Were you that one kid in your fifth grade class who stuck with chorus or band after all your "friends" thought it wasn't cool enough to participate in? Even into middle school and high school? You aren't alone! Here, I explain the wonders of keeping music alive and the impact of how sticking with music still affects me today.
Growing up, I personally was very fortunate as a kid to have the opportunity of having a mother who was a music teacher. Her raw talent and enthusiasm helped me grow into the music lover I am today. If you are someone like myself that likes having a place to express myself, being in chorus and/or band was the place to be. Looking back on being involved with chorus and band, I can only say that having this background brought me some of the most treasured memories I have ever experienced in my life. Going through the struggles of middle school, and high school especially, music had a way of shutting out my own negative thoughts as well as the people who brought me down on a daily basis. It also helps if you had a good chorus and band teacher who inspired, taught, and had a great connections with their students, causing them to continue on within the program.
When I needed any form of release from my family, school work, or daily struggles, the chorus/ band room was my open dance floor, my comfort zone, my fictional broadway stage, and also my home. Every day that I stepped foot through that doorway, I felt more confident about myself and more at home than I ever did in a classroom. There would be days that I would feel so relieved and have an extra boost of confidence to show of my skills, team work, and effort to my peers.
When you grow up as a music kid, there are people who don't understand what the craze or thrill is that comes with dressing up for concerts and playing songs no one has ever heard before. What those people don't realize is that the dedication it takes to participate in these so called "extracurriculars". Many teachers that didn't have a strong connection with the music department found it difficult to understand when we had to rehearse during Silent Sustained Reading time or at the end of the day before concerts.
Through constant rehearsals, classes, and performances, we all learned how to go about creating harmonies, how to perform in cannon with the entire choir, know what crescendos do for a piece of music for band or chorus, properly accent notes, actually sight read and sight sing with no problem, staccato, sing or play with time signatures other than 4/4, and so forth. The feeling of being part of this musical world where many people don't take time, or have raw talent to participate seems almost "magical". Music teaches people precision and focus, provides structure, and drives creativity.
Imagine going to see Star Wars or Jurassic Park without the musical score in the background to heighten emotion and intensity to the plots of each film. What would that be like? Would you be as scared or intrigued by the way the characters dueled with their enemies? No. Music is a incredibly important element of life that soothes the soul, makes different pieces of work come alive by evoking all emotions, and create a picture with words and notes.
When I graduated from high school, I realized something, music is who I am, Although I moved on to college with a different major from music, have new friends outside my high school circle, and a strong work load, music is still who I am. I may not play my clarinet every day like I used to in high school, or belt out a high G on a Monday morning in chorus even if I thought I couldn't, I still sing on my own, dabble with my clarinet with my Mom's band, and take in the magic and power that music can do for me. I am forever changed by my involvement with music and I hope every kid given the chance to be involved with music is as inspired and thankful as I am for everything it has been for me.
“Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here!”
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