Personal Essay: Poem Analysis

I wish I could describe my first interaction with playing the saxophone as a glorious and life changing moment, but that would be a lie. In fact, I remember being disappointed that my arms weren’t long enough to hit all of the proper notes on the trombone slide. As soon as I accepted that I had no choice but to play the saxophone, I immediately did everything in my power to become the most technical, strongest player in the band, making music a competition like I have done with every aspect of my life for as long as I can remember. This trend continued throughout my elementary school, middle school, and early high school career, and it wasn’t until I entered the summer after my sophomore year of high school, that my opinion on the importance of music and playing music changed.

That was when I stumbled across a piece of music that was eerie and soft and loud and frantic and unique simultaneously. It was the first song I had felt the need to put effort into, the first song that actually moved me to want to express the notes on the page. I immediately texted my teacher to order the song, entitled Poem by Walter Hartley, and I got to work right away.

This song could not have came into my life at a more ideal time. As you probably are aware, high school is a very integral time where a person figures out precisely who they are and who they intend to become, and it can also be a time when they accept the aspects they can’t change about themselves. I, like many a teen before myself, was going through this so called “quarter-life crisis,” but for some reason whenever I played Poem I found myself at peace, and even though it was a challenge, I allowed my heart and soul into that piece of