Summary

In Chapter 24, Quiara recalls arriving at Yale. She felt filled with excitement and personal courage. She registered for a high-level seminar class on music composition, despite having taken none of the prerequisite classes. She quickly proved her composition and piano skills to the professor and the other students. However, she felt a lack of connection with the composers they studied. She drew on musical influences from a variety of cultures, and she always kept in mind the listener’s experience when composing. Meanwhile, the music they studied was often atonal and more abstracted from actual melody and harmony. To make money, Quiara acquired a campus job as an audio recording assistant, where she learned how to professionally record and mix audio. During that first year, Quiara felt increasingly sure that she wanted to study music and be a professional musician and composer.

However, as...