Helium Balloons

Guitar Strings and Piano Keys

Guitar Strings and Piano Keys

Dear Friend,

This kid in one of my favorite movies said “I believe in music the way that some people believe in fairy tales” Well, I agree with it so much because music isn’t something that should be taken for granted. It is something to be ‘believed’ in because it is that surreal and beautiful in this chaotic world. It’s one of the only things that make sense to me sometimes.

Some people feel that music is nothing but the outcome of different wavelengths- merely vibrating air molecules, but it is us, who realize how sometimes physics could yield something so incredible. Music is a sensation, a phenomena and an emotion. Music is the penultimate form of beauty. Music is feeling alive when you were pretty sure you already died. Music is expression. Music is love.

I feel like I walk around with a bunch of cronies, becoming more like them day-by-day doing nothing more than what is expected of me and staying trapped in those confines that were set up for me. But what music made me realize that those boundaries were mythical and that maybe, just maybe, there were never truly any boundaries at all. And that is how free music makes me. When I hold my guitar, I feel goose bump-y and really, truly happy because for once, I fully belong. And like I said before, things make sense. I am no more a crony, and I am my own person.

Friend, you know what else I learned? You don’t have to be good to love music. You don’t have to sing like Ed Sheeran, write like Adele, or perform like Hunter Hayes to be as utterly in love with music as they are. Music is how you want to express your emotions. It could be in a way that’s special and unique to you. It could be singing a Steve Moakler song in a pitch that suits your style. It could be making a Tangled &Frozen or a Bruno Mars mash up and mixing up lyrics how you want to. Being in love with music is being freaking proud of your music taste no matter how many people tell you how ‘outdated’ your songs are. It’s being able to listen to your Taylor Swift and Beatles playlist without having to worry about peoples’ judgments. But most, being in love with music is being daring- singing out loud, and letting yourself break away from those imaginary boundaries that you were so scared of before.

Therefore, if you love music, there should be nothing holding you back. You should allow yourself to express what you’re feeling. Are you scared you’ll go too high or too sharp or too loud? Don’t be. Because every person has their own way of expression, you just have to find yours. It’s your guitar strings and your piano keys and honestly, your emotions. So nobody can ‘suck’ because it’s their way of showing themselves to the world and they probably love music more than you do. When you love music that much, you express it. You don’t fear getting judged because that one favorite song gives you strength to be the person you want to be.

I’ll admit, I feel like a horrible singer sometimes, and I’m so scared to play the guitar in front of people and I constantly feel like people are going to laugh at music taste. I listen to The Beatles, David Bowie AND One Direction. I know almost all Taylor Swift songs by-heart, but sometimes I also listen to the Top 40. And maybe I’m listening to songs from the soundtrack of a Disney movie, but so what?

Music has helped me through the hardest times in my life. It was a few years ago when I was so mad at God for taking someone special away from the world and I was so confused. I was hurt that he dying meant never seeing him again… It was then that music helped me figure things out. I still listen to songs from that year, but I don’t think of those dark days, I think of these songs as my saviors, and how they saved me in every way during that time. I thought I was too broken, but nothing is too hopeless as long as we can switch on our iPods and still have our favorite songs on repeat.

My musical idol once said “People haven’t always been there for me. But music has” And I can totally vouch for that because really, we are all connected through the music we listen to. We are a string of people connected by emotions that we felt listening to that song. We have found our common ground and solace. And we won’t let it go.

Yours Lovingly Xx

P.s: This was the hardest letter to write. Just so you know. And as for that event few years ago, I’d rather not talk about it.