Creativity and critical thinking are essential aspects of Wittenberg’s liberal arts education, especially for students such as Tanner Jobes, class of 2017 from Richmond, Ind., who recently earned second place in an international music contest that combined two of his greatest passions—music and video games.
“I've always loved reading and writing as much as playing and listening to music. As far as hobbies go, I love video games--especially the Final Fantasy series. I appreciate the series for it's deep and complex stories and excellent music and soundtrack,” said Jobes, an English and music double major who has been playing the piano for nearly seven years.
The day before fall semester classes started, Jobes entered his video submission for The Theatrythm Final Fantasy Legacy of Music Contest, hosted by Square Enix to promote the release of the then upcoming music game Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call.
“The rules were simple: remake the prominent and iconic main theme of the series. The best part was that my music idol, Nobuo Uematsu, composer of the music for the series, was to judge the finals and select the winners. I couldn't miss out on this contest!” said Jobes, who adhered to additional optional rules by including a sign with his favorite Final Fantasy title on it and playing the music in the key of F at 120 beats per minute.
In an online announcement, the famed composer of the series named Jobes first runner-up and acknowledged his hard work in arranging and playing the music, as well as constructing a stage, props and lighting.
Jobes credits much of his creative success to educational experiences in his middle school’s course for high ability students, the LOGOS Lab program—so named for the Greek word logos. With ideals similar to Wittenberg’s liberal arts mission, LOGOS not only encouraged him to attain higher levels of critical thinking, but also taught him to how to research and to use research and his imagination to create something new.
“LOGOS helped me to see tasks from different angles and ultimately gave me a mindset where I am always thinking about creative solutions. I’m pleased to unleash a creative storm on the smallest of projects,” Jobes said.
“This has no doubt been useful in my time here at Wittenberg, and I believe that my music courses gave me that extra knowledge that I needed to transpose and reconstruct a purely chip tune, or 8-bit, piece of music into something of which I could be proud!”
For students such as Jobes, critical thinking and creativity go hand in hand as they pursue their passions in a variety of fields.
“I chose Wittenberg because I was looking for a school with a strong music program in a liberal arts setting. Out of all the other schools that I applied to and visited, Wittenberg was by far the most genuinely friendly and beautiful school I had seen. I knew right away that it had the strong support, community setting, and driven faculty that I needed in order to better myself musically and in all other aspects of my academic career. It was easy to see that everyone here, especially in the music program, encouraged and supported each other. I knew that there were so many opportunities to take a hold of here, where I could grow into a better musician and still explore my other academic interests.”
