Melissa Ferrick

"I love the directed studies, because it feels really familiar to me. I have a lot of friends who are artists, and we talk to each other about what we’re going through.  Some of those artists are younger and less established than me, so this feels very much like the same conversation. I feel like the only difference between myself and my students is the miles I’ve put on my body and the shows I have played. But they’re already artists when they get here."

"I remember coming here at 17, and I had just learned how to do my own laundry. I did not know how to make anything outside of macaroni and cheese. I knew how to get from the 150 building to the 1140 building and to Stevie’s Pizza, and I did not leave that circle. So I’m trying to encourage students to expand their horizons a little bit. Do you know where Cafe 939 is? Do you know that it’s the only all-ages venue in Boston? Do you know that they book national talent? Do you know where Club Passim is? Do you know there’s an open mic there? You should be playing at open mic on a monthly basis. There’s no reason you shouldn't be playing out."

"I feel like there is a huge population of original singer-songwriters at this school, who are playing guitar and playing piano and writing songs, who are here on scholarships for violin and voice, who are extraordinary musicians, and they don’t know what to do. They want to do their own music, but they haven’t figured out what department they fit in. I want to make sure that there’s a place for that in the Songwriting Department. It’s the only place in the world that you can get a degree in songwriting. And I want to make sure that the next 17-year-old girl who doesn't know who she is yet and is terrified and is writing these songs in her bedroom, saving her own life, has a place she can go where someone’s going to say, this is exactly what you’re supposed to be doing. And you’re great. Yes, play that song live for us."