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Four University of North Georgia (̨Íåswag) students, along with Dr. Esther Morgan-Ellis, professor of music history, attended the fourth annual at the Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) .

Morgan-Ellis said students Caroline Barron, Moriah Miller, Sawyer Shepherd, and Cooper Sandefur "had their eyes opened to all sorts of new possibilities and came away really excited about making music. I can't wait to take another group next year."

​Sandefur is a sophomore from Dallas, Georgia. He is pursuing a Bachelor of Music with a musical arts concentration.

"My favorite part of the String Band Summit was being able to create music with people from all different backgrounds, even people who brought their musical culture from other countries, all under one roof and one sound," he said. "As a composer, I learned some pretty valuable information about folk music that I intend to bring into my more commercial works."

A rare opportunity was creating a that will be preserved in the MTSU archive.

"The wax cylinder, that might have been the coolest thing I've ever done," Sandefur said. "It was such a unique experience and provided some really awesome insight into how music-making used to be."

Morgan-Ellis was astonished to learn that there is still a company in England that produces blank cylinders for use on these recording machines.

"It was fascinating to watch the recording engineer work. You must carefully monitor the cylinder and communicate with the performer when they are running out of time and blow the residue off as the needle carves into the substance, which I learned is not wax," Morgan-Ellis said.

Miller, a senior from Warne, North Carolina, said the wax recording was unbelievable.

"Being recorded on a wax cylinder was surreal because it felt so connected to the past. Music has been around pretty much as long as humanity has, and it is fascinating to think about how far technology has come in preserving it," she said.

Miller said the experience will foster her career aspirations as she pursues a Bachelor of Music and a minor in kinesiology.

"This experience will bolster my confidence in knowing that I have ideas and perspectives worth sharing," she said. "This summit exposed me to niche musical interests, and I was able to witness how passionate the experts were about it."

This is the second time Morgan-Ellis has taken students to the summit.