Songs of the Same Album: Music Is Us in Our Truest Form

I contemplated for most of this week as to what exactly I would include in my first post for this blog. Typically I steer clear of writing that’s more direct and personal to myself (unless you count a little poetry on the side), however, given that this is my blog debut so to speak, I suppose something more personal could pose as an introduction.

On the first day of class, we discussed the matter of the role that music plays in our lives. It seemed as though for almost all of us, this was an easy question to answer. In short it’s everything. We wake up to it, spend our days with it, go home and eventually fall asleep to it. Now to some people, hearing the same responses on the subject over and over again may have seemed bothersome, but here’s what caught my attention about our common reactions to the prompt. Music is such a deeply personal experience. It’s so personal in fact that it’s easy for us to forget that there are other people as deeply entangled in its boundless roots and fruitful boughs as we are. We sit on different branches, run our fingers through different leaves, yet at the end of the day, we all cling to the same tree.

The reason many people get defensive in discussions of musical importance, is because it touches all of us in ways we can’t communicate. Music, while ever present, is the communication we lack. It’s the things we go through and the thoughts we have that we might never tell another living soul about, yet like every other feeling we experience in life, they deserve to be felt. As an individual who never quite felt like they fit into a gender, in a political climate that didn’t (and still doesn’t) seem to want them, I found acceptance in the messages of left-wing political punks such as Anti-Flag. As someone who's struggled with mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and thoughts of suicide, I felt less alone in times of hardship with bands like Alkaline Trio, Bayside, and Motion City Soundtrack. The happiest days of each year were spent at the Warped Tour, not just listening to music that I love, but sharing space in a community that told me that who I am was enough.

My relationship with music, though similar to many others, is its own unique song. It speaks to me the most because it is my own, while in reality no song is more important than another. That’s the honest truth about humanity and music. We’re all songs and the reason we all sound similar when we’re all different, is because we’re all part of the same album, telling the same story in different ways. People may argue as to whether it is the story of us, or the story of music, but I believe that those two stories are one and the same. Music is us in our truest form.

One of the only harsh realities I believe we have to face with music, is that due to its incredible power and easy accessibility, we sometimes fail to address our problems with the people around us. Music gives us a sense of connection, while also providing us with a great way to stay locked within our own thoughts. I’m not saying not to listen in public or anything, but I am saying that it is important to get some of what we’d prefer not to share out with more than just music. If not, no one might ever know if we’re hurting, and that’s a sad way to carry on, isn’t it?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that music is useless in the communication of our feelings. Better yet I’d say that music is a great bridge to addressing our problems. Yes, we listen to it often to feel understood, but music gives us the power to do more than that. I find that the validation I find in songs, doesn’t just make me feel less alone in my problems, it also offers a freedom from the frustration of staying silent about issues, by providing me with a broader vocabulary that I can use to address them. Think back to any time when you’ve thought to yourself “Wow, that song just said what I was feeling better than I could,” or “This is exactly how I felt but I just couldn’t put it into words before.” It’s in that way that music frees us from the inability to speak, and uncorks the bottle that we allow our emotions build up in. It’s simply up to us to use that tool.