Sai Ganagoni
Emory University, First Year
I met Sai during one of the first days of orientation week at Emory. One of the first things I got to know about him is that he sings and was in a big music group here in Emory. Interviewing him was a pleasure since I got to know him better and find out what music meant for him.
Like my other interviewee Kiran, Sai also started at a young age. He took general concert choir in sixth grade. He stuck with general concert choir until high school. He started choir for the same reasons I have started band in fourth grade: choir seemed interesting and wanted to improve on his musical skills. He was motivated to continue singing by his teacher who he admired. Like other musicians who started at a young age, Sai never found a reason to stop and keeps performing to this present day.
In Emory, he's currently involved in No Strings Attached, which is an all-male accapella group. The audition process was quite "intense". It included singing the Alma Mater and singing another song while matching pitch and blend. There was also an interview process. Say first had a hard time transitioning into the group since they moved very fast. There was "no room to mess up". However the gigs were "extremely fun". He performed at the Childrens' Hospital and a marriage proposal. Sai is having a great time being musically involved at Emory.
In the future, Sai hopes to continue in accapella and make it better and perhaps lead the group. When he leaves Emory, he wanted to pursue music "not professionally, but something on the side".
To understand how music has changed his life, Sai told me how music appealed to him. For him, there "is something different about the way you can express yourself." He continues to say how word are not needed to express the message, but rather it is how the notes and melody interwines itself is a message. Messages could be so complex that one chord could be affiliated with a lot of emotion and meaning.
I'm glad that I interviewed Sai, because as a saxophonist that plays in the band, I never saw music the way Sai did as a vocalist. He brings new context to the meaning of music that I never saw before; I'll definitely be aware of what he said the next time I listen and perform music. Music is much more than notes on a page--it's about conveying a message on a whole new level that words can't do itself.
Like my other interviewee Kiran, Sai also started at a young age. He took general concert choir in sixth grade. He stuck with general concert choir until high school. He started choir for the same reasons I have started band in fourth grade: choir seemed interesting and wanted to improve on his musical skills. He was motivated to continue singing by his teacher who he admired. Like other musicians who started at a young age, Sai never found a reason to stop and keeps performing to this present day.
In Emory, he's currently involved in No Strings Attached, which is an all-male accapella group. The audition process was quite "intense". It included singing the Alma Mater and singing another song while matching pitch and blend. There was also an interview process. Say first had a hard time transitioning into the group since they moved very fast. There was "no room to mess up". However the gigs were "extremely fun". He performed at the Childrens' Hospital and a marriage proposal. Sai is having a great time being musically involved at Emory.
In the future, Sai hopes to continue in accapella and make it better and perhaps lead the group. When he leaves Emory, he wanted to pursue music "not professionally, but something on the side".
To understand how music has changed his life, Sai told me how music appealed to him. For him, there "is something different about the way you can express yourself." He continues to say how word are not needed to express the message, but rather it is how the notes and melody interwines itself is a message. Messages could be so complex that one chord could be affiliated with a lot of emotion and meaning.
I'm glad that I interviewed Sai, because as a saxophonist that plays in the band, I never saw music the way Sai did as a vocalist. He brings new context to the meaning of music that I never saw before; I'll definitely be aware of what he said the next time I listen and perform music. Music is much more than notes on a page--it's about conveying a message on a whole new level that words can't do itself.