To Trinity’s class of 2025, music isn’t just a combination of sounds, it’s a valuable aspect of daily life. For these three seniors, listening to tunes helps them find identity, motivation and rhythm. They discussed the role of music in their lives, sharing their favorite listens and musical experiences.
Pierce Jackson, business analytics major, said that music has always been a central force in his life. Jackson has gotten the opportunity to express his musical side here at Trinity by playing the ivory keys.
“My journey is unique. I’m actually a part of the music program at Trinity,” Jackson said. “I’ve taken piano lessons for three years there as well as playing piano for about 15 years of my life.”
Jackson’s connection to music runs deep: playing instruments and carefully curating his day’s tunes helps him get through the hustle of college life.
“Music for me has been a form of therapy, like a way to just kind of get away,” Jackson said. “Studying, working out, just about anything that happens — it’s all kind of centered around the different kinds of music I listen to.”
Similarly to Jackson, Alex McCaffity, political science major, found music to be one of the most important aspects of her daily routine as it connects her to shared experiences.
“It is important because it’s just a really good way to find something that’s a really distinct filter or reflection of the way that you’re feeling,” McCaffity said. “It can be really cathartic and comforting to know somebody felt the way you did.”
In addition, McCaffity said she has noticed a distinct shift in her music taste compared to her first year at Trinity.
“I started in the fall of 2021 … I listened to a lot of teenage girl indie pop like Del Water Gap,” McCaffity said. “It was just very cutesy, lighthearted pop stuff.”
She recommends giving the acoustic folk-rock genre a listen.
“The band that I like right now — or that I’ve liked for the last few years — is the Mountain Goats,” McCaffity said. “It’s just a group of weird guys, they’re really fun.”
Similarly, Isabella Nikolaidis, economics major, has seen her music taste adapt and deepen. Nikolaidis is an intentional listener, and she enjoys immersing herself in the world around her through music.
“As college has gone on, I’ve just got more buried in my music taste,” Nikolaidis said. “My music taste has become more seasonally affected, so in the fall semester and winter break I will listen to more R&B, slower songs, and then in the spring I always kind of revisit more shoegaze stuff.”
Recently, Nikolaidis has gotten out of her musical comfort zone, widening her horizons. Over the last few years, she has expanded her taste by attending diverse and exciting concerts.
“At the beginning of college, I went to a lot of smaller DIY-punk shows, especially in Austin,” Nikolaidis said. “I would always go to those kinds of shows and lowkey give myself a concussion because I would be jumping around and freaking out and stuff and getting my energy out. Now, I feel like I like to go to more popular artists and bigger concerts. I saw Mk.gee last semester. That was so much fun.”
As these seniors anticipate their next chapters, many hope to hold onto the joy and liberation of music. Jackson guaranteed that music will still play an essential role in his life; it just might look a little different.
“Next, I’ll be in Dallas at Goldman Sachs, so I’ll be in a nice nine-to-five,” Jackson said. “Music will definitely be a much needed asset while I’m sitting there at my desk for God knows how long.”
