Trinity Rein Music Appreciation “Music in My Life” Music, more so now than ever before, is a huge part of my life. As a child I always enjoyed listening to music and singing along to it, and growing up it was always very important to me. Music moved me in a way that I really couldn’t explain and it still does today. I consider myself a very deep and philosophical person. I’m always trying to look beyond the surface of that which I see, hear, and experience, and extract the true, hidden meaning or the underlying message.
When you look that deep into things, you learn that many things in this world, and even some people in it, are very allow and don’t have much else going on than what you see on the outside. However, music is nothing like that. Music has many layers and meanings and messages, and they vary depending on who’s interpreting them. Music can be virtually meaningless to one person, and mean the world to another. It can bring about feelings of Joy, happiness, motivation, loneliness, sadness, anger, or calmness and complete contentment. Music is a unique and powerful blessing in my life.
Many of my early childhood memories are directly linked to music. There have been many times in my life when I have heard a song or a melody, and I connected with it, t felt familiar, but I didn’t know exactly why. As I would continue to listen, images and memories would pop into my mind, memories of family, and friends, and events, both good and bad, which have happened in my life. Music has a mysterious way of tapping into the subconscious and unlocking things that would otherwise be untouchable. When you experience that it’s an amazing feeling.
As I began to realize the power of music I decided to take a more active role in it. When I was in elementary school, probably fourth or fifth grade, I decided to try playing an instrument. I knew that I loved music and I listened to many different hypes of it, but I was unsure which instrument would be best for me to start with. I went to my school’s band director and expressed my intentions to him, along with my confusion on which instrument to choose. After talking for a while, and maybe because he was lacking musicians willing to play it, he pointed me in the direction of the cello.
I wasn’t quite sure what a cello was, it Just looked like a big violin that you stand upright between your legs as you play, but I decided that I was going to give it a shot. My family rented a cello from the school band and I began lessons immediately. I was very excited. Music, and how it has effected my life. By Babylon players in the school band and we had our first concert coming up in less than a month. The cello players, as a group, had their own solo part in the concert playing, if memory serves me correctly, “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star. Although I loved playing, I got extremely nervous playing in front of more than a few people and I came to dread the upcoming concert. I continued to practice and I knew my part well, however the anxiety was very stressful for me. The night of the concert, I was running late and as scrambling to get everything together as my Mother hurried me out to the car. I ran through a mental checklist during the ride to the school, cello, check, sheet music, check, bow and rosin, check, pad… I began to panic!
The pad is the crucial little piece of round rubber in which the leg of the cello rests in so as to not slip all over the place as you play. Yeah, it’s fairly important to have that at a concert where you’ll be playing front stage. I begged my Mother to turn around so that we could go back home and get my pad, but she informed me that we didn’t have enough time. She said that the band erector will probably have an extra one there for me. We finally arrived and I rushed to the back of the stage to get ready. I was extremely nervous and worried about forgetting my pad.
Luckily my director did have an extra pad, however it was old and worn and made out of some weird type of cloth instead of rubber. I didn’t think too much of it though and began to set up. The concert began and things were going smoothly, probably because I wasn’t playing yet. When it came time for our cello solo, or would that be a cello triplet? Anyway, we moved to front stage and set up. I was so rovers and scared that I was shaking. On a side note, this whole experience made me question my love for music. Luckily that was Just a phase though, and my true passion later came out.
I set the old worn pad down and pulled the pin, or leg, out from the bottom of my cello and set it into the pad. Bow in hand, sheet music in front of me; I was ready to get this over with. I felt the cello trembling in my hands as I shook anxiously. I gently clamped the inside of my knees together around the cello to stabilize it. Our song began. I started playing the song and was thankful for all the practice time I put in. Things were going rather well at first, but then… I carelessly, and probably from sheer nervousness, missed a note and got out of rhythm from my band members.
