January 13th - My Music

January 13
I am grateful to have music in my life. I confess to not being a good singer, heck. I'm probably not a great dancer either, compared to the styles that most people have these days. But I don't feel that matters much for me. Music is like a mood setter for me more than anything and helps get me though the day.

Music is like a medicine. For example, it helps wake me up in the morning, like coffee. If I'm feeling sluggish or unmotivated in the morning or any time really, I'll play some upbeat music to help wake me up and feel more energised. I especially need this in my car on the way to work, my concentration levels increase while I'm driving and I find I'm more alert by the time I get to work. Even on my way back home from work, I'll rely on music to help de-stress and relax me after a tough or challenging day, sometimes using it as a reward for getting though the day. If I'm in a bad mood, feeling frustrated or tense, I find if I take a few minutes away from what ever is getting to me, I will play some songs off my iPod to help calm me down and help me think straight again, so I can go back into a task with a fresh mind and become either more understanding of a situation or refocussed. So the long and short of it is, music helps me neutralise my mood to be positive, energetic and focussed.

In high school, I learnt a bit about how music effects people. It has the ability to set an emotion in someone once listen to. Understanding this, I use this technique to organise music for dinner dances and parties, and while I'm creating a short films or videos. For example, If I need to set the mood for a sad scene, I will use slow calm music with string instruments, violins mostly; or fast drumming for action scenes. I am grateful to have this knowledge of music to help me with my hobbies and projects.

Many songs bring back memories of the past, mostly good memories, like times I used to go to the beach with my family and we played the usual cassette tape of songs on the way there, or songs that played during my high school times, remembering the childish things we did, not to mention the hairstyles and clothes.....seriously what was I thinking!!!! And some songs that my mum and I chose to play for my grandpa's funeral brings back memories of that time and of his life. Even while it's a sad situation, I find comfort in remembering the good moments of my grandpa's life.

These are some of the reasons why I am grateful to have music in my life, to recall back good memories of the past, to tune out for the moment to get myself back together and for the general enjoyment or a party, to set an atmosphere for myself and for others around me. I really can't think of a substitute for music and am so grateful to have it all around me.

So I say, thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing, thanks for all the joy they're bringing......I apologise but this song was stuck in my head the whole time.