Math, music pave student's career path

Finals week has arrived. For most students, nights of studying late will soon be replaced with nights of staying out even later. Yet for graduating seniors, this last week is much more. Some will begin their professional lives, while others will make the transition into graduate school. Senior Duncan Baumgart is among these up-and-coming professionals beginning a graduate school education. \n"This is extremely exciting, but also scary," he said. "I welcome the change and challenges but fear the decisions I will have to make. It is a common fear, but I say bring it on."\nBaumgart came to IU from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania four years ago. Once he was accepted into IU's School of Music, his college choice was clear. \n"I needed a change of environment and of the normality of the East Coast," he said. \nHe decided to pursue a guitar major early on and then chose a minor in mathematics. Playing the guitar had been one of his favorite pastimes since he was a child. While growing up, Baumgart emulated his older brother Travis, so when he began taking guitar lessons, Baumgart was quick to follow suit. \n"My father had played in college, so it ran in the family," he said. "But my brother quit after two months, and I ended up staying with it."\nThose childhood lessons have gone on to become the base of his college career. Baumgart calls his style classically influenced, and has been inspired by musicians such as Randy Rhoads and Jason Becker. He is dedicated to the point of making trips to nail salons to get fake nails put on his right hand -- which he feels helps produce a better tone. \n"I get weird looks every time I go in there, but it really does help," he said. \nAnd this is just one example of how Baumgart does whatever it takes in order to help him accomplish personal goals. \n"My friend put it best when he said that I am not naturally gifted, but more like the 'Larry Bird of guitar,'" Baumgart recalls. "I've had to work hard to get where I am." \nThis has entailed practicing five to six hours a day for the past six years. \nHis guitar coach Daniel Bolshoy has been impressed by what he calls a very talented, highly motivated young guitarist. \n"He practices nonstop. Not many people I know are willing to be up at 4 a.m. to practice while working in a gym!" \nWorking at Cardinal Fitness gym is only one of the four jobs that Baumgart maintains. He splits his free time between the gym, private tutoring, tutoring for the Academic Support Center and giving private guitar lessons. While to some this may seem an unbearable load, Baumgart says that for him, time management comes naturally. \n"I took it on myself to establish independence. I am trying to get ready for graduate school and to be able to buy a car," he said. \nWith the future staring him in the face, Baumgart said he realizes that his college years are coming to an end. He is quick to remember the good times, such as the party he attended at a friend's house at which people were wrestling in KY Jelly. \n"It was great seeing drunk people wrestling in it," he said. "I guess that is one thing that happens in college!" \nHis favorite classes, T351: Music Theory and M311: Calculus 3, were also highlights. \n"I liked 351 because it is a math-based theory class in which musicians compose using matrices and formulas," he said. "M311 was also good because it dealt with 3-D objects and finding areas using triple integration." \nThis interest in the relationship between mathematics and music has helped him choose his career path. Baumgart hopes to teach math and music because he feels that since he struggled through his courses here at IU, he knows the effort it takes and wants to show others that it can be done. \n"I really want to show people that where there's a will, there's a way," Baumgart said. \nAll of this hard work and dedication culminated this Friday with Baumgart's concluding musical performance as an undergraduate music student. With the guitar solo counting as his final grade, he performed pieces by musicians such Johann Sebastian Bach and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Baumgart said that as soon as he walked out on the stage, his heart raced and his hands shook. \n"I was really nervous because my parents and sister were coming, and I thought I would let them down if I didn't perform to my level of expectation," he said. "But I am happy with it for the most part, and I owe it to them for being such incredible inspiration." \nHis mother Lucia shared her son's nervousness before the performance. \n"I am very proud of him, and relieved it is over," she said afterward. "My son has been an amazing musician from the time he picked up a guitar."\nNow, as Baumgart prepares to enter the "real world," he does so without any regrets. \n"I worked my ass off and did not slack off at all. I studied things I loved to do, and I will do what I love now. I am going to take this level of perseverance into life," he said.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Kimberly Laughlin at kmlaughl@indiana.edu.