Aca~palling: a life without music.

A life without music would be the worst punishment someone could wish on this world. Let’s be honest; when it comes to music, every single one of us is born with it. Mothers sing songs to their children in the womb, and lullabies soothe us to sleep in our first couple of months. It helps teach us and shape us early on before it becomes the soundtrack to our angsty teenage years. Our emotional anchor in our twenties, and our gateway through memories as we age. Music touches every single aspect of our life. To be honest, without it, life would be a very bleak place.

Every stage of my life is, in some way, shape, or form, impacted by music. I already mentioned songs from when you were little and how impactful they are. Who doesn’t still remember all the nursery rhymes that gave us directions from how to do things to learning the ABC’s? I still know every word to wheels on the bus, (spoiler the wheels go round and round!) Maybe some lullabies were used to help you fall asleep but music was always around when I was little. Soothing and informative are where music started its journey with me!

From songs about learning, I moved into middle school and started borrowing music from all my friends, burning CDs to make mixtapes. Honestly, it was my signature move to give a girl I had a crush on a mixtape. And that obviously dates me a bit if I call burned cd’s mix tapes. In high school, I played music, was in a jazz band, orchestra, choir, and the marching band. All of my friends loved music and played right along side of me. I wouldn’t know half the people i did if it wasn’t for music.

In high school I became old enough to see epic movies with big action scenes scored with amazing sound tracks. Could you imagine a movie like “Gladiator” having as inspiring a reach without its booming crescendos and haunting ballads? Most movies without the incredible soundtrack to back it up really lose something special. Remember back to the first time you ever saw a Star wars movie. The booming start with the scrolling letter. Chilling! Without it… it’s just letters in space.

sadly I continued to grow older and started to attend more concerts, enjoying music with hundreds of thousands of people throughout my life! (looking at you Ms. Swift). Music can bring people together amidst anything. This is just my life with music. Through the ages concerts happened on the micro level, to bring tribes and peoples together. to share culture, peace, and maybe a bit of feasting. Without that humans go from being a pack to being alone. Music is important.

Which brings me to now. I have littles of my own that sing the same songs and more from when I was a kid. These little songs have taken me all the way back to my beginnings. Truly the wheels go round and round. The words are the same but they mean a lot more now as my three-year-old son looks up into my eyes, smiles, and sings to me. He’s learned words from these silly little songs.

To take that from us would take part of the joy of life out as well. I don’t think life would be nearly as bright with music left out of it. While many people can do without music, I don’t think people as a whole could do without it.

K