My name is Marlee Finner, I am a Commercial Music student at Idaho State University. I am going into a career for music because of the impact it has made on me since childhood. I spend my childhood moving around to school after school with a mother who was taking care of my sister and I without a spouse. I was constantly having to make new friends, try new hobbies, and get used to new places only to move again and try to start over. The cycle of trying to be a new person only settled when I started band in the 6th grade, playing the flute. I had just moved to another new school that gave all of their students the option to either enroll in PE class or in Band class-- I chose to play music because as a 6th grader, I was tired of PE! That decision ended up changing the entire course of my life and I am now going to university for music. That class was able to provide me a blueprint of who I really want to be, and that is priceless. Because of how I found so much solace in music during primary school, it was obvious to me that I would go to college to pursue a career in it. I graduated high school in 2020 (with a senior project that involved me writing my very first piece, a duet called Yellow Lullaby), and then left home to become a Performance major at the University of Idaho. The personal struggles didn't stop once I went to college; I had a lot of personal identity crises that resulted in some new LGBTQ identities as well as a reckoning with what I really wanted to do after college with a Bachelor of Music degree. Through all of that identity struggle, being able to play music was my solace. I wasn't pursuing composition, but I was trying my best to become a better player and contribute to the bands and choirs I was a part of for the University. Getting experience playing the oboe, percussion, and singing in the university's Jazz Choir was the emotional expression I needed to figure out who I am and what I want to do in the future. One of the revelations I had at that time was that a Performance degree wasn't the right fit for me-- I wanted to try and jump into composition again, and Idaho State University had a program that I was convinced to transfer to. At Idaho State University, I am working for a degree in Commercial Music as a percussionist. I spend my time here writing my own music that expresses my feelings and exercises my creative muscles, helping to record and produce music for others in my program through the City Creek Records label, and getting better as a percussionist for the various groups I play in for the school. One of the first songs I was able to write and record myself at ISU, Snowed In, isn't up for release but taught me a ton about songwriting and recording with all of the instruments I can play. My eyes have been opened to all kinds of electronic and fusion music that my peers in the program create, and I am in the best place I have been emotionally since I started band in elementary school. Currently, I am set to release an album of my own original music and graduate with my degree in the spring of 2027, and I can't wait to share my art with others!

I am big on movies. Ever since i was a little kid, movies have been my escape and entertainment when I felt alone. Even to this day, I've watched the 2nd Care Bears movie more times than nessicary! However, if someone asked me what my favorite movie of all time is, I'd tell them it's Big Fish. As one of Tim Burton's lesser known movie, I think Big Fish tends to evade people's attention. Beatlegeuse and The Nightmare Before Christmas are certainly fantastic, but Big Fish will always have a place in my heart. The story is wholesome and meaningful, an eccentric man's life story as told in fantastical tall tales that are so fun to watch! One of my favorite parts of the movie has to be the last tall tale, as told by the man's son. It's my favorite part because the son has been skeptical and annoyed at his dad's stories the whole movie, but as his father is dying, he agrees to tell him how he dies. It's a whacky tale that includes a car chase, everyone his father has ever known, and a big river, where the son lays his father down, and his father becomes a big fish that swims away. The movie makes me cry every time I watch it, and I love it! There are so many movies that have had a big impact on me, but this one is one I'll remember for as long as I watch movies. If people don't like the more creepy side of Tim Burton's movies, or simply want to watch something meaningful, I'll recommend Big Fish to them every time. It's my favorite movie and I don't think I'll ever be able to watch it too many times.

My name is Marlee Finner, and I'm an undergraduate at the University of Idaho. I am currently working on a music performance major. I've been a musician since I was in the sixth grade, and it really changed my life! When I first got into music, I had just moved to a smaller town and a new school with my family. I started out playing the flute, and I've continued to play music up until the present. After I played the flute for a few years, I followed in my older sister's footsteps and branched out, instrument wise. I started playing percussion when I got into high school, and fell in love with it immediately. My sophomore year, I was inspired at an Honor Band event to learn how to play the oboe. I don't play much of the flute any more, but I've spent this whole school year learning all I need to improve on the oboe, from a professor at this college who has much more experience than I do! I've gone through a lot of changes throughout my life, but one thing has stayed constant: my music. I always made sure to make room for my band classes in high school, and I can't imagine doing anything else now that I'm in college. My art, though it isn't professional yet, has provided me with a way to let my emotions go. I can push all that I've bottled up into my music, and I love that I can make others who listen feel as strongly as I do when I play an instrument. For a long time, music has given my life a purpose. Learning to practice and play different pieces, in groups or in solo, drives me to be a better version of myself every day. When I play, I feel more connected to the musicians and listeners around me, and I relish in that sense of connected-ness and community that I've never felt with any other activity. Music is truly the language that everyone can understand, and learning to play it and make it beautiful and emotional has been the most fufilling experience of my life. When I get my degree, I plan on going on to do studio music. It's definitely a more unsung job for a musician, and I'm not sure I'll have the dicipline for it yet, but I want to succeed so I can inspire others to take the same journey I have. Music is a very full way of life, and I want to be the one to perform for someone who takes that performance to play their own. I plan on making my life revolved around music so that people I meet will know that they can do it too-- I certainly needed those performers when I was first starting out, and I plan on becoming that role after college (or even during!). Whether I play for a movie that changes people's views or makes the more sensitive of us cry, or I play in the background for a singer, or I end up composing using the knowledge I gathered from my time at university, I want music to be the life that I live. It's something I don't think I could live without, and I think I could have a real impact connecting those who listen.

As a musician myself, I connect to the music I listen to in a deep and powerful way. This playlist was inspired by Morning Sun, by Melody Gardot. This is one of my favorite songs, and I decided to make my playlist based on the feelings and messages the music conveys for me. Some of the songs, like Anthropocene (by Samsa) were put in for the optimistic message they convey in the same way. Others were put in for having the similar calming composition; Debussy's Claire De Lune is one such song.