Wilkinson fills hallways with music, revives classic rock

Music fills the flooded hallways causing commuting students to raise an ear to find where the sound is coming from. It is traced one student, walking the halls and singing to the sounds of his guitar. The student is none other than Zion Wilkinson.

Wilkinson is an incoming junior at South who uses music to influence his life and the lives of others around him. According to Wilkinson, he has been playing guitar for eight years and really just started learning how to play.

“When I first got into guitar, I quickly fell out of it,” Wilkinson said. “For seven years, I took lessons, but I fell out of it and I couldn’t feel like getting back in until high school when I became almost obsessed with guitar and music.”

According to Wilkinson, he has been influenced by rock bands such as Led Zeppelin and The Grateful Dead, but he was inspired to play music from a South alumnus.

“I was inspired by this kid that used to go [to South] last year named Josh Konrad,” Wilkinson said. “[Konrad] reintroduced me to The Grateful Dead.”

According to Wilkinson, he feels that his parents and his grandmother played the biggest role in his life in appreciating music. Due to their hippie background and they helped him discover his favorite band.

“My parents were hippies; I’m kind of adapting the culture,” Wilkinson said. “My grandmother was a huge hippy way back in the 60s when she actually led a peace organization that shut down one the military enrollment places that was stationed right next to the high school. My dad was a huge metalhead and my mom loved Phish, The Grateful Dead and all of those jam bands, so I would say that my parents really turned me on to this music.”

According to Wilkinson, he has not only been playing the guitar but also singing. Wilkinson says doing so brings life to dead music and he is also learning to play an instrument.

“I like to sing because it really brings more to the music,” Wilkinson said. “I’m trying to teach myself to play the keyboard at the moment.”

According to Wilkinson, he likes a variety of different genres of music, but he has his own favorite type of specific genres.

“I like classic rock, but if I were to really narrow it down, it would have to be like somewhere between the lines of classic rock, bluegrass, psychedelic rock and jam band rock,” Wilkinson said.

According to Wilkinson, music is a huge part of his life. He makes sure to give time to music everyday because it gives him energy throughout the day.

“I spend at least, I make sure of it before I go to bed, probably about two hours,” Wilkinson said. “I listen to music throughout the day, I run on music.”

According to Wilkinson, music is the most important thing to him in his life and it means a lot to him.

“Music is the central drive towards self-harmony and happiness,” Wilkinson said. “Now, music is my life.”

According to Wilkinson, music does become a problem to him in terms of spending his time on schoolwork, but believes that music improves his attitude towards school.

“I suppose I do spend a lot of time on music,” Wilkinson said. “I could spend more time on music and less time on videogames and then maybe more time on school because school is the [biggest] priority, more than music and anything else. Sometimes I do pick music over school, usually music helps me concentrate a lot more.”

According to Wilkinson, music has helped him throughout his life and got him through his worst times. Wilkinson believes music has given him a whole new perspective on life.

“I was in a really dark spot in my life and I rediscovered a part of myself,” Wilkinson said. “[Without music] I would just be some guy that walks around school just kind of looking down at life, but I’m starting to see life as an optimistic viewpoint where all life is precious, and without life, there wouldn’t be life. Every single person in this Earth matters as long as they have love in their heart and that has definitely shaped my viewpoints by using music.”

Wilkinson does not currently participate in any afterschool activities or clubs, but aspires to be more involved and take classes to help him learn music even further.

“I [did] participate in Drama Club in the beginning of the year but I did end up falling out from that recently and I blame myself for that because I would’ve liked to stay in it, but music brings me to another side,” Wilkinson said. “Granted I love drama and I love acting, [but] it’s hard to balance every single thing. I plan to take music theory next year […] because I would love to be able to read music.”

According to Wilkinson, he is known for playing his guitar in the hallway and during lunch. He hopes for more people to follow him and help him form his own band.

“I welcome anyone that joins me [to] bring their instruments, to join me and my little center to play some music, just hang out,” Wilkinson said. “Sometimes I [perform] in the little hallway between the library and the SAC or I’ll go outside the auto courtyard. I’m looking for people to be able to from my own band […] the size of an orchestra.”

According to Wilkinson, he has received support from other students, but also hate from some, particularly freshmen. Wilkinson claims it is his most depressing part about playing music.

“The worst experience is when people boo and say that you suck,” Wilkinson said. “I’ve seen hate, people putting me down in some instances, throwing oranges [at me] and being called [an insult]. My goal is to have people accepting and once they can accept me, I hope they can accept others, [by] offering a helping hand or a loving heart using my guitar, to kind of cheer people up.”