A wrong decision can be the beginning or end to a lifestyle. In the seventh grade, I nearly ended my musical career by opting out of taking piano lessons that my mother offered to me since she told me she didn’t have the opportunity nor finances as a child. ‘Brian,’ she said, ‘I’m only doing this because I know it would be good for you.’ The most typical parent excuse for making their child do anything I thought as I was forcefully taken to piano lesson. If I did not go, that decision would have left me empty. With the help of Ms. Tamy, my then piano teacher, I would not have been able to begin my musical journey. I am now a pianist who has joyously played for fourteen years. I also now absorb the most I can in music whether it’s a classical analysis of one of Beethoven’s greatest works or listening to modern contemporary music that sound like white noise by some random composer that I think I will never encounter again. Music was the first self-taught and the longest-course I have ever taken.
Music has become the spark of my intellectual curiosity. I directly developed my capacity to think creatively around problems due to the infinite possibilities in music. There are millions of combinations of chords, rhythms, melodies, and key signatures in the world of music that wait to become attached to a sheet of staff lines and spaces. As I began to explore a minute fraction of these combinations from the second grade onwards, my mind began to formulate roundabout methods to solve any mathematical problem, address any literature prompt, and discover any exit in an undesirable situation. In Middle school, my mind also started to become adept in the language of mystic. Playing the works of different composers, such as the very complex in musical nature but simple to the ear Inventions of Bach and sophisticated and soothing Sonatas by Beethoven, expanded my diverse musical vocabulary, my technique of my fingers and my ability to practice in order to succeed in solo performances.
Music has become the educator that has taught me the importance of leadership, teamwork and friendship. It has taught me the importance of order and balance. When I lad a group, I know how strong that group can be if every member puts one hundred percent effort into our task. Leadership is not always about directing others. Like a symphony, all the parts must work harmoniously but with their own accord and individual properties that would be bland alone with rich altogether. The most important task of a leader blend each member of that group to reveal the group’s maximal potential just like that very symphony. With improvement and balance comes success, and music taught me all of the virtues, The bonds I have made throughout my school years endure through stress, These powerful bonds came to be because my friends and I endured against the adversity found in high level pieces of musical literature. I thanks my teacher, piano and academic, for creating the environments that nurtured these friendships and learning experiences.
Music has also become the medium for my roles in the community. Whilst onstage as a performer of a competition to the volunteer to play for the community, the most comforting feeling I would get is when a judge from the competition or someone from the audience would come up personally and congratulated me on how my music has ‘touched’ them. The most satisfying reaction I got was when I finished playing a piece for an elderly group in a retirement home, a woman for what seemed she was in her late 70’s approached me with her walker. She hunched over as she walked and her legs showed signs of wear as they shook with every step she took. Her hair was a gun-metal grey and was long and lush. Her eyes appeared milky when I first came in but was gleaming with energy by the time I finished performing. Her skin was wrinkled from the happy years she spent with her loved ones. She wore a grey sweater with bolded orange letters of UT at the center with accompanying grey sweat pants that were baggy but fit just right. She was no taller than a typical middle school boy that just started puberty. Her eyes started tearing up when began speaking to me. ‘That piece you played reminded me deeply of my past husband. I thank you for sharing that with me.’ The only thing I felt was pure shock and the only thing that I could utter out was a simple, ‘Thank you.’ That day will forever be embedded in my memory. I wish I could have said more to her. I wish I could play more of my music for her that day. I felt a deep sense of regret for not expressing more gratitude towards her heartfelt words. That feeling to touch someone that deeply from within with nothing but your own music has given me the privilege not everyone has to make a difference in others’ lives. To make that person smile. To make that person feel emotion again.
My haven for solace in and away from home is in the world of composers, harmonies and possibilities. My musical haven has shaped my character and without it, my life would not be half as wonderful as it is today. It was a wise decision to follow my words of advice from my mother that very day. The self-guided journey known as music in my life excited my mind every day as I’m exposed to its rich elements of the textures and balances of the harmonies ensued from the black and white on staff paper. My heart sings every day because the journey is already wonderful and full with color from a grayscale world that would be black and white without it. Although I hope that my future career is in medicine, I love that I still have much to learn about and from the world of music
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