Music Box - Original Writing

People listen to music for a variety of reasons. Some listen to music to relax in which it serves as a sort of escape from everyday life, some because they are a fan and follow a certain artist, and others because they can relate the lyrics to their own personal experiences. Whichever the case may be, music has and continues to serve an important role in people’s lives.

My primal time was the middle of the ’80’s in Orange County, Calif. I was 17 years old. The O. C. was billed as the ideal suburban community, but when you are raised in a palm-tree lined Shangri-La as I was, it is hard to grasp what’s missing without that crucial glimpse beyond. Now I realize: even though we had enough water to keep the manicured lawns just so, I was experiencing a personal drought, an arid lack of culture of all kinds, especially music.

In Walter Van Tilburg Clark's "The Portable Phonograph," the music played by Dr. Jenkins symbolizes memories, both painful and pleasant. Demonstrated through the kind handling of records, emotional response to hearing the pieces, and Dr. Jenkins' later concern of theft, it can be concluded that memories, and the musical pieces which symbolize them, are extremely important.

From one form of media to another, another treasure is music. A record player belongs in the capsule to represent the art of music. My generation is greatly influenced by the music listened to today. Music grants the ability for today’s people to

For this essay I will discuss and analyze the “Five Themes and Two Streams” of popular music, in regards to the song “Little Boxes,” by Malvina Reynolds. This song comes from her album Ear to the Ground, and was released in 1962, around the era of summer of love, where conformity was becoming a easy target for folk singers and musicians. Malvina Reynolds a native of San Francisco, and daughter of Jewish immigrants, was a folk singer and political activist in the 1960’s and 1970’s,where her music put a great deal of emphasis on her text, rather than the formality of the music.

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.

A tarnished hunk of silver leaned against the edge of the box. Stained black and green, Anna suspected that it had played music in generations past. Though she stared at the music box for quite a while, she could not remember a time when Abuelita held it—let alone played it. Its value is in the metal, Anna thought, there's no way this old thing plays.

Ludwig van Beethoven once said, “Music, in truth, is the mediator between intellectual and sensual life”. Though he and his music were from an entirely different era, both still have relevance in our lives today. Music from the past is all around us on the radio, in commercials, and on the big screen. For example, one of Beethoven’s most famous symphonies, “Symphony No. 9”, makes an appearance in many movies. It even makes an appearance in Die Hard. Though we like to think that which is old is obsolete, we are everyday reminded that this is not true.

Music: It surrounds the world, it’s life’s soundtrack. Music is everywhere: in the elevator, playing softly over a store’s speaker, at parties, studying, on a ride in the car, a jingle from a commercial; everyone has a genre, band, song, or artist that helps them pass time. For over 50,000 years, music has been around, lingering in the minds of people. Used in some of the toughest times in history, listening closely to past music can inform a general idea of the events and problems of the time frame it was constructed.

My grandma, whom we call Lola, had always been an exceptional woman. As an immigrant from the Phillipines, she sought new, exciting things; which was present in New York City. Lola loved being in the moment and helping others. In the city, she worked as an entertainment manager for a nursing home. Her pleasure in bringing joy to a gloomy place was incredible. A loving grandma, she always found a way to commute to New Jersey to see my family and I. She always made my day with her witty jokes. Lola’s smile would illuminate the whole room the moment she walked in.

Growing up, I was always surrounded with music, whether it be on the record at home, the IPod, live music, or the built

Music is made up from rhythm and beats with notes and feelings, vocal and/or instrumental sounds combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. Yet, music is so much more than notes on paper, music represents movements in time, music is memories, history, connections, relaxation and escape. Many people are influenced by music they listen to. “Music is much more than mere entertainment. It has been a feature of every known human society—anthropologists and sociologists have yet to find a single culture throughout the course of human history that has not had music” (Greenberg, 2016).

As noted, from a young age, my parents raised me to think “musically.” Consequently, now, whenever I hear any song, my Pavlovian response kicks in, as I find the song’s meter and imagine its rhythms as dots on a page. Although my knack for music may not be inherent, it is unmistakingly automatic. Music is now ingrained into my brain, as I tap my toe involuntarily to every beat, anticipate every chord change, and cringe at every note that is even slightly out of tune. Undeterred by my disinclination for a musical career, my family and, naturally, all of my surroundings continually foster my ever-growing, learned passion for music. Although I cannot imagine myself soloing in Carnegie Hall years from now, I also cannot imagine living my life void of music, with its familiarity and surprise, its comfort and sorrow, its rigidity and versatility. The addition of music in my otherwise non-musical life gives me more than just a hobby, but an understanding of multiple perspectives coming together as one, giving me a broader image of the world around me. Unlike simplified Punnett Squares, music does not just chose one factor over another, but rather layers multiple elements together, allowing each to simultaneously exist, furthermore resulting in symphonies, like me, a melody of predetermined,

When a little kid gets a teddy bear, a toy train or a doll from a special time or a special someone, it can become a part of them. Some kids carry a teddy bear or doll until it is falling apart and missing eyes, but no matter what it looks like to others, it’s still beautiful to them. I have things that are important to me, because my Grandfather that passed away gave them to me. These are things that I keep as a memory and no matter how old they get or how old I get, they are always going to be special to me.

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