By Wyatt G.

Hello, everyone! My name is Wyatt, I am a senior undergraduate studying double bass music performance at the UNT College of Music. I have worked at the Music Library for four years and it has been a huge part of my career at UNT, providing me with invaluable resources and a tremendous network of colleagues. A lot of these pieces can be found in the library catalog and will be linked throughout the blog! I wanted this post to be a musical reflection of my time at UNT, highlighting music that has been with me through pivotal moments.

Pulcinella, K34: XVIII. Vivo – Igor Stravinsky 

This movement from the Pulcinella ballet always makes me think of my freshman year placement auditions. I walked into the Murchison Performing Arts Center and saw more double bassists than I’d ever seen all in one place, all playing this piece. Little did I know that I would be joining one of the most welcoming and inspiring communities of musicians and friends.

“Un Ratito” – Bad Bunny

I was introduced to Bad Bunny my freshman year, and I don’t think I have turned it off since. This album has peak summer vibes, although Bad Bunny hits anytime of the year.

“When Am I Going to Make A Living” – Sade

Diamond Life is a 10/10 album, there is not a single skip on it. This album always makes me think of the end of freshman year and how upset I was to be leaving my friends for the summer, but excited to be moving in with them the next fall.

Eine Alpensinfonie, Op. 64 – Richard Strauss

While listening to Eine Alpensinfonie by Richard Strauss, I summited my first mountain backpacking in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park during my sophomore year. If you have a long weekend to kill, I highly recommend the long drive out to the park, it is a beautiful hidden gem with the highest peak in Texas!

“Shelter” – Alice Phoebe Lou

In my opinion, Alice Phoebe Lou’s songwriting is the acme of lyricism. Freshman and sophomore year, I became obsessed with her discography and listened to almost everything she has released.

“Proper Fence” – Shakey Graves

I drove from Denton to Vancouver one summer for a music festival and every single day, multiple times a day, this song was blasted. By the end of the drive, I knew every word.

“Rally House” – prod. DTM

House music defined my junior year. If you saw me on a run junior year, there was an 80% chance I was blasting a house mix.

“Blue Ridge Mountains” – Fleet Foxes

One pivotal moment in my career at UNT was completing my junior year recital. Learning the music and performing it was a very strenuous but rewarding process. However, the recital was nowhere near as strenuous when compared to the inclines that I hiked up in the Ouachita Mountains the weekend after. This celebratory backpacking trip with one of my best friends was such a nice way to celebrate and during the trip I could not stop listening to this Fleet Foxes track.

Requiem, Op. 66 – David Popper

This piece needs to be listened to, it is so evocative and playing it with my roommates for one of their recitals was such an incredible experience. There is nothing quite like performing, but when you get to share the stage with people that you really care about, it adds a new level of depth and meaning.

“You Send Me” – Aretha Franklin

I was fortunate enough to spend a summer in Berlin playing in opera productions. This song was one of many that was in my constant rotation as I was running all over Berlin, exploring places like Tempelhofer Field and Tiergarten.

“Chinese Translation” – M. Ward

As I’m finishing my undergraduate degree, I’ve been listening to this song a lot. This last semester has been pretty scary as I move on to a new chapter in my career, and I think this song kind of encapsulates and flips that uneasiness about the future well.