Special Interest Stories

Musical Fairy Dust

Dictionary.com defines Music as “an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color”. As great as that sounds, no dictionary can give me a definition or an answer to a question that has been irking me for a long time: What makes music or a song GOOD? Some people I’ve asked say it depends and I quote, “on how sick the beat is”, others say introspective lyrics. I’ve had friends tell me lyrics mean nothing and that they’d read poetry if they wanted pretty words. I’ve had others who say they listen and love certain songs only if they’re comfortable and easy to listen to.

Lately, I’ve found that most of us (the general teenage population) accept what music and songs are presented to us by our favourite radio station or MuchMusic. I’m not saying that all popular music is bad, I mean who doesn’t have the new Katy Perry stuck in their head (‘Cause you’re hot then you’re cold…), but what I am saying is that we’ve been settling for what has been spoon fed to us. Meanwhile, there’s a whole wide spectrum full of unique and exciting sounds out there ready to be explored.

I used to be very narrow-minded when it came to my music choices however, over the years I’ve found that it’s okay to like many different types of music, from classical to rap to rock to folk to techno. When we limit ourselves to one genre we end up subconsciously limiting ourselves to one sound. Opening our minds and ears to new things will help us learn and see different worlds of emotions and thought. This will in turn make us view the world a little different every time we hear a new song. We all tend to forget, but, music is a form of communication, it expresses things that words can’t. Once in awhile, it’s good to dive in head first and feel different things that accompany a new piece of music. Be brave!

So, on that note, I’m going to leave you my fellow Markham teens with my definition of what GOOD music is: A series of beats, rhythms, melodies, harmonies, words and sounds that make you feel lost and found, in love and in hate, like crying and like dancing all at the same time. In short, good music makes you feel everything all the time.

From MTAC with love,

Andrea.V