Herberg Middle School Band

What does music mean to me?

Responses from Herberg Middle School students:

Soft and gentle, not hard and crude. When I hear the word music it makes me think of instruments and music pieces (songs). You should treat music with love. That’s how I think of it.

 

Music to me expresses feelings and I love music and I love being in band. That’s what music means to me.

 

Music is the meaning of life. Music brightens my day and every day there is always a song to fit my mood. Without it my life would be pretty boring. It makes me happy whether I’m listening by myself or rockin’ out with my buddies, it keeps everyone excited to be living life with your own rhythm. Some songs speak loud and clear, while others take time to dig deep into it and pull out its inner beauty. That’s what makes it interesting, elegant and relaxing.

 

Music connects us to our heart.

 

Music gives me a chance to relax and if I’m bored a chance to excite myself. It is something I look forward to the whole day.

 

Music means a lot to me, it can make me feel happy when I am depressed and music can strike a lot of emotions in me when I am listening to it. It can let me be creative and be myself. I love music.

 

Music means I can express myself freely.

 

To me, music means a way to escape everyday stress and be creative. You can easily express your feelings and problems through playing an instrument. It is frustrating to have all of our classes based around the MCAS test. When I walk into the band room it makes me happy knowing that in this room we are free to be ourselves. It is fun to play music because it is relieving. Personally, I am proud to have the advantage of calling myself a “band geek”.

 

Everything.

 

To me, music means that it is a time to be creative and expressive.

 

To me, music is a way to keep me entertained and to escape from the stresses of the MCAS test.

 

Music to me is the ability to be creative and express my feelings in a positive way. I have always been able to turn to music to express my anger.

 

To me, music means a way to escape from the world around me. When I come home from a hard day of school, or need a break from my homework, I’ll listen to music or play my flute to relax and refresh my mind. Band class is a nice break from all of the writing and listening in classes.

 

A lot of people undermine the school music program or just toss it aside. But to us, it’s more than just a class, it’s really more of a lifestyle.

 

To me, music expresses the way I feel and helps me take my anger out in a positive manner instead of on my family and friends. At first I thought music was stupid and made no sense but as I learned how to play and read music it became one of the first things I enjoyed doing. When I first came to band I was the only black kid in the band and I didn't’t know how to read or write music but my fellow classmates helped me so I enjoy it now.

 

Music means a lot to me. When I am sick or sad, I play the piano and I feel happy. When I’m tired I like listening to the radio to make m fall asleep. I like watching people play at a concert because it’s interesting to listen to other groups play. Also listening to music puts me into a imaginary world where I can relax. I like music and it is part of my life. That is what music means to me.

 

Music is a melody that makes you feel good inside.

 

Music gives me something to do and practice. It teaches me patience and listening skills. So basically, music is my teacher and entertainment. That’s what music means to me.

 

Music means a lot to me. It lets me get away from all that is happening in the world with the wars, earthquakes and tsunamis. It has been very bad right now with Japan and music lets me get away from all the troubles. It lets me relax. Also, it can sometimes relate to me. If I am having a bad day, I can play music that relates to what I am going through or makes me feel better. That is what music means to me.

 

To me, music is calm and relaxing. Although sometimes it may be loud, it still makes me calm. I like all kinds of music; band, country, rock and roll and pop. Music means that I can feel peaceful and soothed. All kinds of music means something to me, but those are just some examples.

To me, music is a vast arrangement of emotion that is expressed through beautiful melodic instruments. There are no restrictions of sound or pattern and mainly music has a core feeling that you can exquisitely hear in the song. That is my basic vision of music.

 

Music makes me think…

 

EVERYTHING! Music is my life, my soul. One of the rare things in life that are constant. It’s indescribable and just might be next to food, water and shelter in a human’s necessities for life. Music is one of the ways to truly and completely show off your real personality, no matter what genre or tempo. Without music, I would die. Plain and simple.

 

Music to me means inspiration. I can express my feelings through music. It is an outlet from reality. It is a privilege that I can play.

 

Music makes me feel good.

 

I think music is like a sport. It is very exciting when you do well but, when you do badly you feel disappointed. And it’s fun.

 

Music is life. Without it life would be boring.

 

Music means happiness to me.

Music is practically my life, from singing, to flute, to MP3s. When I think about my best core subject, I think math, for math is something you need to understand music. Music is like a shield for me, hardly ever when I am singing or playing do my problems bother me. My MP3 player has lots of songs that the words describe how I am feeling and seems to pull me back to reality so I don't get my hopes up and watch them crash down. I run quite frequently and always have music in one fashion or another. Music takes my mind off things and lets me focus either on the music or something else like homework or how to improve, aim on the soccer goal or quicken my pace to beat the record time.

Like all other things that try to make you content in life music is not a tangible object or even destination. Music is a journey. Like happiness, people shouldn't’t be defined by looks, clothes or even their ancestors. They are defined by one thing divided into categories. This one thing, of course, is their personalities. A person’s personality is defined by how they act and react, how they think and how they want to think. What they listen to. Not just words but music, rhythm, beats, voices, instruments, sound effects or maybe just the “pitter patter” of rain or the thumping of a foot. Music defines us. To take away or lessen a part of music is to take away a bit of our life. Music is like adding to yourself and when you share it, you “add” to others lives. Music is a food that our souls devour. Music is a part of us, no matter what kind, music is a flow, a motion, a journey.

