Senior Zariah Knuff will never forget the first time she made her first large purchase of a monumental piece of music.
“This massive [collector’s edition album] is the one I spent $300 on,” Zariah said. “This one’s important to me because it’s the first major purchase I ever made. Usually, I was only spending $20 or $30 on an album, coffee, or even just movie tickets. After I got my first job, I was being financially responsible so it was kind of just me getting random little things here and there. But this was the first major purchase I ever made.”
It’s because of pieces like these, along with many other pieces of music that Zariah has accumulated over the past couple of years, that music has been able to hold a special place within her soul.
To her, the feelings that arise with possessing a plethora of music, whether it be in the form of albums, pieces of vinyl, or even record players, all hold some amount of significance in her life.
From growing up listening to Celine Dion songs circulate through the house, to playing the double bass (the biggest string instrument) since the 6th grade, to now being a part of the high school orchestra and getting to travel to cool places like New York, it’s no surprise where her adoration for music originates.
Additionally—because Zariah was born in Germany—being able to travel across the world has allowed her to experience music from an entirely different perspective. Wherever she travels across the globe, music is always bound to follow her.
One goal that Zariah hopes to achieve in college is to be able to visit the places where some of her favorite bands originate from.
“I think my biggest dream would probably be to go to South Korea and be able to study abroad and go to a concert over there because the energy is just completely different than it is here,” Zariah said. “[The] fan chants and the crowd [and] the interactions are just completely different.”
By experiencing the contrast of different music cultures across the world, Zariah can immerse herself in the vibe the audience eludes depending on what region of the world she is in.
Nonetheless, experiences in comparison to these are what make them so unequivocal to anything else Zariah has experienced in her life and will allow her to listen to music and understand it from both perspectives while also getting to travel, which is a bonus.
“Crowds from America are kind of dry,” Zariah said. “So a lot of the videos I see [are] people over here not saying a word. It is so quiet. But [at] concerts [in South Korea] everyone is screaming, there’s inner fan chants, [and] interactions. Everyone’s going crazy. It’s such a different energy and I want to experience that for myself.”
Music has been a way for Zariah to express herself and she has been lucky enough to experience some of the greatest adventures because of what her interests have had to offer.
Even so—regardless of the size of the music, whether it be the similar width of a book or bigger than the length of her head—the memories of obtaining them seem to level out for her. However, the first vivid memory that seemed to sparkle in her mind was the first time when she was ever given music as a gift.
“The first album I ever got I cannot tell you how happy I was,” Zariah said. “The day that this came through was the day that I got [this album]. I brought it on trips, I had it in my backpack, and I would just pull it out to look at it because it was the first physical thing I ever got for any of the groups [I listened to and it] has a special place in my heart. [I have] this gigantic book [that’s] bigger than my face; [it] is special because I have an emotional connection to every song on this [other] album, but I always get emotional when listening to [it].”
Although music comes in different forms and Zariah keeps the majority of her collections that she’s either received as a gift or purchased herself, sometimes it isn’t always the music that carries the most sentiment.
Sometimes, it’s the importance that stems from being able to acquire the music. Even though Zariah’s room resembles a museum for the wondrous world that is music, adding music records to her ceiling will never be an option no matter how much space she has.
“[Another] album I got [was] from a smaller group, so it’s beautiful,” Zariah said. “The entire [album] is just a giant photo book. All of the photos are just stunning. Since it’s an actual band where they all play different instruments, you get to watch them interact with their specific instrument and how it relates because it makes sense. [Also,] the music video for this album was shot so that they’re in this old pool playing their instruments and the water level is like slowly rising in the rain until the only thing above the water is their heads. So they’re all still playing the instruments, even in the water, even though all of the instruments are ruined. They can’t make [a] sound anymore, [but it’s] just gorgeous.”
When it comes to music, Zariah is no stranger to the matter. Music has been and will always be an entire realm unique to itself through which she can better immerse herself into the culture that it has to offer.
If anyone were to take a look at Zariah’s room, they would be able to tell within seconds that Zariah has developed a fiery passion for K-pop and Korean bands such as AT’s and Bangtan Boys (BTS).
In fact, through a simple group chat that she was able to create with people who share the same interests in bands that she liked, she was able to meet another girl from an entirely different state.
“I have a friend who lives in Oklahoma,” Zariah said. “She rides horses to school, and I met her through a group chat. It’s kind of wild [because] the types of people you meet just being involved with [AT’S is] just crazy because there’s so many different people and everyone’s leading such different lives that me finding out that we listened to the same music is kind of mind-blowing.”
Irrespective of how music has naturally become a part of Zariah’s upbringing and how she has become the person she is today, she does not see music leaving her life anytime soon. Wherever she goes, Zariah is sure to find some connection to music no matter what.
Although she doesn’t plan to continue playing the double bass in college, this will not stop her from diminishing the power of music in her life.
“I love how you don’t have to speak the language to vibe with the music,” Zariah said. “If you like the beat, you like the beat; you don’t need to understand the meaning of the song to like [it] and it connects so many people. I found so many friends through music who don’t live anywhere near me but I’m finding that connection through these songs, [and] I think [that] has been the most important to me so far.”
