What Would Dumbledore Do?

---

Dinah Russell is Senior Editor to Wizrocklopedia

I have given a great deal of thought to what I have learned from Dumbledore over the years I have known him, for lack of a better term. I have come up with a ton of lessons, to be honest. I have learned tolerance, open-mindedness, joy in living, how to make difficult decisions for the right reasons, and a gained great love of socks from Albus Dumbledore. To be more accurate, these are things that have been cemented in my mind upon learning more about Dumbledore and his actions.

Today I would like to focus on one lesson I have learned in particular: following our passions. In particular, I would like to focus on the creativity and hard work inspired by the Harry Potter series at large in the form of Wizard Rock.

For those of you reading this blog post through the HPA Common Room, you may or may not be aware of my involvement in the Wizard Rock Community. I have been listening to Wrock music for about 5 years now and have been actively following the community for the past 3. I started writing for the Wizrocklopedia as a columnist a little over a year ago now and, when Lizz was called to retire her status as Senior Editor, became one of the new Senior Editors (with Freya by my side) about 6 months ago.

Now, what does this have to do with Wizard Rock as a passion inspired by the Harry Potter series and Dumbledore? The answer is everything. I would like to look a bit into the various ways in which Wizard Rock has inspired passion, including not just the musicians in the world, but the individuals out there with an entirely different set of abilities.

First and foremost are the musicians themselves. Without the musicians who dedicate themselves so very thoroughly to their music, there would be no Wizard Rock. Albus Dumbledore’s appreciation and love of music is often cited in regards to Wizard Rock and I am not going to disappoint. “Ah music. A magic beyond all we do here.” When I think on this quote, I can only guess that his love of music is spurred on by the joy it brings and the dedication and imagination needed to create it. All the Wizard Rockers I have ever known are chock full of love for what they are doing and are entirely dedicated to what they are creating. It is my own personal little joke that all Wizard Rockers are exhibiting their greatest Hufflepuff traits by their dedication to their music, loyalty to the community, and disregard for what people think of them when they discover that they play “that weird Harry Potter music”. What passion is there that does not inspire outsiders to view us with a quirked eyebrow and a question in their eyes?

In any case, back to Dumbledore and Wizard Rock. I personally believe that Dumbledore would LOVE Wizard Rock and all the passion that it has created and inspired. Not only have well over 600 bands been created, but more than music has been inspired by the movement. My first case in point is the Schuyler sisters and The Wizard Rockumentary. Clearly, this is something that came to the fore because of Wrock. I don’t know the level of musical talent from Megan and Mallory, but they’re penchant is clearly for documenting and film-making. Creatively combining their love of music, Wrock, and film-making, the Wizard Rockumentary has turned into an amazing record of the growth of Wizard Rock over the course of a year in addition to documentation of the story of its origins.

To draw further on the idea of Wizard Rock inspiring others to follow their personal desires and strengths, I know that I was inspired in this way as well. To put it simply, I love to write. And I’m not talking writing novels, poetry, or much of anything that fits into the “creative writing” category. When I say I love to write, I mean I adore writing academic essays, articles, and pieces based on my own conjecture. So when I had the opportunity to combine my love of writing and my love of Wizard Rock by joining the Wizrocklopedia staff, I jumped at it. To be sure, I had no real experience in writing a column, but I had a great desire to try it out. You now see where this has led me! A passion for writing about Wrock is not limited to just me! There have been countless other writers for the ‘Pedia over time, there are other Wizard Rock websites and blogs that I’ve read and have loved immensely!

In many ways, Dumbledore chased after his passions, learning from his experiences based on those pursuits all the while (the “greater good” anyone?). I’m sure that Wizard Rockers have learned more about music and themselves as musicians over time, Megan and Mallory probably learned more about film-making through the process of the Wizard Rockumentary, and I know that I have learned a lot about writing for a news site and writing in general through the course of following my passion.

So when it all comes down to it, Albus Dumbledore showed me, among many other things, that it is a great thing to pursue our passions and it is equally important to learn from them.