Music is life
By: Matt AKA Dad -
I originally wanted to created this blog to leave fatherly advice to my 3 boys, but as I thought about it, many of the things I want to share could also tie into education. So I decided to share these thoughts with my friends in teaching. Reflecting on the best way to go about this, I remembered that advice is always best when told through anecdotes. This is when I reached out to my younger brother, Zack, to recall some of our favorite memories. These aren’t going to be sequentially written, instead be random thoughts on various topics. We love sharing & hearing personal stories from people's lives, so be prepared to hear some of ours and please feel free to send us yours!
Music has always been an important part of my life growing up. I firmly believe that we need to foster every child’s interest in music. As parents and/or educators, we are also responsible to help grow that interest to understand and appreciate a wide variety of musical genres. My father did that for my brother and I (often to our dismay), playing everything from The Beatles (Yellow Submarine) to Frank Sinatra, from Aaron Copeland to AC/DC. Music was always playing in our house! He was constantly quizzing us about which artist was singing, how we knew, what other songs they were known for. Before I give him too much credit, I want to add that he was not very open-minded about current music as I grew up in the 90’s into the early 2000’s. To illustrate just how much he disliked rap, R&B, or anything with ""vulgar" language, let me tell you what he did. One of his favorite hobbies was to find any of my rap CDs and chuck them, frisbee-style, into the front yard. At one point, our front yard was home to DMX, Cypress Hill, and the all popular Wreckx-N-Effect. One day, we were about to go somewhere in my car and as we pulled down the driveway, Missy Elliott began telling us who shouldn't be f$&ked with. Before I could even react, he ejected my cd and it went flying into the country side (I never did find it). To his dismay, all this graveyard of hip-hop music did was drive me to sneak a listen as often as possible. Eventually, I learned to appreciate many of his favorite artists along with my own, each with their own unique talents.
Life lesson - good music is ALWAYS better live and in person. A great example that comes to mind is the first time I saw Blink 182 in concert. I had not been a fan of them, but my little brother Zack had tickets and needed someone to drive him and his girlfriend to the concert in the Poconos. Free concert tickets in exchange for a ride? Sure! I’ll admit that I wasn’t expecting much, but when Travis hit his drum solo, I was hooked. Furthering this point, I challenge anyone that doesn't enjoy Bruce Springsteen's music to see him in concert and try to maintain that opinion. Just 5 minutes in the presence of The Boss live and in person was enough to get me hooked for life. I firmly believe that music is one of the great forms of therapy, but if something really has you down, Henry Rollins said it best - "music is the cure for what ails ya."
I originally wanted to created this blog to leave fatherly advice to my 3 boys, but as I thought about it, many of the things I want to share could also tie into education. So I decided to share these thoughts with my friends in teaching. Reflecting on the best way to go about this, I remembered that advice is always best when told through anecdotes. This is when I reached out to my younger brother, Zack, to recall some of our favorite memories. These aren’t going to be sequentially written, instead be random thoughts on various topics. We love sharing & hearing personal stories from people's lives, so be prepared to hear some of ours and please feel free to send us yours!
Music has always been an important part of my life growing up. I firmly believe that we need to foster every child’s interest in music. As parents and/or educators, we are also responsible to help grow that interest to understand and appreciate a wide variety of musical genres. My father did that for my brother and I (often to our dismay), playing everything from The Beatles (Yellow Submarine) to Frank Sinatra, from Aaron Copeland to AC/DC. Music was always playing in our house! He was constantly quizzing us about which artist was singing, how we knew, what other songs they were known for. Before I give him too much credit, I want to add that he was not very open-minded about current music as I grew up in the 90’s into the early 2000’s. To illustrate just how much he disliked rap, R&B, or anything with ""vulgar" language, let me tell you what he did. One of his favorite hobbies was to find any of my rap CDs and chuck them, frisbee-style, into the front yard. At one point, our front yard was home to DMX, Cypress Hill, and the all popular Wreckx-N-Effect. One day, we were about to go somewhere in my car and as we pulled down the driveway, Missy Elliott began telling us who shouldn't be f$&ked with. Before I could even react, he ejected my cd and it went flying into the country side (I never did find it). To his dismay, all this graveyard of hip-hop music did was drive me to sneak a listen as often as possible. Eventually, I learned to appreciate many of his favorite artists along with my own, each with their own unique talents.
Life lesson - good music is ALWAYS better live and in person. A great example that comes to mind is the first time I saw Blink 182 in concert. I had not been a fan of them, but my little brother Zack had tickets and needed someone to drive him and his girlfriend to the concert in the Poconos. Free concert tickets in exchange for a ride? Sure! I’ll admit that I wasn’t expecting much, but when Travis hit his drum solo, I was hooked. Furthering this point, I challenge anyone that doesn't enjoy Bruce Springsteen's music to see him in concert and try to maintain that opinion. Just 5 minutes in the presence of The Boss live and in person was enough to get me hooked for life. I firmly believe that music is one of the great forms of therapy, but if something really has you down, Henry Rollins said it best - "music is the cure for what ails ya."
I'm with you; I like all music genres! For me, music is pure emotional expression and some genres lean heavy to one emotion or another. Even at 59, when I'm feeling like I want to shout, I like the head-banging anger of Disturbed or the German group Rammstein. Sad? I might listen to old tunes from Evanescence. Recently, people have noticed I like more Country. I think that's because in this stage of life, I like the encouragement of this genre....you're down or have been wronged and you can overcome! I like that...stand up, dust off, and try again message. So I think that's why I appreciate all genres of music: because they reflect real emotions. And as you learned as a child, even when emotions are tossed out the window, they aren't forgotten :) Great entry and messages!
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