The importance of music - Essay Example

The importance of music Music is an important part of my life. It adds just that little bit of extra flavor to my everyday existence. More than that, music represents that seeming correlation to life where certain songs and music are reminders that bring forth a stream of memory and emotions. Music is a basic means to affect my emotions and the message that songs contain relate to the mood that I could be experiencing. It is amazing how someone so remote from me such as a composer and singer could be feeling the same way or thinking the same thing that I could be feeling and contemplating. Music simply is love, life, and everything else in between. As a child I remember being exposed to music by my parents, especially by my mother. I remember her lullabies which had the basic lulling sounds and where she would just simply change the lyrics and talk to me through songs. The classical music which soothed me as a child remains to have the same effect to me today that whenever I hear melodies of Bach or Mozart it is like I am taken back to my childhood and it calms me down. The love for music is something that I attribute to my family because our household is always filled with songs. My mother, though not a singer, liked to sing that I am acquainted with older songs from the 1970s and 1980s and even decades far back. When I was younger, one of her favorite songs was “A Love Story” which I heard her sing and made me curious because the tone is familiar. Apparently that’s because it adopted the music of the great composers which I discovered when I watched the film where it was the theme song. The lyrics is that classic and all too familiar “Where do I begin to tell the story of how great a love can be.” This not only led me to appreciate old-fashioned music, it also made me watch movies a different way. That movie, made decades ago, feels like a basis for today’s standard of romantic movies which is nothing without superb scoring. Music definitely follows me throughout my life and outside of our home. I had always been encouraged to take up music as a child. I have wanted to learn to play an instrument and had actually taken up piano lessons and guitar lessons but I never quite stuck to it. Nevertheless, without having produced music personally, I continue to love it as a part of my existence. Being part of some school recital where I have to belt out a few short tunes, much to my shame is unavoidable when I was younger. I find nothing wrong in admitting that when I was younger I am a fan of popular music that included boy bands and teen stars. For a while I had been among those die-hard fans that had pictures of singers on their desktop page. Even to this day, I have moments when I enjoy the simple pleasures of listening to One Direction, Katy Perry or Taylor Swift. I actually do have in my play list Story of my Life, Dark Horse and White Horses, respectively just to name a few. My preference in music is an indication of my diverse personality. I believe that music, like our mood and feelings, changes from day to day and as we grow up. But there will always be artists who will remain with us throughout. When I am having a really good day and I just have that feeling of wanting to dance, I would play something by Zedd like Clarity or Stay the Night, mixing that in with some songs like Levels or Silhouettes by Avicii. I love these songs because though they are house music and are particularly heard on backdrops of clubs and dance parties, listening to the lyrics actually brings out the depth of the songs and the composition actually makes them more interesting. The music that I enjoy, regardless what kind of day it is and just makes me stop to listen and sing along would be Alternative but I do not like rock that is too loud. Throughout the years I have remained a fan of Maroon 5, Paramore, and Snow Patrol. Their albums take up most of the memory of my iPod and they are the best companions to a long drive or time spent out of town. I remember listening to Maroon 5’s first album Songs About Jane when only a few have heard who Adam Levine was and I loved every song in it. Their albums after that by far does not compare to the raw emotions and the blunt beats of their debut. The band’s current songs, though definitely catchy and not at all bad, attempts too much at being on music countdowns and remaining relevant. Their current song, Maps, sounds too screechy to me but it does cause last song syndrome. I feel like I’ve grown up together with Paramore. Riot!, the band’s album which catapulted them to fame contained some of my most favorite songs, That’s What You Get, Hallelujah and Misery Business. I have actually had a moment when I kept on playing We Are Broken after heartbreak. Snow Patrol is another band that I can listen to anytime. When I first heard Chasing Cars I was immediately sold as a fan and then when I heard all their other songs, I settled they were legitimate musicians though they may not be as famous. Set the Fire to the Third Bar is probably now a theme song for many long distance couples. But my favorite song of the band is You’re All I have and You Could be Happy. The lyrics are so simple yet they are so undeniably true that you’ll definitely relate if you’ve actually fallen in love at least once in your life. Today, there are so many new artists who have catchy sounds and meaningful lyrics. I feel that I relate to songs just as many other people do and that’s because they give us a reflection of ourselves. It is nothing short of amazing in thinking that our own lives can be contained in the minutes of a song that is written by someone we do not even know. Furthermore, they give us memories that we remember not only the songs from when they were popular but also where we were in our lives when we heard them. You could be anywhere and you hear a song on the radio and suddenly you remember being a teenager, or remember a person in your life who liked that particular song, or how a moment made you felt exactly what the artist is singing about. Music is a form of transportation. It reminds us who we are and allows us to be in unity with ourselves. Regardless of our personal background or what we are going through, music affects us in ways that nothing else in this world does. Music is able to transcend cultures that you can be from anywhere else in the world but you can appreciate a culture through their music. This makes this a medium of communication that though they cannot engage in conversations, people are able to communicate through music because it is universal. Even Psy’s Gangnam Style, for a while, stopped us in our tracks though we have no idea what on earth exactly what gangnam means. What this song was able to illustrate is how a Korean singer introduced us to his country and their sense of humor. Read More