[Tyr Zalo Hawk]: 712.Essays.More Than Meets The Ear

There is nothing quite like music when it comes to its role in my life. No matter my mood, the time of day, or what event could possibly be happening, music is a critical component of every moment. This relationship with music is what I think defines my entire existence, and so I do all I can to give it what respect and admiration it deserves as such.
I’ve never been good at ‘silence,’ plain and simple. When there’s no music playing in the background of life, I tend to make up songs in my head, and when I can’t do even that it tends to drive me up the wall. It’s all been a very simply process since I was kid: Silence needs sound, music is sound. It honestly doesn’t matter what form the music comes in, so long as I can hear it, and know it’s there. I listen to music for the noise, for the rhythm, for the sound of something that can move my heart, mind, and soul all at once, with just a few measures. The words don’t need to be comprehendible, or even real – just so long as they’re not being screamed. So, whenever I’m reading, studying, writing (like now, for example), or even just to get to sleep, I need to have music there, playing, moving, giving my life a soundtrack. It presents some sort of meaning beyond the surface.
Because of this, my need for music, I’ve sought my entire life to collect that sort of music that is appealing to me. Other people have their tastes, I have mine, and mine is one that can either clash horribly with those of others, or blend well. I listen to most everything – so long as it has an attractive quality to it. An interesting rhythm, a nice set of lyrics, a soothing combination of notes, or even a chorus that is so sing-a-longableTM is all I need to say that a piece of music is good, something I’d actually listen to. Some people calling it being eclectic, I say I just have a lot more taste buds on my musical tongue. I still have trouble accepting some things as music (*cough* rap… *cough*), but, for the most part, I approach music with the same approach I have to food: I’ll try most anything once. Not surprisingly, my ITunes has everything from Disturbed (Heavy Metal) to Beethoven (Classical) to, yes, Britney Spears (Pop). I can listen to and enjoy nearly any radio station or musical performance, even though I will always have my preferences of one type of music over another.
Music helps me to define my moods. I’ve got my ‘general songs,’ my ‘angry songs,’ my ‘sad songs,’ and even several ‘a night where the roommate comes home drunk and has decided that your shoes are going to be his in the morning’ song. I figure there’re songs for every occasion, and I do my best to define and listen to them as such. When I can’t find a song that defines my mood, or don’t have access to one that does, I write my own songs. No, I’m not any grand composer, I’m a lyricist. I sing whatever words come to mind in a melody that combines the rawness of my feelings with lyrics to match it. When no real mood is present (i.e. going to bed) I can simply listen to whatever and enjoy the music for what it is: Raw sound.
Beyond all this lies a question though: If someone took my music collection, what would they gather from it about me? Being an eclectic makes this hard to say, as does my lack of all the music I listen to actually being in my collection. However, hypothetically speaking, if we took all the music I listened to and gave it to someone who never knew me, I can imagine they’d consider me easy to get along with due to my diverse taste in music. Flexibility in sound and style could, potentially, represent to them a person with diverse interests, who can adapt to different situations and people with relative ease. They might consider that I’m a bit ‘high strung’ in knowing that I listen to classical and that like, but this opinion might be held null in the consideration of things like Fall Out Boy (Punk/Emo) and Ms. Spears. Other than that though, I’m not sure what they could truly glean. My lack of rap and screamo might make them consider me prejudiced against those communities, but I’d rather doubt that, to be honest.
Assuming they’d made such assumptions though, I could honestly say that they’re at least half right. I’m willing to accept others and to get along with others, to an extent. I actually am a bit prejudiced against the screaming singers and rap community simply because of what they’ve done to music – which is to massacre it, as far as I’m concerned. There’s no such thing as me being ‘high strung.’ Period. So, overall, based on what little I believe could be taken from what I listen to, I’d say the stranger’s painting of me could be considered ‘passing’, even with the huge holes in my personality it would still be leaving out.
Although I have many things in my life that interest me, and that I use for different purposes, music is the only one that I can enjoy no matter the time of day, or what mood I’m in. Music is beautiful, it’s lovely, it’s angering, it’s depressing, it’s calming, in fact… music is everything, all wrapped up into one thing which I cannot live without. In short: Without music, life would mean so little.

© Tyr Hawkaluk (2004-Present)