My first semester as a freshman at Richard Stockton is coming to a close. After only a little over 3 months I feel like I have grown immensely. Being away at college opens one up to many different perspectives and ideas. I learned that there are so many people from different walks of life with different traditions than my own. Because this fact intrigued me, I decided to go to the Multicultural Music Festival held by Stockton’s Entertainment Team (SET). I discovered this annual event in an e-mail that was sent to me by SET. I thought it would be interesting to see all the different cultural acts perform on October 29, 2014. The festival ran from 8-10 PM, so after getting dinner my friends and I walked in and sat down at one of the many tables that were set up.
Upon arriving I learned that this once-a-year event, because it is annual, was part of Student Cultural Month. This is the month of October when the goal is for students to have the opportunity to become more globally aware. When I arrived, there was a group of three people that were singing a song in a language that sounded like French. It was very interesting to hear the different sounds and melodies of French music in comparison to the American music that I am normally exposed to. When they went on a break, my friends and I inspected the tables in the back and saw they were serving lemon bars and churros. Of course, because Halloween was a mere two days away there was also a big bowl of American candy. When we arrived back at our seats, the members of the Asian Student Alliance were on the Campus Center Event Room stage. They were doing a rendition, complete with interpretive dance, of the popular song “I’ll Make A Man Out of You” in the Disney animated movie Mulan. They even included some Chinese words in their performance!
Following the Mulan music, Stockton’s A Capella Vocal Group, the “Stocktones”, took the stage and performed a set of 3 modern songs. Because this event encouraged all student groups to participate, it was appropriate to enjoy some American music. After hearing the 3 different sets of music, I was amazed at how different they sounded. Yet, they had the same effect, they all were a form of expression that was meant to bring a group of people together. At the Multicultural Music Festival, I learned that there are many different ways that people can share a message, yet music is the language that spans the Earth.