Music and IEver since I was a small child, I have loved music. The strong, steady beats, theentrancing melodies, and the lyrics that vary between heart-warming and heart-wrenchinghave always had an unexplainable affect on my life. Music seems to have the ability tochange certain aspects of my world. If I am in a foul mood, an angry girl band can makemy rotten attitude even more irresistibly awful.
When I am happy, any sort of upbeat,dance-to-me kind of music enhances my joy that much more. I love to study to classicalmusic, daydream to classical music, even sleep to classical music. Through my teenyears, I became a fan of the often melodramatic country music that is still preset on myradio today. No matter what kind of music it is, when I turn it on, my mood morphseasily into whatever kind of music I am listening to.
Music has absolutely been an enormous part of my life and who I am. However,this is not to say that I have much musical talent. I did perform in the choir in elementary school, and I played the flute for four years through middle school, but one day I came to a simple decision. When it comes to music, I am a much better enjoyer of it than a producer of it. When I am alone in the car, my sing-along-to-whatever-is-on-the-radio voice is fab-u-lous. However, as soon as any else climbs into the car with me my talent suddenly dwindles.
My larynx doesn’t seem to appreciate an audience when it is trying to perform. Thus, my musical enjoyment stems directly from listening. My love for music has existed for as long as I can remember. When I was a child,my mom and I had a special song that she would sing to me if I was sick, sad, orsometimes just as a treat before bed.
To this day, “You are My Sunshine” has the powerto make me teary-eyed. Because it is not a song that is often played on the radio, I hardly ever hear it anymore. However, whenever someone is whistling it as they walk by or I hear it on a movie (who doesn’t love Beaches?), my heart soars and a smile creeps across my face as my eyes begin to swell. The song simply has the ability to bring back amillion happy memories from my childhood within its first few notes. When my older sister got married, I wanted to do something special to remind herof our childhood and to take her mind off of the wedding stress as we were getting readythe day of the wedding. I thought back to all of the songs we loved when we were little,many of which were sung by the infamous one-hit-wonders of the eighties.
I think eachgeneration has songs that are popular to them and that they will never forget the lyrics to. However, if you mentioned the artists that sang them or the names of other songs theysang, no one would have a clue what you were saying. Still, the songs are precious to thepeople that grew up with them. When my sister and I listened to the CD I made for her inthe limousine on the way to the ceremony, we were both brought right back to the dayswhen we were growing up. Wedding seem to provide a perfect atmosphere for the sentimental music that issometimes otherwise condemned as “cheesy.
”My sister, as the Matron of Honor at mywedding, threw in two wonderful surprises as she was giving her toast. The first surprisewas that my younger brother helped her, and the second surprise came just as they beganto speak. Suddenly, music swelled behind their voices. As a private sibling joke, mybrother and sister and I have always teasingly sang “You are the Wind Beneath myWings” to each. The music that began just as they did was that very song.
Incrediblyenough, this special effect that was meant as a joke made me burst into tears. I can’texplain why, because although they weren’t tears of joy, I certainly wasn’t sad. Maybemy tears were that of appreciation for my siblings’ support. Whatever the reason, mytears triggered my younger brother’s emotions, and then he and my sister both shed a fewtears as they finished their toast.
The song that was such a joke to all of us had somehow become presious and sacred at the same time. Perhaps a part of the reason that I love music so much is due to the fact that I alsolove to dance. To me, you just can’t have one without the other. Most people wouldagree that unless you have an incredible internal beat; it is pretty tough to dance without music. While I agree, I also find it unbelievably tough to hear music without dancing. Anything that has a beat is enough to make my feet want to move, my hips want to sway,and hands to flail about.
What’s funny is that while I would never say I have two leftfeet, I certainly have no hope of impressing anyone with my dancing abilities. Nevertheless, as the nerdy vice-principle from Greasesaid, “When I hear music I justcan’t make my feet behave!”Looking back at my life, I think part of the reason I am so prone to dancing whenI hear a good beat stems back to my childhood. In elementary school, music was one ofmy favorite subjects. There was one activity that I was always sure I was better at doingthan anyone else in my class. My teacher would bring out a big bass drum and pound outa slow, steady beat on it.
