Music Impacting Emotions

An unknown author said that "music is what feelings sound like".  For years I have known this quote to be true.  Leaving Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, enduring a nearly 7-hour car ride to Indiana University, I had the opportunity to reflect on the life I was leaving behind in my rearview mirror.  I put in my headphones and looked out the window and thought about the life ahead of me.  Everything was going to change after this car ride.  I had mixed emotions about this.
Fox & Weber's "This is Indiana" is a song I often listened to at home when I needed a reminder that college was a new adventure just around the corner.  I would listen this song in bed and fall asleep, smiling knowing that I would soon be a Hoosier.  Leaving for college always felt like a fantasy and as if the day would never come.  Through this IFS class, I have gotten a better idea of what college life will be like.
On Sunday, IFS was hosting a Festival behind the Harper Residence Hall.   I went into the festival unsure of what to expect.  The same way I went into IFS.  A large crowd of people is always overwhelming and intimidating to me, but fortunately I found my friends playing volleyball.  I joined the game, and soon many others joined too.  We had a large, competitive game of volleyball going, talking trash over the blaring music.  It was not until "This is Indiana" came on over the speakers that I realized how special the moment was.  I was in college.  Life at home was not crossing my mind.  I was having a great time with new people, completely out of my comfort zone.  I finally got to listen to and enjoy this song with other Hoosiers, and not alone in my bedroom.  

I had no complaints about the semiotic relationship going.  "This is Indiana" acted as a sign.  The object for which it stood was school spirit and pumping up the Hoosiers.  The interpretant was realizing how excited I am for this fresh start.  It did not dawn on me how much I had to look forward to until this song played at this moment.  There are countless possibilities and experiences ahead.  The lyrics holistically serve as a symbolic sign of school spirit for Indiana University.  The index made me compare how much more enjoyable it was to hear this song while surrounded by new people and opportunities, as opposed to sitting bored in my bedroom.  This song is iconic because it sounds like a good time through the upbeat tempo and spirited lyrics as well as through the video, showing people celebrating their school.  The framework of the places made all the difference in the way the song made me feel.  Hearing this song in a social situation surrounded by Hoosiers makes the fact that I am in college more of a reality.  This is a moment where the music was what my feelings sounded like.