“You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax. Work is for people with jobs. You’ll never remember class time, but you’ll remember time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So, stay out late. Go out on a Tuesday with your friends when you have a paper due Wednesday. Spend money you don’t have. Drink ’til sunrise. The work never ends, but college does…”

Tom Petty had that to say about college. We get much the same message from television shows and movies. What we don’t hear about is how you must at least pass in order to stay enrolled. This involves balancing things like classes, jobs, and extracurricular activities with all the fun you’re supposed to be having. But what if your fun involves friends that live hundreds (or thousands) of miles away and events that only happen once a year, not-so-conveniently during finals week?

There are wrockers worldwide who are trying to balance being in a wizard rock band with their educations. I asked some of them how they were coping, and the responses differed widely. The one thing that was clear, though – it’s not easy to deal with the competing interests of college and a budding career as a wrocker. Lauren of The Moaning Myrtles told me, “I’ve had to miss shows or drive an extra three hours to get to venues that are close to home. We also don’t play as many when we’re at college because we’re pretty far away from each other.” Nina, also of The Moaning Myrtles, said much the same, but, “It’s not something I necessarily begrudge. I mean, my primary occupation is being a student”. Steph from Tonks and the Aurors had a similar sentiment to Nina’s. “I’m in a well recognized masters program. These are things that aren’t too easy to give up, especially since my education is also extremely important to me.” As for missing out, Nina said, “Although I get super sad whenever I have to miss cool stuff, I take it all in stride and try to do as much as I can when I am free.”

So what interferes the most? Is it being at school, physically away from other band members and big cities? The workload? Scheduling issues?

“All three,” was Lauren’s response. For Nina, who goes to Bryn Mawr, being near Philadelphia surely helps with the location issue, but “it’s hard to miss class/take an entire day off without getting super behind”. Shawn from Tom Riddle and Friends cited his schedule as being the biggest obstacle. “We can’t drive to, say for example, the Oklahoma Yule Ball and then be back the next morning for an 8 am class.” On the other hand, Eia of The Parselmouths thought that “usually the flexibility of a college schedule plays to your advantage. I can get the notes from someone and if I’m not there for a few days there are 249 other students to cover for me.”

But if Voldemort can’t stop the rock, what makes you think a college education could get in the way? It seems that everyone has skipped class at one point or another for a wrock-related reason, and Shawn once missed an entire day to drive to Chicago during a blizzard. Were there negative ramifications? “My parents found out I went to Chicago from the YouTube video we made. It had lots of colorful language, smoking, and me running on the highway next to our moving vehicle.” (At least his professors didn’t see it.) Any regrets from doing things like this? Eia didn’t think so. “There are no regrets when it comes to wrock.”

Aside from skipping class, there are ways to work around missing school. Steph tries to get everything done ahead of time, and has even taken exams early to be able to play shows. Kristina of The Parselmouths actually fixed her schedule to fit in a two week tour last spring by taking an online class and then one that only met twice a week. Nina spent spring break in Kansas, but that didn’t stop her from getting her field research done. “I brought that with me as well, and polled KSU students for my project.”

But surely, while at college, people must be excited that they go to school with a wizard rocker? Nina seems luckiest in this regard. “I go to a really nerdy school that is generally in love with Harry Potter, and when they find out about wizard rock (if they didn’t know about it already), they’re super supportive and excited.” Lauren found freshman this year that were already fans of The Moaning Myrtles, and though Shawn’s friends are not wrock fans, “they enjoy the music I make.” Even Steph’s professors are “fascinated by the entire thing”. Her master’s program is actually “all about educational theatre and performance, which is a lot of what we do in Wizard Rock.”

I asked everyone if they were taking classes or participating in activities that pertained to wrock. Only Kristina seems to be catering her college life to wizard rock. “Wizard rock showed me how much I love planning events and working with people, and definitely influenced my decision to become a communications major. I love wizard rock, and have been successful within the genre/community, so it’s only natural I would try to seek out some sort of career or major that uses the same skills.” On the flip side, Nina said, “Wizard rock happens to coincide with pretty much all of my extracurricular interests”, but these weren’t things specifically influenced by her involvement with wrock. Nina, Lauren, Eia, and Steph are all involved in theatre, but this is something they would have done anyway. Shawn is pursuing a minor in sound engineering, but again, his love of music existed before Tom Riddle and Friends.

Does anyone expect wizard rock to be their career? Sadly, not so much. As much as everyone loves wizard rock, it’s not necessarily in their plans. Lauren and Nina both expect to go to grad school and have even more trouble juggling things. Shawn would be happy to pursue music full time, but not limit himself to wrock. Steph told me “I absolutely love this community, so devoting my full attention to it would be incredible”, but she seems skeptical that she would be able to make a living doing so. Both Kristina and Eia wouldn’t mind having the extra time for shows and recording, but neither expect it to be a full-time gig for them.

As you can tell, college can be a hindrance to these wizard rockers’ experiences. When it comes down to it, some seem to feel a little more positively about this than others. In an amazingly open statement, Lauren said, “I’m pretty sure that loving wizard rock so much is what makes college so lonely and difficult for me.” Add that to Kristina’s comment, “Wizard rock came into my life right after high school; right when I was starting college and doing the things that are meant to shape my life”, and you realize that this isn’t easy for them.

I think that the timing of this article may have colored the responses somewhat. It is only September, and everyone is still coming down from an epic summer of wrock that started with Wrockstock in May and continued with Portus and Terminus wrock events, not to mention touring in between. Even the fans are sad to see this summer go, as we all return to our Muggle lives, at least for now.

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