Musical Storytelling | Teen Ink

Musical Storytelling

May 25, 2014
By mjVAL SILVER, San José, Other
mjVAL SILVER, San José, Other
5 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
&ldquo;Try to imagine a life without timekeeping. You probably can&rsquo;t. You know the month, the year, the day of the week. There is a clock on your wall or the dashboard of your car. You have a schedule, a calendar, a time for dinner or a movie. Yet all around you, timekeeping is ignored. Birds are not late. A dog does not check its watch. Deer do not fret over passing birthdays. Man alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out.&rdquo;<br /> ― Mitch Albom, The Time Keeper


At five years old I had my first piano lesson with my father by my side. He believes music is an instrumental part of a person’s life, hence, so did I. For me, the hour-long classes were a way of spending time with a father that did not live at home; for him, it was a way of trying to educate a girl who otherwise wouldn’t have learned about music or about life. As the years passed, I started to dislike the lessons. I found music repetitive and confusing instead of unpredictable and magical as my father had promised.

When I turned 12, I thought of dropping piano altogether. It wasn’t ‘cool’ to play it anymore, and so I thought I didn’t like it. It was only after my professor told me to reflect on this big decision that I figured out why I liked it before. My first lessons were interesting because I was learning something new. I just had to change the way I saw music: not as homework, but as art. Something that is born each day, not reiterated every time I sat in front of the piano. After that, I realized I wanted to quit just to prove I was independent and mature enough to make my own decisions. I hadn’t considered that it was my way to turn my insecurities, my dilemmas and my excitement into beautiful art.

I pulled my music away from methodical finger sequences and pushed it to wonderful story telling. I now use it as another way of sharing my deepest secrets, my most troubling feelings, as a way of creating myself a haven for a while. I not only see my Yamaha piano differently, but also how I perceive life; music turns everything into a pleasant challenge.

Music is meaningful because it has always been there; through the changes I’ve experienced, whether trivial or mountainous, joyous or heart breaking. Personally, playing music is another way of writing. The individual musical notes don’t matter; the meaning behind them consists on the interpretation you give them when blending theory and emotion.


The author's comments:
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
? Bob Marley

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