 

Music is a huge part of my life. Being able to have a instrument and play it is a privilege that not everyone is able to have. But having a program to learn and improve from on top of that is a blessing that we are so lucky to have in our school. Music means a lot of things. It can be a challenge, an outlet, an escape a pastime, an entertainment, and even a future. Music goes deep, deeper than a lot of people think. It can mean everything. To me, personally, it means many more possibilities in my life, many open doors that may be locked to other people. It means my favorite class, and one of my greatest experiences. It means soaring notes and rhythms dancing like fire. It’s a whole different language, dots on a staff that actually make sense to some people. To me, music means letting it all out, pouring emotion onto paper and watching it create a song. It means that the winds blowing through my instrument is more than just air, it is something physically beautiful. It means accents, articulations, ties and scales, all crescendoing to meet each other and weave together into an art form. It means beauty at its rarest. It means a world of excitement that I’m thrilled to be able to partake in. If you sent a survey out to every child in the world, what percentage of those kids do you think could tell you, “I’m a musician.”? Not a lot. Music, to me, is the honor of being one of the kids who could say that.

Music helps me to realize what is happening in my life instead of always ignoring it.  It also lets me learn to express my feelings, whether they are good or bad.

 

 

Out there in the halls, every minute we are judged- but in my chorus class, all that stops.  I can be me. The real me. Without worrying.  Music helps us keep our cool, meaning when my dad and I fight, I turn to my voice.  I sing about what I am feeling.  It helps us blow off some steam from the pressure of MCAS.

 

 

Music provides me with a chance to express my inner self.  Without it, I’d be troubled because all of my true personality would be locked up inside.  Also it provides me a place where I don’t have to be afraid to be myself and use my imagination.   In music class, you are not judged when you say what you believe or think.  This helps because sometimes when you have no one to talk to, music is there to soothe you.  When you need to cope.  If I didn’t have music, I’d probably be very distracted in my classes.  After chorus each day, I feel more peaceful and wise.  All that would disappear if it weren’t for music classes.

 

 

Music means a lot to me.  It gives me the freedom to express myself.  It helps make me happy.  It also helps with my other academic classes.  For example music helps with math and reading.  Also I now can remember things better than before.  I also can’t concentrate well in my other classes when I can in my chorus class.  In the arts classes we actually use all parts of our brains, not just intellectual. If we don’t use our creative side of our brains, we won’t be able to make things different or better.

 

 

I feel that having music classes in our schools is so important.  It gives us an opportunity to express ourselves in a way we feel comfortable with, when we have a chance to express ourselves, we take it.  And music is a perfect way to do that.  We can relate to the music and it can help us feel better in some situations.  When we are in music class, we don’t just learn about music.  We learn about where it’s from and what it means.  We learn about poets, and some quotes that have very good meanings to our lives.  These classes let us be who we really are.

 

 

Music means to me that I can be me not having to worry about everything bad that’s going on.  We learn how to look beyond what we see, think things differently than other people.  We learn how to read music and play the piano, get strong and healthy voices.  It lets me be creative. Let’s me say what I think is good and express my emotions.  And I get to hang out with peers who love to sing like me.  There are a lot of great things that come out of exploratory arts and music.

 

 

Music is what keeps me alive.  It helps me express my true feelings in ways that speaking can’t.  But this class isn’t just a group of some kids singing.  We have real talent, and we need this class to show it.  Chorus is not just a class.  It is so much more.  We learn to read music, express ourselves, sing, write, perform, and share how we feel and our thoughts.  We talk about ways to help the world.  We learn about people who made a difference possible.  I NEED this class.  It’s the only class where I am an individual, and not just a student.

 

 

To me music is an escape.  There are many times I feel stressed in school, and when I go to chorus every day, singing seems to help it all melt away.  When I sing, I can express things that I couldn’t usually say.  And in our chorus class, I have made great friends that I know I will stay friends with forever.  Never before have I known what true friends are.  Without music, my entire life would be off-balance.  My world revolves around my music.  I type to music; I memorize my French vocabulary to music.  I need music to function! 

 

 

Chorus is the most important part of my school day.  It is the only class where I pay attention.  It is the only class where I can express myself.  Academic classes become tiresome, they are only drilling information.  In music classes we learn how to read music, but it feels more gradual and natural.  As opposed to learning something, taking a test, then moving on.  Everything we do builds upon the other.  Without my music class, I would have a lot more trouble retaining sanity.

 

 

Without music class I would be the random kid singing random songs in the hallways and I would have no friends.  Music also has a message and you can’t like ignore a song but like if someone spoke the words of the song you could easily ignore them. Also my chorus class is the only class I pay attention and try.  I really need a break from the learny classes!  They are just like “ do this for homework and here, there’s more homework! And then there’s ms palmer who is like “ hey, do this for homework, ok? “  And so since she’s so nice, I do it!  But I hardly ever do homework for other classes!

What music means to me you ask.  Music means expression, light, and life to me.  It’s mainly my way of expression.  When I feel sad, happy, or need to persuade myself to do homework, I sing a song.  In every aspect of my life, music is a part.  I know that I want to sing and share music with the world when I grow up.  These classes, (my chorus classes especially) are very special to me.  These help me work towards my dream.  Also they help me with my stage fright and also to be a better person.   Singing is my light to show who I really am.  This is the only class I really pay attention in.  Chorus and singing really interests me the most because that’s what I want to do.  Also in school, we need a break from all the academics focused on MCAS.  We need time for thinking more outside the box instead of inside. 

 

I need music because without it, I would be bored.  Other than music, art, and theater arts, we just sit in class and learn things without freedom of creativity.  I mean, sometimes in English we will write our own things, but there are still barriers on how creative we can get.  I also wouldn’t have met some of the people I associate with who share interests in arts with me.  Sometimes you need a break from just sitting in class all day and just learning facts and knowledge.

What music means to me is that it can help people relax and get them moving and dancing. I also think of jazz and classical music when I think of music. I hope the music program increases its power in our schools.