Music and me

I was born and raised in East Los Angeles. My mom literally walked to the hospital where I was born, and after a few hours she walked back home. She always tells me that those were her most painful steps of her life, but she believes that what kept her from collapsing in the middle of the street were the noises that she was listening to, the birds chirping, the sound of wind blowing by her ear and the noise of crickets in the background.

As she puts it, “nature’s music kept her going.” My life, in the past and now, revolve around music too.

Music has played an important role in my life. It is my escape. When I feel down, tired, or bored, music is there to save the day. It is an escape; when life becomes unbearable, I just close my eyes, put my headphones on and I start to listen to music.

Over the years, the way music has been a part of my life has changed.

At first it began with me being in the orchestra at my elementary school. I would play the clarinet. Then in middle school I went from classical to rock, and I played rhythm guitar in the band I was in. As time passed I stopped playing instruments, and I began to just listen.

The favorite part of my walk home from school is listening to music. I hate being alone, but when I am walking, being alone is the best. I just put my headphones on and I get lost in my music. I stop thinking and I just try to identify every instrument in a song. Sometimes a specific guitar piece will make or break a song.

The most beautiful aspect of music, to me, is that you don’t see the story, you don’t read it either, you hear it, with the poetic lines that have different meanings, you feel it with the emotions singers put behind certain words, and sometimes the euphonic sounds tell you the story. Sometimes it is impossible to paint a picture, or to write a story, but with music the impossible becomes possible.

Music is art turned into sound, music is a series of euphonic sounds put together, music is poetry, but most importantly, music is part of who I am.