The musician

The Musician
Max Newman, junior New York City, 20 years old

Max Newman couldn’t find freedom at school, so he dropped out. Now he spends his days living through music.

Some people know exactly what they want to do in life before they even complete kindergarten. Max Newman is one of those lucky few. He grew up in New York City, a place that screams freedom. It’s a city people move to because they want independence, or in Max’s case, a place you leave to get away from it all.

Max grew up playing the cello, studying at Juilliard in high school. Music became his life. After he graduated, he left the chaotic skyline behind to study classical music at the Jacobs School of Music.

 “If I think about it, no matter how much freedom music gives me, in a way it was chosen for me from such a young age,” Max says.

By freshman year, he says, he was frustrated with memorizing classical compositions. He made major changes to his career path, hoping to find something personally meaningful. He switched from cello to guitar, dropped out of the music school, and after sophomore year, decided to take an entire year off. 

Freedom from classes has given him time to focus on his music. However, this decision also came with the financial burden of paying his own way.

Max might not be free from responsibility, but when it comes to his music, nothing can hold him back. “There is such freedom in music itself. It’s the freedom of expression,” Max says. “No one can take this freedom away from me.”

Some students are free because they’re physically on their own, and others are free because they financially support themselves. Max is free because he doesn’t see anything stopping him from succeeding. Taking a semester off from school didn’t hold Max back; it pushed him forward.

“I couldn’t see myself as a student,” Max admits. “I want to be passionate with everything I do.”

 Max values his freedom because he works for it. “You have to study the scales, the masters that came before you,” Max says. “This is freedom that you earn.

Improvisation isn’t just playing what you want. It really does strike a chord in people and makes them feel free too.”