I got scared and began to shake even worse. At this point the cello began to wiggle free from my legs. The worn cloth pad slipped around on the freshly waxed wooden stage. I tried desperately to hold the cello in place, but it was like trying to hold up a wobbly child first learning how to ice skate. Suddenly, the cello slipped and lunged forward, hitting the music stand in front of me sending it down the front stage steps violently. I yanked back on the cello and tried to regain my composure. I searched with my ears to find the correct part in the song, and tried frantically to get back in place.
Then it happened! The pad gave way once more and at this point my small hands were too tired to maintain their grip on the neck of the cello. It sprang forward, off the top step of the front stage. The cello fell sideways and rumbled down the steps, crashing loudly next to the music stand that fell Just moments before. I stood That was the end of my cello days. My love for music had put me through the most embarrassing moment of my young life, or so I thought. I never played the cello again. I wasn’t totally crushed however.
Lugging around that big cello and going to band practice all the time was getting somewhat old. And besides, playing the cello wasn’t necessarily the “coolest” thing for a young boy to do. I went back to listening and enjoying music privately, in my home, vowing never again to participate in anything musical in front of large crowds. After the sting of embarrassment faded, I realized that my love for music was too strong, and that Just like when I fell off my bike when trying to learn how to ride it, I needed to pull myself together and try gain.
Throughout middle and high school I tried playing the drums, the piano, and the trumpet, but not in any concerts. And while they we’re all very rewarding experiences, and even though I particularly enjoyed the piano, I gave up playing after a few years and didn’t touch another instrument until Just recently at the not-so- young-anymore age of 24. After high school I began working full-time and I moved out on my own. I started experiencing much of what life, and women, had to offer, both good and bad. Music was my haven during this crucial period in my life.
I learned a lot about myself and bout how the world really works during this time. Overall though, it was a very confusing and painful time for me. Betrayed by life-long friends, cheated on by the love of my life, and simply left to wallow in my own pity, it was the hardest yet most insightful time of my life. That’s when my true love of music finally took hold. I began writing poetry, and songs, and listening to very deep, meaningful music. Song lyrics were like bible passages, musicians were like Gods, and music became the focus of my being. As the years passed I learned as much about music as I could.
While most of what I studied and listened to was contemporary music, specifically rock-and-roll and its alternative forms, I did from time to time listen to classical and older music. I had a deep sense of appreciation for it all, from country to rap to classical to Jazz to death metal to R&B to pop to rock-and-roll. I could find solace within music, I could relate to the sounds, the lyrics, the meaning and purpose behind it all. If I wanted music to enhance the mood and mind-set I was in… It would. If I wanted music to completely change the mood and mind-set I was in… It would.
It could bring me down, it could lift me up, and it never Judged me. For some time, music was my savior. Fast forward to today. I love and respect music even more. I attend concerts regularly and feel moved when I get caught up in the moment… In the music. Inspired by my fondness of playing piano, and because rock-and-roll had become my preferred genre of music to listen to, I decided once again to take up playing an instrument, and this time it was the admirable guitar that stole my heart. I have never in my life played or heard an instrument that sounded so beautiful, so harmonious, so elegant, ND yet so raw.
From the first moment when a sailor friend of mine played for me, play the guitar. I Just feel “right” when I have a guitar in my arms, some lyrics in my head, and a melody in my ears… And I knew it from the first moment I strummed a note. Over the years I have continued to write poetry and songs. Today, I have been playing guitar for about one year and am becoming rather good at it. I am starting to put lyrics to music and am starting to sing as well. It’s difficult at times, but it’s all starting to come together, and I am loving every single minute of it.
Beginning on the unknown brand guitar that my friend left me, and then moving on to an Beanie electric, a Gibson acoustic, and then a Tacoma acoustic, I have finally settled on my instrument of choice… A Martin DXL dreadnought acoustic. It’s a beautiful instrument and Martin’s sound is unmatched when it comes to acoustic guitars. I recently Just finished a guitar class at college and now have an even deeper understanding of how to read, write, play, and appreciate music. I listen to rock-and-roll every day, I play my guitar every day, and I thank God for music… Every day.
