很多同学认为，在写自己的经历的时候，写自己越努力、越投入就越是好的。很可惜，这又是一个常见的错误。
 
当然，任何事当中体现出来的坚持、奋斗、努力、刻苦都是好的，但是具体在写作过程中，如果片面追求这些方面会导致一些严重问题。一来这些可能不是申请人所拥有的最重要的品质，也不见得是对读者来说最有新意的特点；二来更常见的是，申请的同学为了突出这些方面，会不得不（或者说是不由自主地）有太多narrative的内容，通过讲述自己做事过程中的很多细节来表现自己。但是这些内容很多时候会流于琐碎，反而淡化了主题。
 
下面这位同学录取了芝加哥大学，她写的故事是她学习钢琴的经历。这个题材我在同学们的申请材料中读到过无数次，一个通病就是，不少学生都会详细解释自己当时练得有多少痛苦，学习得有多么努力。这样的结果就是，基本变成了一个絮絮叨叨的祥林嫂的故事。这个同学也是写她学习钢琴，老实说，以我的标准，她写得还是稍嫌啰嗦。但是和很多同学的文书比起来，就算比较突出主题，也就是自己在这个事情中学到了什么，得到了什么，成为了一个什么样的人，而没有浪费太多的笔墨在具体的学习经历上。
 

I fell in love for the first time when I was four. That was the year my mother signed me up for piano lessons. I can still remember touching those bright, ivory keys with reverence, feeling happy and excited that soon I would be playing those tinkling, familiar melodies (which my mother played every day on our boombox) myself.
 
To my rather naïve surprise, however, instead of setting the score for Für Elise on the piano stand before me, my piano teacher handed me a set of Beginner’s Books. I was to read through the Book of Theory, learn to read the basic notes of the treble and bass clefs, and practice, my palm arched as though an imaginary apple were cupped between my fingers, playing one note at a time. After I had mastered the note of “C,” she promised, I could move on to “D.”
 
It took a few years of theory and repetition before I was presented with my very first full-length classical piece: a sonatina by Muzio Clementi. I practiced the new piece daily, diligently following the written directives of the composer. I hit each staccato note crisply and played each crescendo and every decrescendo dutifully. I performed the piece triumphantly for my teacher and lifted my hands with a flourish as I finished. Instead of clapping, however, my teacher gave me a serious look and took both my hands in hers. “Music,” she said sincerely, “is not just technique. It’s not just fingers or memorization. It comes from the heart.”
 
That was how I discovered passion.
 
Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn: the arcs and passages of intricate notes are lines of genius printed on paper, but ultimately, it is the musician who coaxes them to life. They are open to artistic and emotional interpretation, and even eight simple bars can inspire well over a dozen different variations. I poured my happiness and my angst into the keys, loving every minute of it. I pictured things, events, and people (some real, some entirely imagined— but all intensely personal) in my mind as I played, and the feelings and melodies flowed easily: frustration into Beethoven’s Sonata Pathétique, wistfulness into Chopin’s nocturnes and waltzes, and sheer joy into Schubert. Practice was no longer a chore; it was a privilege and a delight.
 
In high school, I began playing the piano for church services. The music director gave me a binder full of 1-2-3 sheet music, in which melodies are written as numbers instead of as notes on a music staff. To make things a bit more interesting for myself—and for the congregation—I took to experimenting, pairing the written melodies with chords and harmonies of my own creation. I rarely played a song the same way twice; the beauty of improvisation, of songwriting, is that it is as much “feeling” as it is logic and theory. Different occasions and different moods yielded different results: sometimes, “Listen Quietly” was clean and beautiful in its simplicity; other times, it became elaborate and nearly classical in its passages. The basic melody and musical key, however, remained the same, even as the embellishments changed. The foundation of good improvisation and songwriting is simple: understanding the musical key in which a song is played—knowing the scale, the chords, the harmonies, and how well (or unwell) they work together—is essential. Songs can be rewritten and reinterpreted as situation permits, but missteps are obvious because the fundamental laws of music and harmony do not change.
 
Although my formal music education ended when I entered college, the lessons I have learned over the years have remained close and relevant to my life. I have acquired a lifestyle of discipline and internalized the drive for self-improvement. I have gained an appreciation for the complexities and the subtleties of interpretation. I understand the importance of having both a sound foundation and a dedication to constant study. I understand that to possess a passion and personal interest in something, to think for myself, is just as important.

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