Cedars, December 2018

December 2018 14 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Brian Campbell: Cultural Connections by Lauren McGuire B rian Campbell wants to use his unique cultural background to un- derstand and connect with others. Campbell, a senior music education major, was born in Ivory Coast in West Af- rica. He lived there as a missionary kid up until the second grade. His family was forced to evacuate Ivo- ry Coast to Senegal in West Africa where he lived until he graduated from high school. After leaving Senegal, Campbell came di- rectly to the United States to study at Cedar- ville, following his sister’s footsteps. Growing up, Campbell had so many interests that it became a joke with people that he had been interested in everything at one point or another. His love for music and passion for instruments started when he was in Senegal. His life as a missionary kid was largely influenced by his love for the arts. “I started playing piano in third grade, and then all these missionaries had these spare instruments sitting around that they wouldn’t use,” Campbell said. “They would be like, ‘that Brian kid likes music,’ so they would give me free instruments.” Although the piano is his instrument of choice, Campbell’s first instrument was a clarinet, which he still owns. After the clari- net he went on to get a flute, a recorder and an accordion. It wasn’t until sixth grade that he start- ed taking piano playing seriously. Classical music was his interest up until he started dabbling in other types of music like jazz and hip-hop. “That really opened up my mind to how different cultures can use music and can come from different perspectives and how it can address different aspects of life,” he said. His interest in these different perspec- tives turned into looking at different cul- tures from a humanities point of view. In his free time, he would look up and study music, referring to himself as a “Wikipedia nerd.” “As a cross-cultural kid, I had a real- ly strong desire to meet people and have a connection; to understand them person- ally and culturally,” Campbell said. “Being aware of how different cultures think and work allowed me to understand other peo- ple better.” As he started to understand how other cultures worked through music, he realized he had a heart for missionary kids and for schools in general. He thought that apply- ing those passions for missionary kids and music to a teaching job would be the best use of them. Although his long term goal is to go international, Campbell said he would not mind working with inner-city kids, minority groups or immigrants. Not having a place to call home impact- ed Campbell’s life, and music was able to help him work through that struggle. After having walked through two evacua- tions in his personal life and seeing how oth- er people deal with trauma, he understands what it is like to be “a hidden immigrant,” where one looks and sounds like everyone else but still comes from a different culture. “Having those wars there definitely helped me to connect with refugees, specif- ically with those who are moving due to a traumatic event,” Campbell said. The idea of being a “hidden immigrant” stretched to the time when Campbell moved back to the states. Although he spoke the same language as everyone else, he came into the country with an altered way of thinking. His peers in the U.S. couldn’t connect with the everyday experiences he was used to in Africa. Learning how to handle the memories that he couldn’t share with anyone was the hardest part of moving back to the states he said. Zach Krauss, a fellow piano major, met Campbell through a studio class they had together freshman year. After getting to know Campbell over the past four years, he noticed how Campbell’s experience being a refugee in West Africa impacted his life. “One of the most powerful things for me is seeing how strong he still is in his faith and seeing how genuine he is in his faith,” Krauss said. It was evident to Krauss that although Campbell has gone through many difficul- ties throughout his childhood, this hasn’t stopped him from radiating the joy of Christ to everyone he comes into contact with. Although the music department at Ce- darville has not been a perfect replacement for those who lived everyday life with him overseas, not everyone understands music the way that the department does. That con- nection has made the transition smoother for Campbell as he continually worked through the challenges of being a missionary kid. Lauren McGuire is a sophomore profes- sional writing and information design ma- jor and writer for Cedars. She loves birth- day cake ice cream, watching “The Office” and late-night runs. Photo by Lauren Jacobs Brian Campbell, a senior music education major, enjoys listening to and creating music in his free time.