This is my first reflection (autobiographical) essay.
Reflection #1
‘ Music Shaped My Life’
In the course of our daily lives, listening to music is so commonplace that it does not affect us anymore. Many of us experience music, either by actually listening to music or perhaps against our will such as by walking along the street, shopping at a store, watching ads on television, or watching movies. The very first experience of music in my life goes back to the time when I was in my mother’s womb. My mother used to listening to music that had a good prenatal effect on me, and I think it greatly influenced my life. There were a lot of music CDs of many kinds in my home, so I could encounter music naturally since I was born. Accordingly, I have precious memories associated with music. When it was my father’s birthday, I danced for him while playing music. I clearly remember the pieces were Lambada by Kaoma and Dancing Queen by ABBA. These pieces make me dance me even until now, and make me indulge in reminiscence. From that time I love to dance and listen to music because music is a big part of my memories and always evokes memories of my past experiences. When I went to kindergarten, I started to learn to play the piano. I was so interested, and I was amazed to learn how to read musical notes, which to me looked like bean sprouts. Unfortunately, my curiosity about the piano ended 7 years after I had begun learning it.
When I was an elementary school student, I was a member of the choir in my school. It was a valuable chance for me to learn the spirit of team work, harmony, sensitivity, and attitude needed for singing, and also confidence, all of which were to dominate my future development. In the middle of elementary school, I learned to play the violin for one year. My violin teacher often invited me to her concerts. I remember that I felt comfortable feeling listening to the calm parts, and that some parts gave me magnificent feelings. These concerts moved me like a roller coaster ride.
Toward the end of my graduation from elementary school, my mother highly recommended that I learn the clarinet. I think I was a very curious young girl who wanted to learn new instruments but lacked tenacity. Eventually, I started to learn the clarinet for about 2 years. Honestly, I think that I learned a lot of instruments compared with my peers, but I could not perfectly play any one of them. Nevertheless, the experience was precious and let me know the beautiful sound of the piano, strings and wind instruments.
As I grew up and had some deeply sad experiences, my favorite genre of music changed from dance music to ballades. The lyrics of ballades touched my emotions directly or indirectly. At first I did not understand the lyrics and paid attention only to melodies. However, when I understood lyrics, I realized their importance and began viewing music in a new way. From that moment, I loved listening to music more, and it made me give special meaning while listening to music, and now music reminds me of those moments and memories. Often I got lost in memories. Some kinds of music made me gloomy and sad or mournful of the past, other kinds of music made me excited and cheerfully appreciate life with happiness and gratitude. Both had greatly influence over me. When I went to secondary school in Canada, I usually listened to the radio, which gave me and introduction to western music, and it was kind of cultural shock. It felt like falling into a black hole, and had an unusual impact on me for a while because it was totally different form music that I usually listened to. After I become of legal age, I often had the opportunities to enjoy parties. At that time I was into hip-hop, rap and pop; I could not get out of the party life. Following changes in my life pattern, my musical tendencies also changed. Recently, I like to listening to electronic music that makes me want to go party, but also gospel songs that I listen to in the morning or late night.
This autobiographical essay makes me think deeply and look back on my past while I am writing about music in my life. Honestly, writing an “autobiographical essay” is unfamiliar, unusual, and quite interesting to me. But I can generally say that music has great power in that it controls people’s feelings – music is even used by psychotherapist or doctors and helps children’s personal development. This amazing thing is called “music”. How can I not love music!!