From the classics to bluegrass

By WENDY ELLIOTT

Kings County Register

Wolfville native Margaret MacKay, 20, just made the Dean’s List at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.

How did you discover the banjo is your personal passion?

Playing music has always been a big part of my life, but what I used to play wasn’t always what I would listen to. I would be practicing classical violin and then go listen to Backstreet Boys, or whatever was cool at the time.

A couple years ago, I heard my brother listening to Earl Scruggs’ Foggy Mountain Breakdown and it was something so unique compared to what I normally heard, I was fascinated. That Christmas, I got a banjo and, ever since, I have completely lost myself to bluegrass music. It’s just so satisfying to listen to something I love, then to sit down with my banjo and figure out how to play it on my own.

Why did you have to go to Berklee?

When I was applying for universities, I knew I wanted to study music but no schools I tried would accept the banjo as a principal instrument. I pretty much resigned myself to the fact I would get my bachelor of arts and just do banjo as hobby. It was the most frustrating thing to have to feel guilty about practicing banjo when I should have been writing some paper. Then, I heard about Berklee and their new acoustic strings program. It was the perfect place for me to get really serious banjo instruction - and come out with a respectable education.

What appeals to you about the instrument, the school?

What appeals to me most about playing the banjo is the whole bluegrass community. They are just the most welcoming and helpful crowd. There is also something intrinsically cheerful about the banjo. Whenever I play it, people smile - maybe because it’s something unique, or just because it’s nearly impossible to sound sad.

The professors at Berklee are amazing. Because the classes are so small, it’s really personal and they all want every student to do their best.

Berklee is primarily a jazz school, so a lot of the theory I learn is based in that, and probably a lot more complicated than most bluegrass tunes need. It’s so useful though, because it helps assuage my fear of getting pigeon-holed into just one musical genre.

What do you see yourself doing in five years?

In five years, I’ll just be entering what I hope will be a long and enjoyable career in the music industry. Eventually, I would really like to start my own bluegrass record label, but I have to take it one day at a time and learn my way into the business. Right now I am just happy to be studying what I love and I am really excited to see where it might lead in the future.