Who has time to sleep when there’s music?

Photo by Andrea Huls

Baringer learned to play piano when she was five years old. She then went on to learn the guitar, and then the banjo. “I was all about getting the funkiest instrument I could find and learning how to play it,” she said.

Baringer expresses her creativity through music, dance and writing

By Alison McCauslin

Aslyn Baringer doesn’t want to be famous, which is not something usually heard from an aspiring singer/songwriter.

The 20-year-old sophomore is currently majoring in communication for both broadcast and journalism. With DJ’ing at Flagler College radio, singing at Rockin’ Bean Café on Thursday nights, writing a column for Old City Scene Magazine, and getting involved with nearly every activity she can get a hold of, Baringer’s quest is to find out where she wants to be. For now, she wants to sing.

Her love of music started with piano lessons at the age of five and grew from there. By 12 she was playing the guitar, which naturally progressed to … the banjo?

“I was all about getting the funkiest instrument I could find and learning how to play it,” she said, smiling at the memory.

Her dad played the banjo, and she says that prompted a different kind of taste in musical instruments. Other instruments in her repertoire include the mandolin, fiddle and accordion. When a harpsichord was mentioned, she laughed and said, “Maybe one day.”

Her parents’ open attitude toward learning encouraged Baringer to reach for her dreams. She affectionately calls them hippies, and even though she couldn’t do whatever she wanted to, her parents let her try nearly anything once. Music wasn’t the only outlet she had. Dance has been a constant in her life for the past 16 years as well. Obviously, rhythm is key in her extracurriculars.

Baringer looks to relationships for inspiration. “Not just on a sexual level, but relationships with people in general,” she said.

But it’s the unknowns in life that intrigue Baringer the most. “When my mind gets the most wild, it’s with possibilities,” she said. “Things that can happen to you day-to-day can be exciting, but the things that you can think up that could possibly happen are way more exciting.”

Though she’s getting plenty of buzz about her singing, which often consists of songs she wrote, Baringer is decidedly against a career in the music industry. She had a band that toured the east coast for a while and, despite the fact that she called it the “best time” of her life, the starving [music] artist life didn’t suit her.

What Baringer is interested in is a job in music journalism. Being a DJ and music director at Flagler College radio has helped her attain access to many bands, often interviewing them in the process. Saying this is her true passion wouldn’t necessarily be true, as she has so many passions that she’s equally talented at, but for now it’s what she’s aiming for.
“It all depends on where I feel like being,” she said. “You never know.”