As the wise poet Berthold Auerbach once said, “Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” On a less philosophical note, though, music is just downright enjoyable. It can pump you up on a rainy day or destroy you at the end of a sad film. It’s powerful. It resonates.

There is something particularly powerful about live musical performances, though. Sure, curling up in a cozy chair on a snowy afternoon and slipping in a pair of headphones can provide hours of instant bliss, but music seems to gain an additional dimension when it’s performed in-person. Live musical performances just seem to offer a rare and raw piece of human experience that is unlike anything else in this world. Listening to the radio is fun, no doubt, but the power of music is physically tangible when sitting in a vast auditorium, watching real people perform with passion, and feeling your organs rumble from the bass of a song.

What many HU students fail to realize is just how much access they have to this exclusive dimension of music. Joyful Noise certainly provides students with a solid biweekly worship experience, but HU’s musical opportunities go beyond that. Thanks to the musically gifted students scattered across campus, HU has more musical events to offer than most students even begin to realize.

Many of these events are sparsely advertised, which can cause them to have low attendances. All of them, however, are listed throughout the current 2017-2018 HU student planner, and they are listed in the graphic above as well.

Students should feel welcome to attend as many of these events as they desire. They are just like basketball games; you don’t need to know any of the players personally to enjoy yourself. Most musical events are even free to attend. These include the all-area student recital on Wednesday, April 11 at 4:00 PM in the Longaker Recital Hall in the lower MCA as well as the Longaker Honors Recital on Friday, April 13 at 7:30 PM in the MCA’s main auditorium. Mark those calendars, though, because all of these opportunities will be here before you know it.

It is easy for college students to excuse themselves from these events by claiming that they don’t have time to attend them. Such arguments are valid, but these musical events can seriously prove to be a refreshing break from the sports and academics that fill our schedules.

The talent exhibited at these performances is also mesmerizing to witness. Not only are our musical students good at what they do; their passion is evident in their performances. A lot of these individuals spend time every day honing their musical skills, and these events allow them to enjoy themselves and finally show off their hard work. We as HU students should try a little harder to appreciate this hard work by sitting down and giving them an hour of our time, even if it’s just once or twice this year.

The students of the HU choir, band, and orchestra truly don’t get the credit they deserve. Together, they enrich the artistic atmosphere on campus and set up these musical performances so that students can enjoy them with friends as something to do. The theatre program also contributes to this every semester with its plays. Its upcoming show, Peter in the Star Catcher, will open Thursday, March 8 and is guaranteed to be a great experience.

In reality, a large number of students won’t attend any of these events, but they are absolutely worth attending. Keep them in mind when making plans with friends, and don’t be afraid to spontaneously attend them on your own if you have nothing to do. They just might be the musical experience your brain been craving.