Day 24: Music Can Change Your Life

As a little girl, I always liked music.  You can tell from this picture.  (Sorry, too lazy to boot up the scanner! There is always technical difficulties in scanning pictures around here...)

When I was almost 6 years old, my mom wanted me to take piano lessons.  She asked if I would like to take piano lessons and I said yes.  So for 10 years and maybe 3 piano teachers, I took piano lessons.

If you asked me if I enjoy it, of course, there were many times I question myself.  But I was 6 years old, so what do I know?

But taking piano lessons has taught me these things:

• Being patient.  Some people are born patient and others, not so much.  I think I was in the middle.  My parents knew I was a very spunky kid but if I set my mind on something I truly enjoy, I can spend hours and hours doing it.  Piano (or music) was one of them.  When I didn't get it, I played until I get it.  So, the other half of learning music was teaching that half to be patient with myself.  It propelled me into learning in school later, when I had a lot of calculus and science to figure out.  I did the homework until I get it.
• Creativity.  Many people may not always see the point in learning art or music.  But it releases another side of the brain that helps you think openly and freely.  It definitely helps you dream beyond what you can do and helps you relax by playing music.
• In learning music, you learn patterns.  Reading notes on a staff, you have to follow the road signs in the music to know when you need to go back to verse 2, continue onto a chorus, or play it out through the coda, or when to speed up or slow down, when to get louder or softer.  Many of my computer friends play an instrument: piano, guitar, violin, banjo.  If you think about it, computer programming follows a patter.  Music definitely follows patterns.  Math follows patterns.  Working on a spreadsheet, yes, you need to know how the formulas work and follow the path it references.
• Helps with memory, or at least the steps in getting the information.  Learning music by memory is not hard.  From the bullet above, you learn patterns.  Once you get the pattern, you can learn the music by memory.  And with that, this carries over to your life and school and jobs. I think learning where things are on the server (or anything in your life), and a general pattern of getting there, keeps you from actually remembering things.  And believe me on this one, compartmentalization is a wonderful thing.

Especially, the one thing I enjoy in playing music is the lives being touched.  I remember once that someone told me, "Every time Josephine plays the piano, she plays with emotion."

I remember when I started going to church, I listened to the hymns and the words in the hymns.  I paid attention to the harmonies as well as the melodies.  I was especially touched by the emotions of the hymns and choir music.  Many people now may not have heard hymn music.  It's ashame, really.  People's hearts need to be touched by classical and choir music.

It is part of my story growing up.  I played the piano.  And later the flute.  Patience and creativity taught me how to play the guitar.   

Music can change your life.