杏吧原创

During her final semester at UMass Lowell, a dream came true for Maddie May Scott, drummer with the all-female hard rock quartet Flight of Fire.

Scott鈥檚 band was invited by rock royalty Melissa Etheridge to join the all-star lineup playing on Etheridge鈥檚 annual seven-night spring cruise. The opportunity melded two of Scott鈥檚 aspirations 鈥� to be in a touring rock band and to be a cruise ship musician.听

The cruise was 鈥渋ncredible,鈥� says Scott. Flight of Fire played three shows, signed autographs and jammed with other musicians 鈥� 鈥渞anging from Guns N鈥� Roses with a country singer to AC/DC with a violinist.鈥澛�

Flight of Fire was called onstage to play with Joan Osborne and Sarah Peacock, and 鈥渨e got to hang out with Melissa and she was so cool 鈥� such a laid-back rock star.鈥�

Scott says she drank in her time in the 鈥渢ight-knit community of musicians.鈥�

鈥淭he thing I like about this school is that it is so balanced,鈥� says Scott. 鈥淚 would probably be bored if it was just music I studied or was exposed to. But there鈥檚 a lot of variety on campus. And there are things going on all the time.鈥�

Scott, who grew up in France, is passionate about music, but languages are also important to her, to the extent that she added a second major in Spanish and French to her music studies. 鈥淚 need to keep my French up,鈥� she says. On campus, she worked as a French tutor at the UML Centers for Learning.听

Scott says the university provided a perfect balance of music, challenging academics and preparation for a career as a professional musician.听

鈥淚 got more exposure to more things. It wasn鈥檛 just drums, drums, drums,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here was ensemble, two a semester, and all kinds of other things we were required to take for the music major.听 And I learned things I never thought I would in the classroom. We had to make a website and business cards. I learned to be a professional. It鈥檚 super-useful.鈥�

Especially if you鈥檙e on the rise in the music business.