Junior Julian LaVallee spent the fall semester in Nashville from August 17 to Nov. 26 for a study opportunity within the organization of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities.
LaVallee is a third-year student with a major in music with a concentration in business and minor in business administration.
Junior music major Julian LaVallee. Photo by Trent Mast
“For me, Nashville was going to help me decide what I wanted to do after I graduate,” LaVallee said. “The real-life experience of tour and traveling helped me to understand what it takes to be a professional in the industry.
LaVallee prepared for this experience through running the sound booth in Yoder, being a manager and gaining leadership skills. He was simply trying to learn as much as he could from the opportunities that Bluffton offered to carry onto his time in Nashville; however, when he arrived in for the opportunity, he did not expect to learn about all of the equipment used.
“For the different tracks available in the program, Tech has the opportunity to use all of the equipment which is state of the art for the road and would also be more regular if we were on the road,” said LaVallee.
Although much of the time consisted of learning, LaVallee felt a sense of friendship and trust between everyone there.
“I didn’t expect everyone to become so close, but with 15 weeks being together we had to learn how to trust each other so that we could run a full show together,” LaVallee said. “This process created great friendships that I believe will last a lifetime.”
LaVallee had the chance to help with three music video shoots while in Nashville. The group even packed up their equipment and traveled to Covenant College in Georgia for their talent show.
“We did loadouts for the artists Jordan Feliz and Madisa which is basically helping the artist’s crew get all of their equipment out of the trucks and into the venues,” LaVallee said. “It was all such an incredible experience.”
This experience did not require homework or written finals, instead they completed a tour as their final exam.
“We played seven shows in under two weeks with full tear down and setup of over a half-million dollars of equipment each time,” LaVallee said. “It was all an amazing hands-on experience which I believe is why I learned so much from this opportunity.”
“Bluffton has given me great opportunities, but Nashville gave me the experience to finally put all of the pieces together,” LaVallee said. “Clarity, I would say I received down there for my career path.”
LaVallee hopes to go on tour and be a monitor mixing engineer for an artist after he graduates as well as moving to Nashville to explore the music industry even more
