Music has always been part of my life, including singing in the choir for my church and learning how to play the piano over the summer. There are a lot of goals that I would like to accomplish in the future that would make me an overall better person. Staying in touch with my musical side has been a struggle because I feel that I have drifted away from all the intriguing musical activities I used to take part of. A goal that I had in mind and I would like to finally accomplish would be to learn how to play the guitar. First, if I learn how to play guitar people will admire my talent.
I started to indulge myself into music when I joined my church’s choir in 3rd grade. I was a shy child growing up and that made a lot of things difficult for me, for example making friends and being a part of group activities. This shy phase was apart of me all of my life; however, once I went to high school I changed. I had to take a music class and I thought that it would be easy for me to do choir because I was in my church’s choir for majority of my grammar school and junior high years. When I was in class I was able to take part in everything and participate, well it took a few days for me to warm up to the new environment.
Though there are many other things I have gotten to do and learn through choir, I really really want to continue. It has been a major part of my life for I don’t know how long and I can’t imagine what my life would be like without it. Ever since my parents split up there have been money trouble, because of that my family has always had to think about and watch what they spent an extra curricular activities my siblings and I did. As we grew older my father took what we were doing more seriously. He always wanted to make sure that what we were doing was going to benefit us most when we became adults.
My identity is wrapped up in my love of music because I have been surrounded by it since I was little. When I was a toddler, I would sit for long periods of time and watch videos of kids singing songs. As I grew older I participated in my church's children's choir and even held solos in my elementary school chorus. When I reached middle school I joined my school's middle school chorus in 7th grade as an alto and 8th grade as a soprano. The transition between 8th and 9th grade was important for me because I took up voice lesson in 8th grade and went to my first music camp the summer before 9th grade.
I remember in 5th grade when Mrs. Jones told us about band. I got excited, I couldn't wait to start. I'd always wanted to be in percussion but then I got introduced to the clarinet. My sister, Amber, had a clarinet that I borrowed. I didn't know how to put it together or how to even hold it.
I have always been a particularly musical person. When I was younger, I wanted to become a singer when I grew up, but upon joining the choir in elementary I realized I did not have the talent for singing that I thought I had. Continually singing off key and never sounding as good as my peers did, I decided to confine myself to singing at home where only my family could hear me. Despite this revelation that I was, in fact, a terrible singer, I still wanted to participate in some type of musical performance and decided to join the band in middle school. After trying out various different instruments, I settled on the flute and quickly fell in love.
As the world population is aging at a remarkable rate in history where population increases and the retirement age lowers, the aging population may find extra moment and time doing different kinds of activities. A plenty of elderly people in the community still anticipate in learning new things, energized and look forward to active lifestyles. With such desires, many older adults will seek lifelong learning activities (Cross, 1981; Verduin & McEwen, 1984; Wise, 1997). Many older individuals will experience more productive years beyond retirement (Cross, 1981; Verduin & McEwen, 1984; Wise, 1997). A quote from the late music philosopher Christopher Small who said “making music is valid at every level, from beginner to professional, children
I thought this experience with choir was going to be somewhat better than my experience in seventh grade, because I had matured quite a lot since the last time I had given choir a chance. Therefore, I thought I would mentally approach the choir concert in a more positive way than I would have in the past. Additionally, I was hoping I would be able to keep my focus for the entire duration of the concert. So, I did not seem disrespectful. Unfortunately, my experience did live up to my expectations.
Music can be the most emotional in all acts. Music makes us connect to emotions we have never felt before. Sometimes people fear getting to these deep and emotional parts of themselves. People do not always like to feel these types of emotions because sometimes a song brings back a bad memory that we do not wish to recall. Some people even have a fear of music like psychoanalyst Freud.
What is music? My favorite definition comes from the ever-prestigious dictionary.com: "An art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color." I think it's a shame that this definition cannot be found in more prominent dictionaries because I feel that this encompasses every aspect of music that I appreciate so much. Ever since I was a little girl I had a connection to all sorts of music; from Disney Princess soundtracks to attempting to play the electric keyboard. As I grew up, I often wondered how so many different types of people could like the same music.