A JOURNEY: MUSIC

Music opens people to many things and affects a variety of things found in everyday life. It can be a hobby that is used to loosen up and forget about everyday struggles. It can occasionally be a full-time job. It adds color to many things such as movies, plays, and more.​​ There are many genres of music for every type of person with different preferences. Music can be representative of a single person, a group, or even a whole culture. Just by learning one instrument, anyone can enjoy the benefits that music yields. I was able to learn a few instruments.

At around the age of five, I started attending piano lessons that were an hour long. Immediately after commencing the lessons, I got a keyboard to practice on, and it had many intriguing features that I looked into. This was my first instrument. In these lessons, I learned the basics of music such as reading sheet music, scales, rhythms, and additional fundamental aspects. Yet, I took these lessons not by choice, but because I had no extracurricular activities. Since I had a keyboard at home, now I had something to dedicate my time to. Slowly, music began to allure my interest while I practiced songs I appreciated. At the time, the school offered guitar lessons as well, which intrigued me. Unfortunately, I was not qualified to take the guitar lessons because my music professor claimed that I should master piano first before continuing on to other, more complex instruments. So, I continued my piano lessons and I had recently completed my third lesson book when the school had to cease activity due to some issues with the owner. Later on, the COVID-19 pandemic struck and I was not able to take any additional music lessons.

Throughout the time of the pandemic, I began watching numerous videos about guitar and rapidly grew a great desire in learning it. I got my first guitar as a Christmas present and I instantly started watching even more videos to learn songs. I learned many beginner pieces first but sometimes I found myself stumped. Then, I decided to return to the fundamentals and learn chords, scales, and the notes on this different instrument. After that, I took some short and temporary guitar lessons over the summer to re-enforce my skills. I turned out not liking the lessons too much since all I was taught was nine chords, which I could have learned independently, but on the other hand, I did get to see the progress my classmates made, which was interesting to follow. So now, I just occasionally play guitar to de-stress and master new abilities.

When I entered middle school, I selected orchestra as my elective and began learning how to play the violin. Thus far, I knew the majority of the basics of music so all I had to focus on was my violin technique. At first we learned how to pluck the strings and then how to utilize the violin bow. Perfecting violin bowing is a skill that is as essential as knowing where to place a finger for each note since there are various individual ways the bow can produce sound and affect how the sound is heard. For me the violin was, and is, the most laborious instrument to master. Yet, I also learned how much the violin and all the string orchestra instruments are utilized for so many distinct genres of music. For one of our orchestra activities, I got to go to Disneyland, where we played authentic Disney movie soundtracks. We learned how the music has an impact on the mood of a film and tested some techniques to make the instruments transmit the emotions more effectively. It was a great experience and I came out with more musical knowledge. So, up to this day, I am gaining more knowledge on violin techniques.

In conclusion, I learned how to play three distinct instruments in three different ways. I learned the piano by taking lessons from a professional. I learned how to play the guitar from videos alone, and I learned how to play the violin at school with an orchestra of different instruments. Until now I prefer learning on my own from only videos due to the fact that I choose what I want to learn and when I want to learn it. As for refining skills, learning from a professional was definitely the best path for me. Yet, that is just how I learn better and my personal preference, but others can have a different approach. Still, once someone learns an instrument, they will never forget if they learn it well while also remembering to find pleasure in the whole process.

Ryan Leon is an emerging writer who usually writes nonfiction essays on different topics. This is his first writing that is submitted to a magazine.