Describing a Treasured Bject

In one of the first scenes of the book, at the party, Brent uncomfortably stands at the drink table listening to music with his headphones (Fleischman 11). Isolated from the rest of the crowd, Brent finds solace in his music and finds that it gives him the courage to talk to other people and socialize. This innocent affinity to music suddenly vanishes when the high school boy unintentionally takes the life of another human being. Referring to Brent’s state of being after the accident, Fleischman writes, “He ate little, spoke little, and no longer listened to music. He turned seventeen, an event he scarcely noticed. He heard his parents whisper about the blow to his head and his personality change” (35). Exposure to the cruelty of the real world brings about Brent’s severe personality shift and indifference towards music. Because the accident prompts Brent to stop enjoying music, he will always equate the two things with each other. Music forces Brent to dwell on the events of the past and refuses to allow him to move on. Describing Brent’s attempt in making his first whirligig, Fleischman writes, “He sat down. He decided to do without the wing. The figure could simply be a harp player. The harp was full sized, the sort you'd find in an orchestra. Lea had played in an orchestra. He wondered what her instrument was” (51). Brent affiliates music with his accidental killing of Lea, an unfortunate event of the past. He even begins to ponder about the specifics of Lea’s musical life. Once again, music prevents Brent from moving on and living his present life.

While camping, Anthony stumbles across Brent’s harp player whirligig in Washington. Anthony does not like Brent’s whirligig because it reminds him that he does not like playing the violin. He wants to quit playing, but his mom won’t let him. Anthony tells his music teacher about how he feels about the whirligig. Mr. Mintz tells Anthony’s mom that he needs a break.

Through the ownership of tangible objects, we as humans, have the ability to attain a perception of responsibility and the development of moral character. Ownership provides a guide towards important life lessons such as maturity and responsibility, which eventually contributes to shaping identity. Responsibility is not a simple skill someone can learn without personal experiences: for

Born near the beachy shores of South Carolina, Trevor Hall grew up listening to the melodious tunes of his father’s harmonica and drum set (Rosenfield, 2012). Throughout his young life, inspired by his father, Hall would constantly be glued to a notepad writing music; following his dreams, at 16, Hall recorded and released his very first record. With all of the joy found in writing and releasing

From the creation of harmonies to singing to instruments, music has been an abstract form of human expression. Although an auditory collection of pitches and volumes, musicians can manipulate the same notes and bring them alive for their audiences. The true emotion and energy that’s felt in music really comes from the player as feelings are transferred to and through the listener. This interaction between performer and the house is catharsis, the complete release of strong repressed emotions. Thanks to the musician, music has the ability to grasp people and cause them to sense emotions and feelings without lyrics or images even being necessary. Although it’s believed we can only hear with our ears, something about music makes it emotionally if not physically tangible. In James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues,” a narrator certainly unaware of the impact of music invites himself to experience jazz for the first time. Baldwin uses the final scene of his story to argue that music has an effect on those who are able to experience it. Baldwin does this in one single moment by letting the fixed, practical minded, “well-intentioned” narrator experience catharsis from jazz as his growing, free-spirited brother communicates with him through jazz.

After the shell hits the brewery, Kenan is so irritated and worn-out from getting water every day, that he decides to leave cantankerous Mrs. Ristovski’s water bottles in a hole. The worn-out Kenan has a change of heart when he listens to the cellist’s music later on. He goes back to retrieve the water because he decides he does not want to become “a ghost” like Mrs. Ristovski and the other people while he is still living. The cellist’s music gives Kenan faith and the optimism to live. As the cellist’s notes seep into Kenan, he is filled with visions of him spending time with his family. Kenan’s resolve strengthens and he realizes that he must continue to survive, so that when the time comes, “they will be the ones who will rebuild Sarajevo.” In recovering the bottles for Mrs. Ristovski, Kenan regains his humanity. The music also has a transforming effect on Kenan as he watches the “the building behind the cellist repair itself, the scars of bullets and shrapnel [become] covered [with] plaster. Kenan watches as his city heals itself around him.” This shows the transcendent power of music as it puts Kenan into a state of bliss and helps him to develop hope that his city will heal. The music is so powerful that the happiness is “all taken away” when the music stops and Kenan “is back on the street where twenty-two people were killed.” Usually, Kenan is a person that everyone trusts and the music helps Kenan preserve his trustworthy

As I sat down in a room with my favorite drummer, Rhett Noland, I had pre existing thoughts I would learn new drum skills, hear about tour life, and get advice about performing. Instead, all those things were blown out the window. What I aquired from this classroom was more important to me than any rudiment or drum fill, or any advice someone else could have given me. What I learned in this classroom in a sense “woke me up” and gave me a realization about what I am here on Earth for. Rhett told me about how he used to be an alcoholic. How he used to not even be able to go to work without a drink. How destructive drinking was. How miserable he was. There was a paradigm shift in the room immediately after he told us that now, he had been sober for 23 months.

