My Life at the Music Library

by Precious Angel Kelly

I love the Music Library at the University of Illinois (U of I); it has inspired my growth as a student and made a place of knowledge a place like home for me. I used to visit the Music Library with my father and sisters when I was around nine years old. My Dad was not a student at the Uof I, but he could enjoy and enhance his love of music, being a “community borrower”, by having access to all of the musical scores, CDs, and audio equipment the Music Library has to offer. And, he passed this love of music on to his children.

I remember on one Saturday afternoon, Daddy took us with him on his visit to the Library. This was a special time to me because one of our older brothers went along with us. As I recall, my Dad checked out a recording of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 among other pieces. He also checked out the musical scores to accompany the CDs. We went up stairs to one of the sound-proof listening-rooms where there was audio equipment supplied to listen to CDs as well as records and cassette tapes. We, as a family, could get first row seats to this concert! We followed along with him in the scores: we followed his hands and not the notes. We didn’t know how to read music then. But still, we could enjoy it. Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is one of my favorite classical pieces!

When my sister and I took music lessons offered by the U of I’s School of Music, after lessons, we would wait on the second floor of the Music Library to watch for our Dad to return to take us home. Waiting, I would fall asleep while my older sister stayed awake. I’m so grateful that the library’s staff was friendly and never made us feel unwelcome. Later on, I would become a music student at the U of I. I’ve spent so many hours using their computers, and have used their copier machines for so many assignments and homework. For one of my Music Theory classes I was required to listen to a certain CD. Sense I was commuting from home, I had a traveling schedule that required me to stay on-campus until the evening, after all of my classes were done for the day. So I needed a place where I could go to listen to the CD. Where did I go? To the sound-proof listening-rooms on the second floor of the Music Library. I hadn’t been in those rooms since the times I had been there with My Dad. I realized then that I loved the Music Library.

 The Music Library has memorialized many things for me: the infusion of family, community, and knowledge. Hopefully, I’ll always have this Music Library. In addition, I’ll always have memories like the one with my brother who was there with me when my Dad took us all with him to the “concert.” Now, when I’m sitting thousands of miles away from him, separated by a war that demanded three deployments over-seas, I have this warm memory to cherish firsthand. Thank God and thank you Music Library! Even though I’m not a student majoring in music anymore, I visit the Music Library as a music student for life, just like my Dad taught me to be.