As a class, our job was to find the beat as quickly as we could, then march or stomp around the room to the beat. Once my teacher was confident that we had all found the beat, she would move on to another one. Each beat she createdwould be a little more complex and a little bit faster than the one before it. As shenoticed which students had caught on to the beat and were stomp/marching to it correctly,she would call out their name so the class could watch them if they were struggling.
Iwas always so proud to hear my name shouted out. In my mind, there is music everywhere. I’m not one of those people who thinkthey hear a melody in the falling snow flakes, but I hear a definite rhythm even now as Itype on the keyboard to my computer. I consider iambic pentameter to be one of themost beautiful rhythm’s created, and I give Shakespeare an enormous amount of credit tobe able to write in it for as many stanzas as he did. Anyone who has read “The MidnightRide of Paul Revere” knows what I am talking about when I say that poets can add aconsistent rhythm to their pieces to make them that much more effective.
Classical music is also something that I love to listen to. The melodies, thecrescendos and decrescendos, the changes in tempo and the different dynamics of themusic are enough to touch anyone’s heart. I used to love to fall asleep listening toclassical music, but once I noticed that I had began listening to the music instead offalling asleep I had to turn it into a strictly daytime activity. I found I would lie awake with my eyes closed, picturing all sorts of things. I would imagine anything fromanimals running to rivers flowing to couples dancing.
Although I am sure this was quitegood for my imagination, it certainly wasn’t helping me the next day when I had to get upfor school. Once I was able to get past the stereotypes I had about country music, I found thatI really like the sound of it as well. Of course, there is probably no better music to listen to when your life is running a little less that smoothly. No matter what sort of tragedy has occurred in my life, there is a country singer out there somewhere that has been though the same thing and has written a song about it.
Aside from the sad country songs, some of the most beautiful love ballads I have ever heard have come across my speakers with a bit of twang and a Texas accent. This semester I am taking a class on integrating music into the elementary schoolclassroom. I have seen some amazing techniques from my instructor, but the mostpowerful demonstration I have seen was presented by one of my classmates for our finalprojects. She read a book to the class while music played in the background. She read achildren’s book about pirates called Tough Boris that is not going to be winning aNewberry or Caldecott Award anytime soon.
However, Fanfare for the Common Manplayed as she read it, timed just right, gave me goose bumps. Each time she finished aline, the music seemed to respond to what she had said. For example, as she read the line“All pirates are greedy,” the music in the background blared as though to signify thehorrific trait that greed really is. When she read the line “All pirates cry,” the musicsuddenly became softer and let her audience know that pirates are people too and theyreally do have feelings. The intensity of the music made an okay book seem unreal andamazing. To prove her point about the effectiveness of music in life, she also brought upthe example of the significance of music in movies.
From the scary horror flicks of today to the older Alfred Hitchcock movies toGone with the Wind, music plays an immense role in the emotions felt while watching amovie. Imagine the music that plays as the protagonist slowly creeps up the stairs towardthe monster hiding in the bedroom. The intensity and volume of the music let us knowthat we are supposed to be afraid for this person and their safety. As soon as the tension is released through the actor’s escape or some other form of success, the music quiets, becomes more cheerful, or may even cease all together.
A scary movie just wouldn’t be the same if it were watched without the music, nor would a great romance be so heart-wrenching if the music didn’t swell in the background as the lovers were reunited. Realities such as this make me sure that I am not the only person who feels theeffects of music on them in their everyday lives. In fact, I have only met one or twopeople in my life who don’t like to listen to music while they drive. No one I know hasever told me that they don’t like music.
I would venture to say that enjoying music isprobably innate in us as human beings. Although each person has a distinctly uniquetaste of music, people still like to listen to it and enjoy it. My own personal experiences and attitudes to music have stemmed from my own life and relationships. My new husband and I just finished putting up our very first Christmas treetogether. I was pleasantly amazed when he flipped on the radio to Christmas tunes andbegan singing along to them with me. These holiday songs are only another example tome of how powerful music is.
As soon as we starting singing while we were putting upornaments on the tree, our moods were lifted easily from the stress of looming finals andanother Christmas working in retail. Although this is the first year I won’t be spendingChristmas at home, I know that all I will have to do is listen to the old familiar notes of “Holy Jolly Christmas” to feel right at home.
