Emma Hardwick '22
All Stories

A new school year is always exciting. New classes, new friends, and of course, new fine arts events. We kicked off the school year with the Wind Orchestra performing for our annual Patio Pops Concert.  One of the pieces in the concert featured Carthage senior Emma Hardwick ’22 as a soloist. I sat down with Emma to talk about balancing music, the new semester, and what she is looking forward to this year.

How has it been preparing for the Patio Pops Concert?

It has been good. The piece I’m playing was my jury piece last semester. That was when Dr. Ripley asked me if I wanted to do it with the Wind Orchestra. I thought it would be a really good opportunity and it has been fun relooking at the piece.

So you are a chemistry major and a Spanish minor. How do you balance that with playing in the Wind Orchestra?

It is definitely a lot. I have been really involved in music since my freshman year. I started out being a music minor, but obviously time wise I wasn’t able to make that happen. I find it to be a helpful escape from all the academic stuff that I do. It is really nice to practice or play with the Wind Orchestra at the end of the day. I find it really helpful mentally to kinda have both of those going on, but it is definitely a lot of time.

What has been your favorite experience with music at Carthage?

During my sophomore year, I was able to go on a trip to Japan with the Wind Orchestra. It was definitely an amazing experience. We were able to go about a month or two before the covid stuff started happening so we were really lucky that it was able to happen. Over those two weeks we got to play with multiple different high schools and colleges, perform concerts, and explore the cities of Japan.

What was your favorite stand-out moment on that trip?

One of the pieces we prepared was Furasato which is a traditional Japanese song. We went to Hiroshima and performed for an elementary school there. We were in their gym and it was absolutely freezing. We all had our coats on, but when we played Furasato, all the kids started singing along with us. It was super moving. Almost everyone was in tears. It was an amazing experience.

What are you looking forward to with your senior year?

I am hoping that as some of the covid stuff is lifted that it will be more of a normal year. I definitely have a lot going on with my thesis and playing with Wind Orchestra, but I’m just excited to kick off the year with all this stuff I am doing.

What is your thesis about?

So my thesis is based on my research that is kind of like photochemistry. We combine multiple different chemicals and set the mixture under a lamp for a set amount of hours or even days. We then see how much product we can form, what the product is, and see if the reaction is working. I did my research last semester and will be hoping to continue next semester.

What is some advice you have for incoming students?
Definitely find something that you like to do that is different from your major. It is really important to have multiple things to do, similar to how I am involved with Wind Orchestra along with my work with chemistry and Spanish. It allows you to meet a bunch of new people and opens up many opportunities. I think it is important to have time to do something you really enjoy. For me, a lot of my friends came from the Music Department. It is important to find a balance between the things you should be studying and the things you love to do.