What I Learned from Listening to Ravel’s Bolero for 14 Hours Non-Stop

A College Education Happens in Many Different Ways

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

During the course of a lifetime a human being goes through many rites of passage. Birth, for example. First love. The death of a loved one and enduring a Republican primary debate. For me, one of the most memorable rites of passage happened in college during my “pledge weekend” — the weekend I was initiated into a fraternity.

I realize, of course — especially in these politically correct times — that college fraternities are rarely associated with anything remotely smacking of insight, awareness, or transformation. But for me it most certainly was — at least on the rite of passage night I was initiated into Pi Lambda Phi — an experience now permanently etched into whatever remains of my mind.

The initiation? To sit blindfolded in a pitch black room, next to 21 of my sweating classmates, all of us holding 17 marbles in our left hands while listening to Ravel’s Bolero for 14 hours.

That is not a misprint, folks. Fourteen hours of Bolero. Fourteen.

If you are not familiar with Bolero, allow me to briefly introduce it to you. It goes a little something like this: dahhhh, dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah, dah, dah dah dahhhh, dah dah dah, dah…