We have all had those memorable moments that send us back in time; a song on the radio, the smell of cookies baking, driving in the car. They make you think of good times passed. But Billy Collins’s poem, “The Lanyard”, is not only a recollection of the past, but a personal insight to about the things his mother has done for him and what he has done in return.

Arrow’s supervisor Nermin takes her to listen to the cellist as her latest assignment will be to protect him. Listening to the cellist’s music elicits a powerful response, “She leans back into the wall. She’s no longer there. Her mother is lifting her up, spinning her around and laughing” (75). The cellist’s music allows her to be taken away from her daily battle with the men on the hills to a time when she didn’t have to kill people and live with constant death and destruction. Arrow gets emotional comfort as she is able to remember a moment of her childhood when she was happy and the war had not taken her family away. Arrow’s reminiscing about life before the war gives her emotional endurance as she gets a piece of a time of happiness to cling on to during her daily battles. The memory of a time before the war aids in reducing Arrow’s suffering as she is taken away from the torture of the battlefield. Additionally, it also helps to heal her mind as she reminded of a time when she was happy and consumed with hatred. Moreover, the cellist’s music transports the people of Sarajevo to a future of comfort and happiness. While listening to the cellist play his music, Kenan is transported to a dream sequence, “Kenan will look at his wife, and then his and younger daughter and he will know how happy he is and none of this will

In the poem “Making a Fist” by Naomi Shihab Nye, Nye uses metaphors to convey the meaning of mental and physical strength. For example, Nye uses the metaphor “A drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear” (3). The “drum” refers to a heart, continuing to beat, even though “I [she] felt the life is slipping out of me” (2). Nye uses this metaphor of comparing a drum and a heart to convey how as the heart beats, the body stays alive. This is similar to how as a drum beats, the music continues to play. The drum is the center of a musical piece, keeping the flow of all the other instruments in check, just as how the heart is the main source of blood to the body, keeping it alive. Additionally, in stanza two, Nye’s asks “‘How do you know if you

When Chad Smith graduated high school in 1980, he encountered one of his most important musical experiences. Chad Smith was invited to start drumming with a band. The band was named ‘Pharaoh’ and it was a hit band around the year 1981. When he started playing with this band, Chad Smith met the band’s percussionist, Larry Fratangelo. With this experience, Chad’s drumming was increasing dramatically. “I think up until then, I was a drummer. Once I studied with Larry, I turned into a

Throughout the many years of time, music has been associated with the lives of humans. Ranging from the oldest recorded music in 1888, The Lost Chord, to Motherese, or the way that mothers “sing” to their babies to communicate to them, to our modern music of radio stations blaring our favourite song while we drive from place to place. Music has found its place within human lives, intertwining its existence with ours. Incredibly enough, humans have found a way to harness music with our very hands and create elegant melodies from tools. Beginning with instruments that look like a guitar, instruments that look like a flute and instruments that look like a drum, we began making controlled music with rhythms and harmonies. As years passed and civilization began to grow, musicians came to be. These ancient musicians played music for others on the instruments that they would make and performed for many.

How music can restore one's perspective is shown in the poem setting up the drums. The excerpt from Gardner’s Redemption and McKay’s Setting up the Drums portray how honor and certainty can be restored through music. In the excerpt from Redemption Jack Hawthorne goes through a great deal of grief and guilt. At 12 years old Jack Hawthorne killed his brother David in a farming accident. David was only 7 years old at

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

However, Jane was always by his side, becoming his dear girlfriend and supporter. With her, Chet finds a genuine love that gradually makes him recover the lost stability and gain not only the confidence to play again but also the strength to stay away from drugs. After an arduous adaptation to the instrument, new opportunities will come up and the success is in no one’s hands but the