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At Grand View University, students and faculty listen to music on their way to class, while studying, working out or in their free time. In any of these settings, students and faculty listen to various genres, artists and songs. 

Monterey Mishek, a senior at GVU who loves the Lumineers, said: “They always tell a story through their music; they aren’t just a band, they are storytellers!”  

A short online study conducted on GVU’s Student Involvement page found that most students listen to pop compared to other genres like country, rock, R&B, classical, hip-hop and jazz. Country and R&B were tied for second place.  

About one-third of GVU students also agreed that they preferred more specific genres. Students favored different artists that ranged from Post Malone and Juice World to Queen and Luke Combs.  

Students at GVU also have strong opinions about their music versus the music from older generations. When asked if students think there is a difference between the music older generations listen to and the music that younger generations listen to, 94.7 percent agreed that there was a clear difference. For some students, though, this is a positive difference. These students find themselves drawn to “older” music. 

Katheryn Duffy is a Music professor at GVU who is a daily and avid listener of music. Of course, being a Music professor, this is no surprise.  

Duffy grew up in a musical family in Nebraska, singing songs in church and taking piano lessons at a young age because music was so valued in her home. In college, Duffy did not want to do something with music for a career. Instead, she wanted to do something even more interesting.  

“I wanted to be a scientist. I didn’t want to do music as a career,” Duffy said. “I went to college thinking I was going to be working on rocketry and moon trajectories and work for NASA, but I had a calculus class, and I could not stay awake.”  

At the end of her freshman year, Duffy realized she was loving her music classes and decided to stick with it.  

“I really enjoyed the study of it, the theory and the history in addition to making music,” Duffy said.  

Duffy, being a fan of classical music of any century, bluegrass, folk music and new country, loves to listen to music through apps like YouTube. She finds YouTube easy to use while listening and doing work by herself or showing students examples in class.  

“I used to have a professor that I was a Teaching Assistant for at Graduate School, and at the beginning of the semester he would give me a list of things he wanted me to get from the library and he’d bring a red poster wagon,” Duffy said. “I would take that over to the library loaded up with LPs that he needed for the semester.”  

Music To Your Ears

Listen to this episode from The Viewfinder Podcast on Spotify. In Brandon Nakaoka’s podcast, Music To Your Ears, Nakaoka breaks down the key instrument in your favorite pop songs. For his first episode, Brandon examined the role piano plays in the single, “Break My Heart Again” by FINNEAS. Hosted on Acast.

Music has always been a part of Duffy’s life and makes her feel a certain way about the world around her. At the end of the day, listening to music is not just a want for her; it is a need.  

“It’s just so full…what would my day be like without music? It’s going to take me from the depths of despair to incredible joy,” Duffy said. 

There is no doubt that many students share Duffy’s sentiment. Music helps and influences many people here at GVU. So far there are no signs of music leaving campus, and that is how it seems it will stay.