Under extreme peer pressure and desire to like what's "mainstream," I attended the Akon and Rihanna concert last week.

Much to my disappointment, I felt it was only a waste of three hours of my life.

As an arts reporter, I am always trying to expand my musical horizons. I feel it's my civic duty.

But I think I may have tried a little too hard.

On the other hand, there are many students who don't try hard enough. Expanding musical horizons doesn't just mean to check out the new MTV fad. To truly expand your horizons, you have to experience something completely unfamiliar to you.

I expanded my horizons into classical music years ago, going where many are afraid to venture.

After conducting a fair share of interviews with classical musicians, I noticed they all tend to get stuck on one question.

I ask them how they would persuade students to come to see the concert, and they almost always reply that most students are close-minded when it comes to the performing arts and classical music, especially. I can't agree with them more.

When big shows come to the Bryce Jordan Center, students have no problem jumping in line at noon in the HUB-Robeson Center to secure their tickets for artists they barely even know.

Yet when some of the most talented and popular classical musicians come to venues like the Eisenhower Auditorium, you rarely see students in the audience. Last year, violinist Joshua Bell came with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. This year Itzhak Perlman will be coming.

They are superstars in the classical music spectrum, but none of my friends had ever heard of them.

Why is it that students are so open to new music but limit that to today's music?

Students tend to put a wall up between themselves and classical music, and it's one they know they won't break down. They associate it with gray hair and hearing aids and automatically decide they can't connect with it.

These are assumptions that, if ever investigated, one would find to be false. Classical music isn't prejudiced. It's not as intellectual as many believe it to be. Its sole purpose is to express the inexpressible. It's about emotions and that's what classical music targets.

I believe college is a time for learning, growing and experiencing new things. That's the whole point, right? It prepares you for the "real world" by giving you the opportunities to expand your horizons a bit.

So next time you want to go see a musical performance, why not consider your options? Don't place limits on yourself. You're in college. Try that new hairstyle, take the harder course, meet new people and go see a classical music concert.

Laura McCann is a sophomore majoring in secondary education-English and is a senior performing arts reporter for The Daily Collegian. Her e-mail address is lcm5040@psu.edu.