Personal Narrative

As a child growing up, I was always into art and music. I would draw on all my notebooks for school, often find myself lost in my own lyrical world, always looking up new artists to listen to and probably download over 40-50 songs a month, maybe more. Back then, I was just doing it for fun though until I was about nine or ten years old. My love for the harmonizing sounds went from a small crush to the love of my life. My dad and I was driving around the city that I will one day leave a mark in, the city of Jacksonville, when my dad put on the one song I will forever dedicate to changing my life, Find A Way by A Tribe Called Quest. Now understand that this was the first time I have ever heard this song and it put a flame in my soul, like my

‘He told me I have the wrong kind of fingers’” (7). When the father fell for it, the boy’s sisters also told the father similar stories so they could get out of their lessons. Even when all three children had stopped playing their instruments, their father still tried to get them to play, but with different instruments, “‘the trumpet or the saxophone or, hey, how about the vibes?’” (7). No matter what the children said, the father tried to get the children integrated into music somehow. When the children refused to play different instruments, the father tried to get the children to listen to recordings so they could be inspired, “‘I want you to sit down and give this a good listen. Just get a load of this cat and tell me he’s not an inspiration’” (7). No matter how hard the children pleaded into getting away from music, the father still tried to connect his kids into music

One memory that music helped me get through was an altercation with my step dad, who was very mean and abusive towards all of us kids growing up, was a song from Aerosmith. I grew up loving Aerosmith but, when the song "Janie 's Got a Gun" was released I would play it over and over as an escape mechanism. My step-Dad sure didn 't like it and the older I got, I think he knew I was fed up and started fighting back which made him leave me alone.

While I was volunteering at a local emergency shelter with a friend, a team of gospel singers visited the shelter, hoping to enliven spirits through song. Being worship leaders at our own church, my friend and I anxiously, yet excitedly, joined them. Before singing, we all agreed on a list of simple, but powerful, Christian songs that everyone would be able to sing along to. The melodies, piercing the atmosphere, soon had shattered families standing hand in hand, joining our growing chorus of hope for a speedy recovery in Houston.

Music has always played a governing role in my development during life. My first major connection with a song occurred when I was around nine years old. A majority of my time growing up was spent with my older sister, Melissa. We would always spend weekend nights in her bedroom with a group of her friends. I can vividly recall the setup of her room: the lights dimmed to an almost perfectly relaxed ambiance; a faint smell of vanilla and cinnamon (her favorite scents) from the candles burning on the dresser; and the television loud enough to hinder any outside noise. Often, these nights would consist of binge watching T.V. shows and story-telling among my sister’s friends, who at the time were much older than me. It was during one of these nights that a commercial came on, displayed by a channel called “VH1.” A music video came on the screen; The song was “How to Save a Life” by The Fray. As the song progressed the room was filled with the seemingly instinctual singing of her friends, almost up-to-par with the rhythm and

The most obvious thing that is important to the character is his adopted daughter, Anna. Throughout the narrative he shows that he cares for her happiness and her health. She is unable to speak clearly and tell her own story, so the character (father) tells it for her. The character is trying to show the reader how effective music can be as a therapy, and is using his own experience to prove the worth of musical therapy. He gives example after example of how music improved the life of his daughter, and how she looks forward to her day with music so eagerly. One line he says, “Ask her a direct question and you will get a stammered word or two at most. Play a song and she will begin to shout out the words, even if she has never heard them before. ”It is a testament to how much music can change her attitude and behaviours. It seems to fill her with confidence and strength where usually she is frail, a picture painted by the quote above.

However, there was one thing my great-grandmother could recognize and remember; music. When her daughter played some of her favorite tunes she would bob her head to the beat of the music. On some days, she’d mouth the lyrics she had learned up to 50 years ago. The memories that had seem hopelessly lost forever had been temporarily restored through music.

No piece was too simple or complicated for Dad. His piano playing sprinkled joy across several generations, from my great grandparents all the way to my children. When his grandkids came along, he encouraged them not only on the piano, but other musical instruments as well, playing duets or accompanying them on their various instruments.

Music has always been in my heart ever since I was little, dancing to Tom T. Hall’s “Sneaky Snake” and “Who’s Gonna Feed them Hogs.” Though my taste in music has changed, I can sure say that it has always been there for me. When I was little, listening to Tom T. Hall and Chris LeDoux- my dad’s favorite

"In camp and hospital they sang -- sentimental songs and ballads, comic songs and patriotic numbers.... The songs were better than rations or medicine.” Music plays a huge role in our society today, and it played a huge role in our society a hundred years ago. Music is fluid, ever changing, and never the same. And yet, one thing remains constant; it tells stories, keeps records, and lift spirits.

A coming of age story about a young boy’s journey to find his voice through the music his father left him.

As a child I frequently made up little songs, and there seemed to be a constant stream of music in my head. I could see myself in the children she was observing and like them I didn’t have a framework for my experience – it was just my life. Whether it was singing while playing, tapping out some rhythm, singing at the top of my lungs to a favorite song, or goosebumps from hearing “Hall of the Mountain King”, it all felt familiar and warming. It has also made me aware of the musicking I continue to make every day in small ways here and

As a young girl, I always loved to sing. I would sing anything from songs in cartoons to "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" from the Wizard of Oz. Everywhere I went I could be found singing. One day, my mom received a package in the mail. Inside the package, there was a CD that would shape my life.

I grew up listening to music everyday not knowing it would save my life in the end... the words that I would listen to would somehow connect with how I was feeling or what I was going through. Music truly soothes the soul and just somehow gives you hope to continue on or to stop something. I think I related my problems to the songs, it would give me comfort knowing I wasn't the only one who was feeling the way I once was. It showed me life was worth living and fighting for. Take Demi Lovato for instant, she was going through major depression and found herself through the music she would produce. A lot of artist are actually like this and only some really come out and tell their true story on how music saved them. It's incredible to know that no matter what you're going through someone, somewhere has gone through it too.

In 1973, exactly twenty-five years prior to my birth, my parents were just in elementary school. They told me stories about their lives back then but none contained any traces of music. The only stories about music back in those years were from my grandmother. Back then, my parents grew up in Viet Nam in a poor family with no televisions so they couldn’t really listen to any music growing up. Although my parents could not listen to music on television like how we can now; they were able to come to live performances by local artists held at the district’s performance center every other month because the shows were free. My grandmother told me that the music back then was really different than how it is now. The songs served many purposes to the citizens, it was an encouragement to soldiers at war, it was the rhythm that put kids to sleep, it was the comfort food for everyone who listen. Grandma told me the style