Shepherd Scratches Competitive Itch in Dartmouth Idol

HANOVER, N.H. – Baseball and music have one thing in common: an audience. For many athletes, performance anxiety can impede success. However, for Will Shepherd, a love of performance in sport and performing music has led him to a third-place finish in Dartmouth Idol, and beyond that a healthy balance of work and creativity.

The sophomore, right-handed pitcher and government major had the opportunity to work with Walter Cunningham, Director of Contemporary Pop Ensembles at the Hopkins Center of the Arts at Dartmouth (known generally as The Hop), and his team to create a music video mash up of Toby Keith's "A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action" and ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man," winning him a third-place finish. However, for Shepherd, the outcome was not as important as the chance to spend time performing music, which has always been an outlet for him.

"Music is a way to escape for me." Shepherd said. "It is a way for people to get away from the bad things that are happening in the world. If I have a bad day on the mound, I can just go home to my guitar and to the music. I can really just relax. It's mindless to me. Music is the thing that I do to get away from any problems that are happening, if I need to think about something."

Dartmouth Idol invites students across campus, even graduate campuses, who may not necessarily participate in musical performance at Dartmouth otherwise, to submit an application. This year the program was entirely virtual, asking students to submit video applications of prepared songs. The process involves several rounds of judging both by audience votes and appointed judges. The competition concludes by awarding a first-, second- and third-place winner in the spring of the academic year.

Shepherd first began singing when he was only five years old in church choir. As a child he played several instruments including the guitar, which is how he discovered his love for music.

"I didn't always like singing, because I always thought I was really bad." Shepherd recalled. "I was scared to sing in front of people. As I got better at guitar, I decided I might as well start playing. Then I found out there was an opportunity to go play shows and go make money doing it."

Playing the guitar is what really drove Shepherd to enjoy performing in front of crowds and playing music for others. Part of what drives him to enjoy musical performance so much is the adrenaline rush and the chance to perform songs that will get people excited and engaged with his music. While one of Shepherd's favorite genres is old country, he is motivated to perform based on what people want to hear.

"My dad was raised on a cattle ranch. He was very big into old country," commented Shepherd. "But I like playing what people listen to. My favorite part about music and about baseball is performing. I love the games; I love the shows. Whenever I play at bars or restaurants, people come up to me to request songs. While I might not necessarily like it, I'm going to try to play it because the people are there to be entertained, and I really like it when they are having a good time."

Shepherd's love of old country, performance and music that is exciting for the audience led him to choose Toby Keith's "A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action" for his performance in the Dartmouth Idol finals. He was still undecided about what the second song should be, and it was Cunningham who helped him make his final decision.

"I wanted songs that were going to get everybody going," said Shepherd, and the audience certainly agreed with his finals placement. "Somehow I made it to the finals. I don't know how. The viewers must have been doing something I don't know about, but it was pretty cool to get to the finals."

Shepherd was still able to get the audience excited, even if it was over Zoom, not a live audience like The Hop venue. For him, the feeling of performing for the camera rather than a room full of people was a very different feeling.

"The adrenaline is way different. If I am performing in front of 800 people in The Hop, it's definitely different than me taking multiple takes to get the best product on a video," Shepherd said. "There was a little bit of pressure when I went to the recording studio. It was a very professional set up. There were cameras all around filming everything that I was doing, and I didn't really know what to do."

The initial adjustment to performing in front of camera was a curveball for Shepherd. He did mention, however, that there is something to be said for performing for a camera.

"It has definitely taught me to act like I'm just kind of in my room by myself whenever I am performing for a bunch of people," Shepherd said. "That way all the true emotion comes out."

Will Shepherd Dartmouth Idol 2021 Performing for video cameras actually helped Shepherd to connect to the deeper emotions and tones of the songs he performed. This is an aspect that he hopes will help him to connect to songs in the future, when he is able to perform music for a live audience.

