A Musical Moment

Just an article on the joys of music

A Musical Moment

Written by Bobbie Turner

Okay, How many times have you been in the grocery store and a familiar song catches your attention causing you to sing along, unaware that you are doing so? If you are anything like me, you don’t realize until you feel the gazing eyes of the person across the aisle who is pretending to scan a can of green beans while secretly questioning your sanity. Music has become a true staple in our society. Take a minute and try to imagine a world where music didn’t exist. Wait, I tried that and the result was catastrophic so instead think about all of the ways that a song or an artist has influenced you or how music plays a role in your daily routine.

A certain song or genre can be so significant that it can alter your mood in a span of three minutes. Picture yourself driving, thinking of all of the issues in your life that make you feel defeated and then a song like Happy by Pharrell Williams begins playing, filling your vehicle with lightness and the urge to dance. Now imagine if music didn’t exist. It’s depressing huh?

The lyrics and the beat of a song influence us all in a different way because we all have unique personalities but at the end of the day, we are all influenced. It seems like music is everywhere you go now. They play music in stores, doctor’s offices, places of business, even WalMart. Oh, let us not forget elevators. Smart business owners play music because they know that music puts customers in a more carefree mood which to them means more money. Although, some of us will spend more regardless. Music in public places used to consist of slow, instrumental pieces. That was replaced with common pop songs, thankfully! Maybe the next step will have us dancing in the aisles of stores rather than just singing. The gazing eyes of strangers will no longer have to question our sanity. It will be as clear as us two stepping in the frozen food section.

Music plays a role in our daily lives in so many ways that most of us have come so accustom that we don’t even notice. Would you watch a movie with no music, just words? I will be the first to admit that some movies would not be what they are today without the songs that helped us empathize with the characters. Alex’s audition in Flash Dance would have never inspired us without What A Feeling playing as she moved across that floor. John Travolta’s character, Tony Manero, maybe wouldn’t have portrayed that personality without the Bee Gee’s song Staying Alive in the movie Saturday Night Fever. When most people, especially us 80's babies, hear the song I Had The Time Of My Life and the first thought we have is the movie Dirty Dancing. When a certain song is played during a movie, it helps us to feel the characters emotions in that particular moment in the story. A good slow, romantic song can take a love scene to a place that words alone could not. 

In my household, music is a regular past time. Cleaning takes me half the time and less frustration when artists like Five Finger Death Punch or ZZ Ward are playing in the background. Growing up, I would sleep with a radio on and turned to a barely audible volume. Music has sung children to sleep generation after generation. Today is no different, it just comes in a variety of devices verses a mothers voice. Music can be used as a therapeutic vice to get through a bad breakup, a moment to dance around your kitchen with your kids (like I often do), bring life to a movie character, or just putting a small child into the realm of peaceful dreams. I am thankful that we live in a world that contains lyrics to get us through the day and songs that sound like they could be written for us at key moments in our lives. So let the singing commence and the questioning eyes continue. Sing loud and sing proud because without music you could just be another person scanning the can of green beans!

Reviews

[Goat]

This story is wonderful! It is whimsical and kept my attention through the whole thing! Nice write!