Personal Narrative: Soundtrack To My Life

Soundtrack to My Life

Music means many things to many people. Music has the power to transcend boundaries, motivate, inspire and influence our emotions among other things. Throughout my life music played an important role, especially during my more troubling moments. Many of my dearest and fondest memories are easily relived by merely listening to music. My musical tastes have changed as I have grown. During different time periods in my life my musical sensibilities provided the soundtrack that I lived by.

I smile as I think about the music I listened to during my childhood years. I was heavily influenced by my parents when it came to music as a child. I can remember sitting home in the evenings and watching my dad work out in the garage while listening to amazing Hispanic bands like El Gran Combo, Hector Lavoe, and Celia Cruz. The hypnotic nature of Salsa music always had my dad dancing salsa in between sets of lifting weights which was so much fun to watch at a young age. In our text it was stated “Once rhythm was discovered, it never left musical art” (Janero, Altshuler, 2012, p. 158). For me once I discovered the salsa rhythm and how hypnotic it is I would never forget it or how it reminded of my dad during his workouts. That is a memory that I will always cherish.

My

adolescent music tastes where wildly different from that of my childhood. It was a time period of musical discovery for me. Janero states in our text “Hip Hop is a broad term that describes and entire way of being” (Janero, Altshuler, 2012, p. 185) for me there is no better way to describe it. I was fully immersed in hip hop as a form of music but also as a culture. It was during an era in music affectionately known as the “Golden Era of Hip Hop” with titans such as A Tribe Called Quest at the forefront with one of my all time favorite songs “Scenario”. During this time the music I listened to was a way for me to fit in with my peers. I soaked in as much as I could about hip hop to the disdain of my parents. I wasn’t in love to spite my parents. I was in love with hip hop because of the raw lyrics, neck snapping drums and at the time it was relatable for me.
Now as I am much older I find comfort in R&B music. The smooth lyrics and slow rhythm soothe me and in my time of despair I always turn to R&B music to bring balance to my life. 2 of the most inspirational songs to me are “Hero” by Mariah Carey and “I Believe I Can Fly” by R. Kelly. I have lost count how many times I have turned to these songs to help me deal with stress. The lyrics, combined with melodies in both songs are so inspirational and motivational that after listening to them it’s hard to stay in a bad mood.
Electronic Dance Music or EDM is the type of music that brings me the most happiness.

Reason being is that the music is so high energy it’s hard for me to stay still while listening to it. In fact I always listen to this type of music whenever I am working out, walking or riding bike or just out and about somewhere. Bands like Swedish House Mafia are in heavy rotation on my smart phone and on constant repeat throughout the day. Also the EDM community is friendly and that adds the lure of the EDM festivals. Just knowing that when you go to an EDM festival you are meeting with like minded people with the same taste in music and that makes them an experience you will not soon

forget.
In my musical journey I find that my tastes are considered eclectic among my peers. Nevertheless by sharing my musical journey I also learned that no matter how my musical taste change the one thing all the music I enjoy has in common is the hypnotic rhythm. That rhythm symbolizes motion and to me that equates to moving forward in life and leaving the past in the past which is the way I want to live my life on a daily basis.