In fact, much of Shepherd's experiences during Dartmouth Idol served as valuable takeaways and lessons during a time when he and the Dartmouth baseball team were unable to compete due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Staying alone and home in the house forces you to think about a lot of things such as, why am I really doing this? Why am I here? What am I going to do in the future?" said Shepherd. "You get a chance to look inward and think about what really matters."

This time spent thinking and reflecting was an important time for Shepherd. It made him realize that one aspect he really missed about being on campus and playing baseball was the team atmosphere.

"Just being around the guys is an interesting dynamic," said Shepherd. "You are close to each other in the dorms, you are walking together to class, you are walking together to lunch. You are basically thrown in with these guys and you just become best friends immediately. You are with them close to eight hours a day. When that gets taken away from you because of COVID, suddenly you're not together, and you don't really know how to handle that situation."

Isolation due to COVID-19 has been a difficult adjustment for athletes who are used to being around their teammates all the time during a normal year. Shepherd is looking forward to getting back to campus and regular practice. He mentioned that team bonding is critical to how the team works together and, ultimately, the team's success.

"I'm really excited to get back on campus," Shephard remarked. "There will be a lot of benefits to coming back in the fall. We will again get so tight, and the season will get started. I'm really excited for that."

While Shepherd is looking forward to returning to campus largely to be back with the team, competing in the sport he loves, he also hopes to look into a way to balance music with baseball and even join some sort of musical group or simply play guitar whenever he has the chance. Shepherd even writes his own content, when he has the time to do so.

"I do a lot of writing music as well," Shepherd said. "I am still trying to figure out what my sound is. I just write about things. Similar to, I guess, a poet or someone who just writes things down. I just get an idea and write it down. Sometimes they become full songs, sometimes they're just words on a page or ideas that you think about. It's a really cool, introspective way to think about things."

In his free time, Shepherd has even released some music to online streaming services. Whether it be to release music or simply to find a moment of calm, music has taught him to find joy in the small aspects of life and not take anything too seriously. Shepherd even mentioned that music simply helps him have fun and relax, which is a valuable technique when baseball or school can get stressful.

Through his time at Dartmouth — as a student, baseball player and musician — Shepherd has found that what he really values are learning and connecting with others. He chooses not to necessarily focus on the outcome or the grade, but rather instead on what he will take away from his time in college.

"I really focus on human relationships and human connection," Shepherd said. "I think that's what's important about college. It's not always what you major in, it's how you can connect to this human being or this conversation. How can I make it so that I develop this relationship with someone, whether that be as a friend, as a teammate, as a classmate and so forth."

Relationship building through connecting to people aligns with Shepherd's love of performing. He strives to play what people want to hear and to connect to them through the song's emotion. Yet another takeaway from the pandemic for Shepherd is that he wants to continue performing and continue making music.

"Outside of baseball, for me personally, music is the thing that I do best," commented Shepherd. "It is very scary to commit to performing music because it is so oversaturated with people trying to get into the industry. I guess what I've learned about myself is music may be something that I want to do for the rest of my life, whether that be playing shows or playing for 10,000 people in arenas. We'll see what happens."

Through competing in Dartmouth Idol, Shepherd was able to share with the Dartmouth community his talent, his love of music and his success at balancing schoolwork, baseball and music because they complement each other. In reality, however, he had a love for music since he was a child and performing for the Dartmouth community simply brought that to the forefront. Shepherd hopes that everyone can find a healthy balance of the multiple facets in their lives, because this balance has helped him so much.

"It is a good way to get out of your head," Shepherd said. "I get in this rhythm of school, baseball, school, baseball … when I can get 15 minutes at any point to just sit down and play the guitar I can just be in my own little world and that is really valuable. I think everyone should find something like that."

Shepherd's ultimate love of performance together with the mindless and natural way music flows for him are assets that he will bring back to campus in the fall — to his teammates on the field, his peers in the classroom and all those lucky enough to watch him perform.