Why music history?

​Three weeks before starting my undergraduate career at Augsburg University majoring in music, I was called for jury duty. Here’s the ensuing facebook status:

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​Obviously, music history wasn’t my thing. Now the question is, how did I go from relegating music history to the likes of jury duty, to writing a book about… music history?

My interest in music history started when I took a class (as required by graduation standards!) on music of the Classic era. My professor told me music history was just the telling of a story (or something to that effect). That stuck with me, and that’s what I learned to love. These great composers and musicians were just people, living their lives, just like me. They had friendships, loves, enemies, favorite ice cream flavors (ok, that won’t make the history books!), but I fell in love with telling stories. 

As I’m writing my own story everyday, I wanted to write “32” to tell a series of stories of people. People like me, who happen to have slightly different stories than mine. What’s in common with all the stories? Everybody is trying to define their place in the world. Some composers were married 10 years with 4 kids by the time they were 32, others living the bachelor/ette life. Some happy, some unhappy. Some with early success, some still striving to gain recognition. Everyone has a story waiting to be told.