Clarinet performance major Maya Mueller carefully prunes a mpingo tree in the East African country of Tanzania, connecting two great loves-her music and the environment. The mpingo tree's wood is used almost exclusively to create wooden clarinets. Mueller has loved playing her clarinet since she started in middle school band.
She traveled abroad through the Daraja Music Initiative, which bridges music and conservation education, giving back to the people of Tanzania who grow and care for the mpingo trees by teaching their children music and helping with the trees.
"Sometimes when we would prune the trees, they would be matured to the point where you can see the actual black wood in the center. And I'd be like, my god, this is my instrument," she said. "But what I loved the most was being with the kids there. They spoke Swahili and taught me words while I taught them music. It was amazing."
Now the Vanderbilt Blair School of Music senior has traveled the world playing concerts and music festivals-including back to the home of the mpingo tree.
"Maya is the ultimate blend of talent and humility, with a striking intelligence and kindness that make an impression everywhere she goes," said Mariam Adam, assistant professor of clarinet.
We sat down with Maya to learn more about her and her Vanderbilt experience.
1. WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT PLAYING THE CLARINET?
"I think I'm in this place right now where clarinet playing is almost meditative. If there's a day that I go without playing, I feel like I'm missing something. It's my 'me time.' And when I am feeling overwhelmed or stressed by life or stresses around my music, I go see a live performance, and every single time it reminds me that this is what it's about. This is why I love music," she said.
"Not long ago, I saw my mentor Professor Adam playing a recital, and I just felt this indescribable feeling inside of me. I was almost in tears because of her music. And it reminded me, yeah, this is why I do it. So, I can hopefully have that effect on other people."
2. YOU'RE FROM NEW MEXICO. WHAT BROUGHT YOU ALL THE WAY TO VANDERBILT?
"A lot of things. But Professor Mariam Adam is honestly one of the main reasons. Everyone in the clarinet community knows her name. She's an amazing performer around the world. And I saw that she was going to be teaching, and I thought, 'I have to go there!' Also, Vanderbilt is such a welcoming community and such a great school, so I thought that I couldn't go wrong coming here and studying with Professor Adam. Her first year at Vanderbilt was also my first year, which is a cool bond that we have."
3. TELL ME ABOUT A PIVOTAL MOMENT THAT HELPED YOU GROW AS A PERSON?
"I think honestly for me it's been all the performance opportunities I've had. I'm very introverted, and that was difficult for me, especially when I first came here, because I had to put myself out there in front of everyone, and that's a very scary thing. But I'm proud to say, as of right now, I've completely gotten rid of my performance anxiety because of all the performance experiences I've had."
"Here's a great story about a unique performance experience. My sophomore year we had a clarinet recital on Halloween, and I love Halloween. It's seriously my favorite holiday! I told everyone that we had to dress up. Professor Adam said we could do it if we wanted to. I put this full banana costume on, and I went right on stage. I was the ONLY one dressed up. Everyone else was in concert black, and I was a banana."
4. WHAT MAKES VANDERBILT SPECIAL TO YOU?
"I think Vanderbilt is special because they encourage you to take risks and help you along the way. I went to Tanzania through the Nichols Humanitarian Fund. Vanderbilt was very encouraging of me going to this place that is so far by myself and financially helped me. Staff members also helped me mentally to do things that are above and beyond, things that I could only dream of," Mueller said. "And thanks to nominations from Professor Adam, just last summer I went to Colombia with the Wind Symphony, and I performed at festivals in France and in New York City."
"Vanderbilt doesn't limit students at all, which is pretty awesome. I can take whatever classes I want. I've taken a lot of philosophy classes, and I think that is, like, really awesome that I can be a music major taking a bunch of philosophy classes. They encourage their students to learn across boundaries, and I definitely have done that during my time here."
5. FINISH THE SENTENCE, "TO ME VANDERBILT IS…"
"Vanderbilt is a chance to take risks."
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