Growing As a Musician

Art Honours, with French Studies Minor 

As a multi-instrumentalist, Leah Dau knows that music can be expressed in many ways. She is a member of the Grebel Chapel Choir and plays piano, guitar, flute, ukulele, and a few other woodwind instruments. As a third-year student at Conrad Grebel University College and the University of Waterloo, Leah is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music with a minor in French Studies.

During her first year at Grebel, Leah participated in the Music Living-Learning Community, where interested first-year students from all faculties gather to explore their shared enthusiasm for music. To connect with peers, Music Living-Learning Community offers jam sessions with other residents and study sessions/workshops from upper-year students. “Being part of the Music Live-learn community gave me opportunities to connect with my fellow music students outside of class,” shared Leah. “And I’m still good friends with some of the people I met there, years later.” By staying at Grebel, Leah found it easy to foster more meaningful connections as she was inspired by her peers.

“It’s interesting to see the wide range of interest in the music program,” added Leah. “I was surprised by the amount of interest from students who didn’t require music courses as part of their major.” Grebel's Music program allows students to combine their studies in Music with other majors and minors, such as Psychology, Biology, Environment, or Kinesiology. Students taking Music courses at Grebel study performance, music history, and theory while discovering the ways music relates to technology, film, gender, and global culture. The flexibility of the Music program allowed Leah to expand her knowledge in Music as well as push her limits as a musician. “I really feel like I’ve grown as a musician in my time at Grebel, and I look forward to seeing how much more I can do in my last few terms,” she shared.

As Leah continues her musical journey, she wishes to offer some advice to incoming students. “My advice for future students is to get involved, even if it’s scary,” said Leah. “Pushing my comfort zone was hard, as I’m pretty introverted, but the payoff in the last three years has been so worth the few months of nerves back in the first year.”

By Ashitha Mantrawadi