The Importance of Music

     Music is the sounds that bring us comfort, and joy or help us express what we can not say. For Wes Moore, in The Other Wes Moore, hip-hop music became an influential and helpful resource. Hip-hop was up and coming, and for a boy from the inner city of Baltimore, it was very influential. Wes loved that hip-hop was about the world around him, and how much he could relate to it. Wes also told his mother he was a DJ when he started selling drugs. Although it was a lie, Wes admired the DJs in his area. He admired their money and their way of life. For Wes, hip-hop music was a very important part of his life.

    Music is also an extremely important part of my life. I feel that it calms me and helps me reflect on my day or my life. On the train to class every morning, helps me set the mood. Sometimes I'll put on Rihanna or Doja Cat (despite her controversy) to give me energy and hype me up for the day. However, most days I play some sort of indie rock or R&B. This is what I grew up listening to and what reminds me of home. These sounds filled my house and reminded me of when my dad would cook dinner with the radio blasting indie rock. At the time I did not appreciate this music, and I thought it was strange. But I have grown a real appreciation and love for it. Maybe it's being so far from home, or maybe it's just that I've grown up, but I love it now. And it reminds me so much of my home and my family. It helps me feel close to them despite being across the country. Music also helps to settle me and my thoughts, it lets me feel nostalgic, sad, happy, or at peace. I work listening to music into my day because of how much it helps me to process the world around me. 

Additionally, as a dancer music is so important. Dancing with the music, and letting it guide your emotions with the steps is such a powerful thing. There are days when I am not in touch with myself and the music, and on those days I don't dance my best. However, on the days when I am tuned in to the pianist I feel so much more freedom and expression through my movement. Without music, dance would just be steps. It would be far less interesting and rewarding. The audience and the dancers would have way less care for the story. Also dancing as a group would probably not happen because there would be nothing to unite the dancers across the stage. 

    Overall, music is such an important element of our world. It can be a culturally uniting experience. Or it can be an individual experience of feeling your emotions. For Wes, music was about relating to the world around him, and recognition of his neighborhood. For me, music is about my emotions and my peace. But it is also about uniting my movement with music and feeling as one.