Music – my focus in life

Often in people’s life, there is a point or a factor that causes the person to fully become who they are. For me that specific focus is music. Music is involved in almost every aspect of my life and has helped me improve as a person. By consistently governing my life, I have found a way to connect to music that I have not found elsewhere. I have been involved in music all my life. From a very young age, my father saw it as a necessity to cultivate a taste for music in me. Ever since he began to talk to me about my favorite artists and what type of instruments I admired, I knew that I wanted to learn more and grow my understanding of music.

My first true interaction with an instrument was in the third grade when my music teacher began to discuss my class playing in the orchestra. With her recommendation, I began to play cello and later grew to practice guitar, bass, and piano. I loved the way I could express myself through music by playing different keys or even listening to a song on the radio. The feeling I got when I successfully completed a piece and mastered a song was enthralling. I continued to work throughout the years playing instruments, and my dad continued to encourage me. He was my biggest supporter and throughout all of my ups and downs, he pushed me to work harder and harder. Many musicians can attest to the fact that to be good at your instrument you have to obtain a sense of discipline and professionalism. I had to practice to grow my skills and that took time and patience. By building this schedule I began to learn how to work hard and get the results I wanted to see, not only in music but also in school. Without learning from my music teachers and from my dad the importance of rigorous practice, I would not have fully understood the correlation between practice and results. Playing music has helped me learn and develop traits that I would not value if I had not spent the time letting my experiences in music teach me.

Though practicing and learning through music will always remain important to me, there is an indescribable feeling that simply sitting and listening to a song will always give me. When I wake up, the song I choose often dictates how my day will be. It is what begins my day and puts my brain to a specific mood. For the longest time, I have found this essential to my mornings and my emotions and the days I go without music seem bland. For example, when I am working and need to sit and focus for a period of time music will allow me to do that. By putting on my headphones I can sit and pour my emotions, negative and positive, into the lyrics and set my problems aside to focus. Music allows a personal release that does not have to be public. Whenever I need to represent my attitude and words are not there for me I know there is a place for that private reflection in music.

For me music is more than a hobby, it is a language for me to express myself and for me to describe how I’m feeling without writing it down or speaking. By being able to embrace and feel what the music wants me to, I am able to explain everything I am feeling. Music has always impacted those who value it and I know that without the knowledge that practicing and listening to the art form has given me, I would not be the same person I am today.