The Gift

We have lots of homework, projects, and things to study again today, as usual. I sit down and keep my things after going home from school, pick up my phone, plug it into the speakers; turn the speakers and press "King For a Day - Pierce the Veil" in my song list. The first slow, steady, and treacherous beats are heard throughout the house, and suddenly the speakers burst with screams and a series of extremely fast alternate palm muting. I am put in a feverish trance.

Music has always been an inextricably vital part of my life. That sense came to me at a time that even I have trouble in remembering well. I have come to like music even more as I grew up, mainly because of my eldest sister and her knowledge of the music I like today: the music that deviates from the mainstream. Even if I can't remember the first time I liked music, I will always remember the time I first liked the music that my sister liked.

It was the prime era of Secondhand Serenade, FM Static and the likes. Their music was a semi-viral thing, only next to the usual pop that flourished back then.

There was I, sitting in front of the computer after my sister used it, and saw a YouTube video unfinished. The title said "Like We Used To - A Rocket to the Moon with lyrics". I played it again, and guess what--I was instantly hooked. I was a hopeless romantic back then, and I was held captive in its lyrics and really catchy melody. I discovered a few other songs of the band, and I held fast to them until I went to study in the prestigious Cavite National Science High School, where I did not know I was bound to know a lot more than just rockets to the moon.

I came to study in the institution and it was around the first month of school when my classmates and I talked about music, and I shared my familiarity of the band and to my surprise, a few people knew of them. Imagine my face! I was filled with delight and excitement. And then by some time shortly thereafter, my sister had a whole new set of bands to listen to: Pierce the Veil, Sleeping With Sirens, All Time Low, and a lot more. I was yet again easily captivated by their songs. I also discovered this duo on YouTube called ThePianoGuys. They are masters of each of their instruments, the piano and the cello, and up to this day, they continue to inspire people to love music by doing awesome covers of modern and classical music, most frequently a mash of both, to further entice people nowadays. This time around, I was more deeply wound into the realm of music.

It is the greatest thing I always had, listening to music. In the short time frame of a song, I can either have tons of fun or joy listening to it, or I can ponder on things that a certain song strongly suggests that we learn or know. Lessons vary from each song and band/artist, and those bands that I know today teach a lot of lessons or profound things in life, be it love or other struggles in life. I feel the songs I listen to very well, to the point where tears flood my eyes whenever I hear a sad song or a song that makes me remember the beauty of life and all creations, especially if wonderful lyrics are accompanied by beautiful melodies. I am deeply in love with music, that I started to study how to play or create my own music through the guitar when I was around seven years old, and the piano consequently in a time I have trouble yet again in remembering.

Music has taught me things I needed to learn in life, and has given me the opportunity to experience life in a better way, Whenever I am sad, lonely, or even doubtful, I will just click a song in my phone and play it, even without ear phones or even if it's really quiet, and I will think about the thing that's been bothering me. I can also play or create my own music whenever possible. And if I can't do those, I will just play the music I want to hear inside my head, its melody and lyrics perfectly intact because of my great memory of music. In times of victory or overflowing joy, I will play the best song I know and bathe in all its grandeur.

Music, in short, is a gift and the gift.