Music: My own Guardian

Do you think that anyone has stopped to consider the fact that a form of art can have a significant impact on an individual, and a community? I can only hope that somebody has. Art comes in many different forms – from drawing to architecture, from dancing to music. Music has been around for centuries, and certainly has no sign of leaving us now. Music is a way to express emotion and a person’s views. Music is what molded me into the man I have become. I believe that music has a significant impact on how an individual can behave.

I have been involved in music since the fourth grade. My inclination to music came from my mother’s side of the family. Her father was a very talented Saxophone player who played in a big jazz band that toured the nation. Her mother was in choir in high school and college and influenced my mother to pursue singing as well. My mother has been in church choir and even a singing group called Voces Novae, which stands for “new voices,” for over ten years.

I would not say that I have always been having an urge to perform music, but it was, and still is an interest. Around the age of six, my parents bought me a children’s acoustic guitar. Of course I did not know what to really do with it except strum it randomly. But it was not the guitar that stuck with me for all these years that I have been involved in music. I was born a drummer. When I asked my mom if I could play the drums, she gave me one condition that I must follow: learn how to play piano first. I was so confused and angry as to why I had to learn piano, which is an instrument based on notes and sound, before I learn an instrument based on rhythm.

Music to me can be considered as a guardian. By keeping busy with band for seven to eight years, I stayed out of trouble, and made sure that my grades stayed up. If I was not in band, playing music, and doing what I love to do, which is being creative, who knows what I could be doing now. I could be playing sports, in beta club, have dropped out of school, in jail, etc. For example, sophomore year in high school, I started attending a new school, Eastern High School. This was a public school in Jefferson County that had excellent band and technology programs. This was also my first ever year on drum line, and I was excited to be a part of it! As some teenagers know, transferring to a different school can be a little rough. I had no idea as to who was going to be my first friend at new school, and then Darius walked up and said, “What’s up, new kid?” Now, for someone that I have never met before to say “hey” to me, made me feel comfortable with him instantaneously. Darius was a talented athlete, who was offered to play Varsity football his sophomore year. Thankfully he turned it down and was involved in band because I think our football team was 2-9 that year! His GPA was always above 3.0, and everyone wanted a seat next to him on the band bus. An entire school year passed, another band season done, and just like that, Darius became only a memory to us. He did not return the next year and his phone number changed. We found out through our band director that he had been having problems with his parents, and that his step-mom took him to Michigan to live with her and her family. Darius’ mom did not see at al how marching was keeping her step-son with good people, and out of trouble. Darius has been to jail now, and I can only hope he has found a life that he deserves.

Most people do not think that an art such as music can have an impact. If someone tries to think logically about this, it will work. What logic can someone decide in the statement: “By being involved in music, I kept out of trouble.” There are not any, which is what makes music, and even any kind of art a tricky thing to comprehend if not involved in it. If music were not here, what would life be like? I am not talking about just band music, but the music you hear on radio/television. It is like imagining a world with no government, or a world without love. Musicians even have natural bonds between each other that do not have conflict, but have respect in them. It is a bond like two soldiers that come back from fighting in Iraq. Even without knowing each other, if one of them found out that the other was in the same situation as him, then they automatically have respect for each other.