Anthony D

Anthony DeBartolo
Period 5
3/21/09

Music

I awaken to the sounds of birds chirping. The rhythmic pitches of their songs clear away all the grogginess that is trying to bury itself deep in my soul. My eyes flutter wide open and I’m up on my toes dancing around with joy. Suddenly the sweet song fades off, and a dramatic string of beeps rise in and claim the open airspace. I’m left mumbling as I stutter upwards to drown out the noise. That’s when I think to myself, isn’t it weird how different, music makes your morning?
Music has been around for century’s, all the way from banging rocks, to electro synths. It has carried on generations of entertainment that never change, but rather always bring in a new crowd. Scientists believe that music started out in Africa, seeing as how every tribe has their own rhythmic ways. But I believe it started everywhere at once. I don’t believe that there ever was a starting point, and that there never will be an ending point, because music has no end, and it doesn’t need a beginning either.
Music is everywhere. If you were to go see “The Dark Knight,” the first thing your mind would do, is react to the dark and gloomy soundtrack. You would find yourself focusing on every word spoken, because due to the low, heavy, and slow music, you would expect something to happen to liven up the sound. On the other hand, if you go and see a movie like “http://www.collider.com/uploads/imageGallery/Forgetting_Sarah_Marshall/forgetting_sarah_marshall_movie_poster.jpg,” you would feel relaxed and in place with the movie, because the music would be like something you hear every day on the radio, and it would seem like a natural environment for you. Everyone’s favorite, of course, is the classic horror movie scare. You know something’s about to happen when the music starts off soft and slowly starts rising. That’s the key give away to raising your suspense level: the notes ascending to a climax. Even when your cell phone rings to inform you of someone’s call, you hear music. Music cannot be avoided, even if you were to try and drown it out with earplugs or a pillow; it remains in your mind and continues playing, with or without your approval.
Ever since I was a little boy, I was fascinated by the sounds of the universe. I would stare up into the stars and share every boy’s dream of being an astronaut. But it wasn’t long before I realized that my true fascination with space was the fact that it was so desolate and silent. When you see a sci-fi movie, the first thing you hear is the pings and zings of laser beams shooting through the asteroids. But up in space, there is no sound. So how do I conduct a symphony? How do I listen to my mp3 player as I float through the stars? The study of sound waves has only gone so far since history’s beginning. Some believe that there are no air pockets in which the sound could travel through. Others believe that there is no life up in space, which is why nothing can be enjoyed beyond the stars. I’ve always pondered a way to deal with this issue, but have never had any success. For one to not be able to enjoy the sound of music up in space is a crime to humanity. Luckily thanks to the research and development team of NASA, there are some alternatives to getting sound to travel while inside a space shuttle, or even the International Space Station. But in my mind I envision a future where we can roam space freely, talking to one another, and playing concerts by the stars.
Throughout the years, music is usually processed as one thing: the art of playing musical instruments in a rhythmic fashion and selling it to the world. But I believe there is more to it than that. Music flows through every one of our veins, every inch of our minds. It makes us who we are, and it keeps the old fresh and new, and the new even newer. Music is the world: it’s nature, and it’s life. When you close your eyes and feel the cool breeze from the trees blow through your hair, you listen to the beautiful sounds that the trees sing for you. The leaves follow up with the chorus, and the wind keeps it all in sync. When you go to the beach and stare off into the sunset, and the waves come crashing in towards you; you hear the music of the ocean. Nature is like its own symphony. It conducts itself, keeps itself in perfect harmony, and then presents you with a show worth more then any Van Halen or Led Zeppelin concert ticket.
Of course Nature isn’t the only creator of music. There are many people all over the world who are responsible for making the music that we love and hear. When you think about it, anyone can play something on an instrument; but it’s the composers who create it. They are the ones who single-handedly find every pitch and scale every note, and put together such beautiful sounds that will have you flocking the internet or a nearby store for your copy.
Without music, it seems like the world will fall apart. Every strand of life is intertwined with a single note, and each note acts like a key to the world. Without that key, one cannot enjoy the world as it’s meant to be seen. Sorrow, anger, stress, pain, can all be solved if the world just knew how to play.