Monthly Archives: March 2015

Music is Magic

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“Ah, music: a magic beyond all we do here!” -Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

On my first day of band in 6th grade, my teacher wrote the above quote on the board and told us that the first person to guess where it was from and who said it would get a prize. I knew the answer, but I wasn’t the first to shout it out, so the prize (a metronome) went to a saxophone player.

Music is certainly magic. Sometimes it inspires you. Sometimes it keeps you awake on long drives. Sometimes it helps you fall asleep. And sometimes it tells you the truth you need to hear.

A few of the songs that have fulfilled the last quality:

Life is Beautiful by Vega4

When You Come Back Down by Nickel Creek

Save by The Rocket Summer

Brave by Josh Groban

Your Hands by JJ Heller

For Good from “Wicked”

Free to be Me by Francesca Battistelli

Word of God Speak by Mercyme

Hold Me Jesus by Rich Mullins

But music can be a distraction. It can cloud what you need to see about yourself and/or certain situations. Silence can be overwhelming, but sometimes it shows you who you really are.

I was taking a short hike this morning in a local park and I passed two girls who were playing music on their phones that was loud enough for everybody else to hear. I get the need to have music as a constant presence because I tend to surround myself with it, but I believe hiking or enjoying the outdoors should include only those of nature.

Those who believe that immersing themselves in nature means only encountering silence haven’t really listened. There are a plethora of sounds to be heard: birdsong, the wind, leaves rustling, grass, or perhaps tall flowers, whispering, water trickling. Even the noise of your feet hitting the ground or making a rock skip can be music.

So… something to pay attention to the next time you go out of your door, take a walk, or a bike ride: the noise… or rather, the music. Because music isn’t only created by cords, notes, or voices. Because music is powerful magic.

Home Is…

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I was recently visiting one of my friends from high school. While we were talking, I noticed that I had to clarify which home I was talking about because I currently have two places that I call home: my parent’s house and my own apartment. I’ve thought about this many times before, but for some reason it really struck me this time.

The connotations of “home” are different to everyone.

To me, home is:

A place you have a key to, but you don’t have to use it because the door is opened by a loved one before you get to it.

Where sympathy and cough syrup that tastes like liquified cherry candy is readily available when you’re sick.

Where people who love you and who you love are.

Where people listen to you and sometimes gently tell you that you are wrong.

Where you can wake up in the morning and feel safe.

Where you can get up in the middle of the night and find your way to the bathroom without opening your eyes.

Where you can feel content while being confined indoors because of weather.

Where you keep your most powerful memories.

The definition of “home” from Oxford Dictionaries is cold and does not necessarily fit in with the connotations of the word. It says that home is “the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.” I haven’t been living at my apartment for very long and it already feels  like home.

One definition that I like uses it as a verb: return by instinct to its territory after leaving it. This “home” obvious refers to animals, like geese that return to a certain place for the summer. But I think it could be applied to humans because after all….

Home is a place that we return to.

Currently Reading

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The book that I am in the midst of is J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy. I have wanted to read this book since it came out, but only just recently made the decision to get it.

The novel is about the aftermath of the death of Barry Fairbrother, a council member, in the town of Pagford. Although the town seems idyllic, it soon becomes clear that a war is brewing between its members.

It is difficult to not view J.K. Rowling’s writings like you would the Harry Potter series. But just because they are written by the same author, doesn’t mean that they will be similar.

Indeed, they are extremely different. While I can still hear the voice of Rowling that I know and love, it is adult. It uses vulgar language that belongs to the adult world. And there are less metaphors in this book as in Harry Potter because the issues are more overt. For example, werewolves in the Potterverse have been labeled by the author as metaphors for sexually transmitted diseases, especially AIDS. In Casual Vacancy, there are no metaphors for abuse. It is not taken lightly; it is quite explicit.

One of the aspects of the novel that I particularly like is how she sections off the novel. She does not use chapters in the normal sense. Instead, they are separated into the days of the week. The first day is Sunday, during which the actual death is described and then on Monday, everyone’s reactions are recorded. While the sudden introduction of the characters in just a few pages makes it a little confusing (it isn’t as confusing as the characters in As I Lay Dying, I have to admit), it emphasizes the fact that everyone experiences moments, days differently. Going a little off-topic: that is one of the major reasons why I am fascinated with creative nonfiction. When I write a piece based off of memory, I remember certain details that other people may not or I remember them in a different way.

One thing that I have always admired about J.K. Rowling’s writing is that she makes her characters so incredibly human. Some of her characters are not likeable in the slightest and some only have a few redeeming qualities and the same time others are good people that make mistakes every once in a while. A good writer can write about likeable and mostly good people, but a mark of a great writer is being able to write unlikeable characters.

Speaking of great writers… Looking back at all her books, I can definitely see how far she has come. In Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone, she definitely had talent and wit, but grew immensely by the time she wrote Deathly Hallows. Some have worried that she would loose her writing prowess after Harry Potter, but she hasn’t. If anything, she has gotten better.

It truly is inspiring to know that such a great writer and woman has overcome her struggles and has increasingly improved and honed her skills. It gives hope to me, an emerging writer, that I too can improve and be successful.