Power of Music

Every morning as I ride to school I flip on the radio in our car and turn it to my favorite station. While looking out the window or closing my eyes, I think about the music going into my head. I quickly slip into a different world while thinking about the song I’m listening to. The car abruptly stops and somebody flips off the radio. Then, I hop out of the car and put the headphones of my iPod on my ears as I walk to my locker.

Music is one of the most important things to me in my life because I believe it is one of the best ways to bring out emotion. Whenever I hear a song, I think I feel similarly to how the writer felt at the time. It gives me a deeper connection to the songwriter and, I think, to everyone else who has ever listened to that song. To me, the genre of music is not what matters most. I feel that almost all types of music show a variety of emotions. Even country music, which is my least favorite, has some good qualities. Although most of the time I’m listings to Steve Miller Band, R.E.M. or Aerosmith.

How sound affects people is a particularly hard thing for me to explain, but the first time I thought about the feeling is the best example. I was sitting in an uncomfortable blue chair, next to my mom, in the dentists office. There was also a little kid running around playing with the toys in the office and being a little loud. Not exactly the place I wanted to be, but I can live with a little pain and boredom. Even with the little kid making so much noise combined with the irritating sound of the dentist’s drills I started spacing out, and I felt calm. Then, I noticed a soft song underneath all of the other noise. I looked around and saw a speaker in one corner of the room.

At first, I didn’t think that the tiny sound in the back of the room was anything important, but as I continued to listen, however, I realized it was what was keeping me from being nervous. After all, I was about to have my teeth poked and prodded with an entire arsenal of power tools.

Since then, I have listened to music in a different way. Whenever I listen to a song, I want to find the emotion that comes out of it because music affects me and changes the way I think, so I want to understand it.