Since she was 15, advertising senior Sarah Brunner has been singing and playing guitar.
In the past month, she has taken one huge step closer to her dream with a newly released extended play on iTunes.
Brunner said she has always been interested in music, but her passion peaked in high school when she joined choir and was introduced to some people who played guitar.
She said her high school friends were the ones who got her to pursue music more, and as a senior at MSU, Brunner continues to work at becoming a better musician.
Brunner said she practices whenever she has even a little bit of free time. For her, balancing school and music isn’t a problem.
“I basically have to understand that school is coming first, which it does a majority of the time,” Brunner said.
She said the idea to create an EP came from her uncle, whom is always offering to produce music for her.
Last summer Brunner finally took the opportunity to write and produce an EP.
“I took it as a small project,” Brunner said, “I’ve written and recorded music in the past, but this is the first time I’ve taken it to places like iTunes and Spotify.”
She said this is the biggest step she’s taken toward getting her music known.
“It feels good to put a piece of music out there and tell people to listen to it and this is the final thing. It’s really exciting,” Brunner said.
So far, she said the EP has gotten really good responses, not just from her family and friends but also from people she meets when performing.
Brunner said an interesting fact about this EP is that all of the main vocals are live.
“I did that on purpose. It’s an artistic decision to do so,” Brunner said.
She said the biggest challenge she faced while producing the EP was deciding which out of three or four takes per song sounded the best. Her goal, she said, was to keep it sounding like the audience was listening to the music in person.
Brunner said her music is a combination of pop and folk music.
While she ordinarily uses solely a guitar and her voice, this EP includes other instruments such as drums and violins.
“I think the musicality on this EP is nice to listen to. It’s very rich,” Brunner said.
For the future, Brunner said she would eventually like to be in a band or working with other people in some way.
“I think that’s the way to learn,” Brunner said.
When she graduates in May, Brunner is moving to Seattle and aims to get a job with her advertising degree.
But she said she’s not planning on giving up her pursuit of music.
“Hopefully I’ll meet a solid group of people where I can start to produce more and get better,” Brunner said.
