i'm in love

with music. and i can truly say that with all of my heart and soul, that music is my passion.

since today was the day that i did my speech, which was all about music, i've realized how much i really do take it to heart. it's always been there, through everything. and as corny as it may sound, it's been there since the beginning, guiding me as my life goes on. i don't know, recently i've been really motivated to sing, and i've realized that i sing EVERYDAY for hours at a time, anytime that i'm not doing anything special. it's always there, music just wants to come out of me. i guess me being in choir now, practices on tuesdays and singing on sundays has made my love for music grow even more, and it's moving me into a different part of my life, steering me away from things that might harm my potential. it's really a natural high for me, a high so different from what i've experienced before, a feeling that makes me feel pure and clean. i think with this passion in mind, it could really change me, in a good way of course. i'm gonna stick with what i'm doing now, keeping music as one of my top priorities and see where it'll take me. so nowwwww, i thought i'd share my speech, more or less of what i did this morning, without the minor hiccups and nerves that came along with it =) here it is!

(i had a poster board with a staff, time/key signature, and notes on it)

First, i sang "A Song For You" by Donnie Hathaway, just a quick snippet, then started like this:

Music. Whether it's me singing in the shower for what seems like hours, or back in middle school and high school when i used to play instruments in the school band, or even way back in the day when i used to listen to tunes in the back seat of my parents car, music has always been a part of my life. So when we were assigned this task to find something to symbolize ourselves and our lives, i couldn't think of a better symbol than my passion in life - music. But today i'm not going to talk to you guys about the music that we simply hear on the radio or live singers or bands playing at a club. Instead, i'm going to break down music back to it's basics, how it's written on paper and how it's actually created.

The first symbol that i chose to represent my life is the music staff. In music the staff is the base of all things where all the other elements of music can be found. Without it, it would be pretty hard for any musician to read the notes correctly and accurately. For this reason, i chose the staff to represent... my family. In my life, i like to view my family as the base of all things, the foundation that has allowed me to become who i am today as a person and as a whole. Just as a staff provides a solid structure for notes to create music, my family has provided me with a solid base to build my life upon. They've taught me valuable lessons through their hard work ethics, love, and care, gifts that i will be forever be thankful for for giving to me.

With the staff now in place, other elements of music can be placed on it, which leads me to my next symbols, the time signature and key signature. In music, the time and key signature determine the feel of the music and the notes that it plays, otherwise known as the key. You can think of it sort of being a teacher like figure, telling what notes to be played next and what beat it should lie one. Because of the way the time and key signature controls what the music will sound like, i used it to symbolize myself. In my life, and just as i would imagine other people view their own lives, I like to be the one in control, the one who sets the pace and tone of my life. Some days i would be up and ready to do things, like a steady beat of a march, while other days are more relaxed and soothing, like the laid back feel of the slow waltz. Just as I am in control with my attitdude towards life, the time and key signature determines what mood will be set by the music, which makes these two elements a perfect symbol of me.

Now, with the staff, time signature, and key signature in place music can be created, which leads me to my last symbol, the music notes. The music notes are what makes the sound, and group together they produce what we hear as music. Some may be high, some low, some long or short, while others are fast or slow. Because of the great range of what music notes are capable of being, i related this music element to the experiences i've had in my life and the relationships that i've made with people. Just in the 18 years of my life so far, i've experienced a lot of things that has made me into who i am today. These events can range from the great, happy times, which produces a note that is high and lively, kind of like a theme song that comes on when a super hero appears in a movie, while others are not so great, producing a more sad toned piece that brings out the lower tones in music. It's this whole idea of music notes being so unpredictable that made me relate it to my life. You never know what notes will come next, whether it will be a high one or a low one, whether it'll last for a couple beats or just die out after a sound has been made. All you can really do is learn from it after it's been played to help you prepare for the next note, whatever note that my be.

So all together, the staff, time and key signature, and music notes create music, which ultimately symbolized my life. None of these elements would be able to work without each other, just as i wouldn't be able to be who i am without my family, friends, and experiences that i've gone through. Now i can truly say that music is and will forever be found in my life, and that my life can and will forever be found in music.

<3 leonard.