Evansville Day School Junior, Jessica Myers, was recently announced as the winner of the National Federation of Music Clubs Music Week essay contest for the State of Indiana.  Jessica earned $50 for her winning essay, in addition to a Certificate of Merit Award!  Congratulations Jessica on such a prestigious honor and thank you for represent the Day School community so well. Below is Jessica's essay in its entirety:

Alone, the composer sat at the piano, encoding the past into songs so that the future would know. A committee had called upon him to preserve the world’s knowledge and history in a meaningful way. All of the music the composer wrote would be sent into the depths of outer space, in hopes that something, or, rather, someone, would hear it and understand. The key to the future lay directly in the hands of the present, in the notes that had always been, in melodies that were soon to exist.

At last, the composer began to write. First he wrote about the pains the world had endured and continued to endure. In long-lasting melodies and dark harmonies, the songwriter wove memories into feelings and feelings into passions. He strung melodies into chords and the chords into songs, creating an entire album of music about the world’s struggles. Somewhere out in the seemingly infinite future, the composer hoped someone would come to understand his world’s pains through music.

Next, the composer began work on the world’s happy memories. Out of minor came major, and the world was at peace. He changed out blues with melodic romance, classical, and pop. Out came the upbeat feelings the world had experienced, all to be sent out as notes to the future. When the depths of the unknown listened to this album of songs, pure joy and carefree fun would surely emerge.

However, after the simple emotions were written and done, the composer struggled to convey the more complex, abstract ones. He mixed together minor and major, threw in some dissonance here and there, and eventually came up with an eclectic album of songs. These pieces came to represent mixed feelings that were hard to explain, as they had never been fully understood to begin with. Such emotions the composer wrote about were frustration, fear, guilt, envy, anger, and love. The composer hoped the future being would not only hear, but also listen to the music in order to understand what the world could not.

The last song the composer chose to write about was not about the past—rather, it was about the future. He wanted the future to not be a repetition of the past’s mistakes. Mustering all the strength he could, the songwriter released the world’s worries into his music. The reason for writing all these musical records was rooted in the fear of being forgotten. Therefore, one last time, the composer emptied his mind of all the emotions he felt about the world and the advice he had for the future.

After the songwriter had completed his task, he gathered up his songs and took them to the aerospace agency that had requested them. The complicated tunes of tomorrow were condensed into a radio signal and, one by one, they were sent out into the depths of outer space. The signal dispersed into the everlasting night, in search of a listener—and one day, it was heard.