make the courtroom her stage. I thought that was pretty cool.

I hope to, one day, make my career my own personal stage. Don’t laugh at my UNC admissions essay, please.

Q: Describe your inner world.

Leah McCann

September 17, 2009

“The Inner World of the Treble Clef”

I firmly believe that the passions you have in life define you as a person if you can learn to express them to yourself and to the world around you. I’ll start off by telling you point blank that music will forever be my passion in life, something I have always loved, and what I would define as, “my inner world.” I express my inner world through performing music, something I have been extremely passionate about since my teenage years. It wasn’t always this way, but I have learned how to find meaning in the music past the words printed on the page. I can allow my emotions to color what I am performing. Others respond because they can feel what I am singing: They believe that my expression is genuine. And it is.

How did I learn to do this? Let me share a story with you.

In the ninth grade, I took my first all-women’s choral music class. My older sister had taken chorus in high school, and recommended that I sign up for the class. “I’m not really into the whole music thing, Katie. Blah, blah, blah….FINE, okay I’ll do it!” I finally agreed that it would be a good experience, so I added ‘Beginning Women’s Choir’ at Apex High School as one of my electives.  The class was fun and quite laid back, until one particular day when we were struggling with a difficult arrangement.

Our director asked us to stop, to look past the words printed on the page and try to understand the significance and meaning of the song we were singing.

At this time, one of my classmates stepped up to the front of the class and expressed how the song reminded her of the relationship she had with her mother, who had passed away the previous year.  She asked us to put ourselves in her shoes and consider how meaningful this song was to her, so that we could convey same emotion that she felt each and every time we performed ‘Temuna Kala.’

It was then that I realized how powerful a piece of music could be when performed with thoughtfulness and emotion. Our performance as a group was automatically better, because instead of just reading and singing the notes, we were expressing the song’s lyrics with the colorful passion that made it beautiful. The heartfelt performance that the exquisite piece deserved. So what does it mean to have an “inner world,” anyway? Well to me, an “inner world” is something that has impacted you to the point that it has changed your outlook on an aspect of life. Something that makes you consider that aspect as one of the strongest drivers in your journey to grow as a person. It was enlightening to see how much of an impact music had on my classmate when it reminded her of her mother. That was the day I recognized how much music also meant to me personally, and that it would always be my driver and support.

I now see music as more than just an extracurricular activity or hobby. It has become an integral part of my journey, a part of who I am and a part of how I’m defined by others today. Music is my creative outlet, my escape. It is something that I can turn to as a way to externalize and evoke how I’m feeling. It is not unusual for friends and family to ask, “How is your music going?”

I always respond, “My music is wonderful.”