In Defense of Music: A Music Lover and Musician's Manifesto

       What would life be like without music? TV shows and movies without background music to add effect or set the scene.  It would be weird wouldnt it? Imagine spending a day without hearing any music, whetehr background or top of the charts... that would be hard to do.
         I personally find music to be a nice get away and use it to focus on things or to just calm down.  I even sing it in my head to get pumped up for events and things that I'm nervous to do.  Like, for example, I'll find myself singin a whole different array of music in my head in hard and fast sets during swim practice to pace or I'll sing something in my head when I'm sad or scared to calm me down.  Weird maybe, but it works for me:)
         I'm also in band and a choir so I get to be around music in and out of school with that and then there's my iPod.  I don't know what I would do without that, as silly as that sounds, because I am usually listening to music as much as I can during school days and weekends.  In fact, I'm listening to Pandora on my laptop now, because its helping keeping me focused on the task, writing about how to defend music.  What better way to do that than to be listening to music while writing about it?
        In school, having had music education can actually help.  Studies have shown that children who have had music education, especially rhythm, are better in some subjects such as math than those who haven't.  Also if a young child has had some exposure to music on paper, it helps them learn to read with the lyrics, listen because they are listening to see how the song sounds, and it also helps their speech because they are singing the words. 
        I think that some people have some misconceptions about how music can really make a difference in what we see or do.  What if, instead of the scary horror music played in scary movies, they played a Disney song, like "A Whole New World" from Aladdin?  If you hadnt seen a horror movie and known that it should be scary, maybe you'd feel different about what mood it should be in.  Of course visual effects make a difference and so do scripts but the tone of the music can make you feel jumpy, nervous, elated, or sad.  Just depends I guess.
       Also lyrics play a big part in music.  Songs are like poems with a tune.  They also can make people feel different ways. For example right now I'm listening to "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction and I feel better than I would if I were listening to "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac.  They have different sounds and feelings that are exposed, but its still music.  Also, many can relate to songs such as "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift because of personal experience and music is a good way to show any feeling really whether it be anger or sadness or joy and you can show it without doing anything physical or anything you'd regret.  Plus it usually sounds good, so that's always nice.
        But just because I find music to be a staple in my life doesn't mean that it has to be one in yours. I just find it to be a good way to stay focused and let my feelings out and just get through most days. So that's why I find music to be an important thing almost everywhere. Most cultures have music they play.  Many also listen and dance to it as well. Trying to go almost anywhere and not hear music at all would be pretty hard to do, try it and see...