Fifth-year music performance major Jake Lin has grown up in two different worlds.
Performance and swim have always been a part of his life. Beginning piano when he was six years old, learning the violin in fifth grade, picking up the bass during the COVID-19 pandemic, joining a dance team in high school, Lin said music was everything. Until it was not.
Coming into college, Lin was burnt out from music. After having years of experience in the pool, he decided to take the University of Indianapolis up on their offer to pursue swimming at the collegiate level as an exercise science major. Though he is an introvert, Lin said he loved how the sport allowed him to explore his social side. Being able to form relationships with teammates on various teams drew him in, and the competition within the sport taught him discipline. It was not until his academic advisor placed him in an introductory music class with Assistant Professor of Music Greg Martin that his spark for the arts was reignited, placing him on his path to earning a second bachelor’s degree in music performance during his five years at UIndy.
“I’ve traveled a bunch because of swimming, and all of that led me here,” Lin said. “And even though music is my lane now, if it wasn’t for swimming, I wouldn’t be here. And who knows what would have happened if I wasn’t here.”
In his online “Introduction to Music” class, the bond with Martin began to form. When Lin sent an email to Martin that struck him as unusual for a student in a beginner class, Martin said he responded by asking about his experience with piano. After hearing of Lin’s “significant repertoire,” his passion for music writing, his knowledge of multiple instruments and, most importantly, his interest in getting back into the arts, the two began working together.
“It’s been great seeing him return to it, but also see it in terms of how it’s expanded outwards too, and really blossoming into all of these different kinds of music or kinds of instruments,” Martin said. “It’s not just that he’s grown as a pianist, right? It’s that he’s exploring all sorts of different aspects of music that may have been just peripheral to him four years ago.”
To capture the culmination of his piano journey, Lin recently held a recital, “新月” or “New Moon” on April 16. He said the title comes from how a new moon can represent the beginning or end of something — the interplay symbolizing his whole situation at UIndy. He dedicated different sections of the concert to all of his past piano teachers, ranging from family friends to his professors at UIndy, where Lin said he chose pieces by composers that meant something to each teacher. He chose to perform works by Edvard Grieg for Martin, whom Lin said was the last person he talked to before the recital started, and the first person he talked to when he exited the stage afterward.
“He’s the one who really kick-started everything in terms of my music career here and being able to come back to continue doing music performance,” Lin said. “And he’s really been like a father figure while I’ve been here.”
Lin’s support ranges far within the campus and his own community, he said. UIndy students Gabe Bynoe, Mikayla Crider and Carlos Jefferson have been his closest friends through his college journey, according to Lin. He said supportive professors who have become his mentors, such as Martin and Associate Professor and Director of Keyboard Studies Ryan Behan, have given him guidance as he has fallen back in love with performing. Ultimately though, Lin said his number one supporters have always been his family — his grandparents watching his performances on their iPad back in Taiwan, his parents being able to voice their mind but always providing their support and his little brother who has seen Lin through every step of his journey as an athlete and performer.
After a double recital in one year, making history in the music department with concerto competitions and now getting accepted into three different graduate programs across the country, Martin said Lin and his reputation of living in the practice room will be missed in the Department of Music. He said he recalled times when he would be on campus during an odd hour of vacation but would still see Lin working in the music department. Being able to incorporate the athlete mentality into practicing music provides Lin with the discipline needed to have strengths in so many passions in and outside of performance, Martin said.
“It’s not going to be the same around here without him and his earnestness, his eagerness and his dedication,” Martin said. “Really, I think he is a model for other people.”
In Martin’s time at UIndy, he said he typically plays the piano during commencement. This year, however, he said he will be in the crowd to watch Lin walk the stage for the second time, this time to receive his degree in the passion reignited from the online “Introduction to Music” class Martin taught during Lin’s freshman year.
“My success here hasn’t been the work of just myself,” Lin said. “I’m just thankful to God for opening all these doors, for all the faculty’s support that I’ve received, for my family and friends being there through every step of the way. Even in the hardest times, I always found a way to be grateful about where I was … and I know that it’s only up from here and it’s only going to get crazier, so I’m ready.”
