2015 Student Commencement Speech: Alexandra Simpson

Good afternoon and welcome friends, family, and honored guests to the NEC 2015 Commencement Ceremony. I’d like to begin by offering a round of applause for those who have come to see us graduate. Your support has been essential to our growth as musicians, and for that we are deeply grateful. Our time at NEC has been vastly different from the standard college experience, so while preparing this speech, I could think of very few intelligent ways to speak to the unique NEC culture. Instead, I went with a dumb idea: a Buzzfeed-style list entitled “13 Things Only NEC Students Say.” I realize that some of you may not understand these references, so I ask that you bear with me and try to at least politely chuckle. If not, I downloaded this laugh track on my phone.

• “I remember when I used to like snow.”
• “I used to think I hated Northeastern students because they’re loud and obnoxious but now I know I hate them because they’re better looking than we are.”
• “Sorry I’m late, I took the elevator.”
• “I’m pretty hungry, but I’m not sure if I’m hungry enough to eat at the Bistro.”
• “Wow, Special Elvis is killing it today!”
• “I couldn’t find a practice room so I took a nap in the Student Lounge.”
• “I couldn’t find a practice room so I took a nap in Spaulding.”
• “I couldn’t find a practice room so I took a nap in Firestone.”
• “I found a practice room! … But it was so hot in there that I ended up falling asleep.”
• “Wow, I just found out the 'St. Botolph Gardens' is actually the parking lot.”
• “Which part of your recital is the best? I’m trying to see three other shows that night.”
• “Is that construction or a CI rehearsal?”

And:

• “The eternal question: Uno’s anybody?”

As much as we like to poke fun at our school’s singularities, I will always be grateful for NEC’s many programs to improve our time at this school: from the free tutoring offered in every subject to the outstanding care we receive in the health center to the teachers who always understand … even when we’re asking for our fifth extension in a row. Entrepreneurial Musicianship (which we call EM because saying it just once is exhausting) helps us break away from the notion that our careers must be controlled by outside forces.

EM recognizes the paradigm for this generation’s musician: somebody who doesn’t wait on established institutions for an opportunity to perform. We are encouraged to reach out and expand our audience, drawing people into the slowed-down world of beauty and intellectual ideals. In doing so, we not only give them opportunities to hear transcendent music played transcendently, but also gently guide them away from an unvaried diet of pop music. The food industry convinced people to replace Cheetos with chia seeds, why can’t we teach them to add Tchaikovsky to their Justin Bieber–infused iPhones?

From the first month at NEC, I was fascinated by the jazz and Contemporary Improvisation departments (for those unfamiliar, Contemporary Improvisation is another impossible-to-say NEC invention that we just call CI). I deeply admire the musical individuality of the jazz and CI majors, and am always so eager to play with them that every time I see another violist in one of their concerts, I feel disappointed in that special way that you feel when you see pictures on Facebook of a party you weren’t invited to.

I’m not the only musician who has expanded beyond her major, however. If you were lucky enough to attend jazz pianist Evan Allen’s recital, you would have heard a mostly classical program. Ethan D’Ver, a composer graduating today, has recently been discovered as a deeply charismatic and talented performance artist. And Zachs Crowle and Johnson co-directed a play last semester, shattering the stereotype that all singers do in their free time is try on makeup at Sephora.

For me, NEC was a place of profound personal growth. Each of the staff, from President Woodcock to Pamela Harris to the custodial department, always returned my greetings with a smile, so I rarely felt isolated in my exploration of music. And the students, although they often come in freshman year with attitudes and pretension, soon adapt to the environment of kindness and support. The real magic, however, was in playing music with some of the most talented young people in the world. I remember one Wednesday night, looking up from my music during a Symphony concert freshman year, and seeing my friends and peers thinking in perfect harmony. To be a part of an entity as connected as an orchestra is an incomparable sensation. As the music grew more intensely quiet, I felt an acute joy swelling up inside me. While a lump in my throat was growing under my chinrest, I reflected on how amazing it was not only to hear this incredible music, but to be contributing to it. It was a moment too beautiful for words … which is good because talking would have totally ruined the mood.

We chose to attend a conservatory for these moments of inspired collaboration. Our responsibility, however, is to help others recognize and appreciate sublime beauty. As Goethe said, “A man must hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” Let’s begin that by applauding the most beautiful thing happening today, Margie Apfelbaum in a penguin suit.