Ariel Thomas English 1102 4/6/2014 Mrs.

Thomas Beauty Lies in The Heart of Music Assessment: This thesis paper is a very personal piece that has a lot of opinions from my life but also from others. I am going to describe many situations to help you understand my views as well as understand my inquiry question. This question is very dear to my heart and maybe yours as well. My inquiry question has pushed me out of my writing comfort zone as well as making me a more intricate thinker. I hope you enjoy this piece and also give me a lot of feedback because it is much needed. Hope you enjoy! Once upon a time there was a little girl who had a very creative imagination. She would sit at her small cracked window and just let her imagination wonder. She would sit at that window and let the sun hit her soft chestnut colored face. The wind from the window would blow in her long curly hair and her head would bop to the mini Barbie radio that she would take almost everywhere with her. She would listen to music for hours and daydreamed that she was the singer and shaking her rump to the different songs. When her friends would come over, they all would pretend that they were Destinys Child, a popular girl group from the 90s, and they would choreograph steps and sing their hearts out. This little girl grew up happy because of her music but no one really knew what she was going through. No one could see that she was really hurting in the inside.

About 12 years ago, my life was changed. I went through a depression that only I understood and never showed. I always seemed to be the happiest little girl. The main reason for my happiness was God introducing me to music. Music to me was my hope and it brought me through a lot. I was and still am very versatile when it comes to my music taste. I could moon walk to Michael Jackson, shimmy to Beyonce, or even cry to certain R&B songs. I know music has touched my life but I wanted to know if it could exactly touch others as much as it has touched mine. So I decided to do a little research on one of my friends. My friend, Natural, and I, have a very good connection especially when it comes to music. We always talk about different songs and musical experiences. Her musical development was kind of like mine. She loves to sing Gospel music, trust me I hear her singing everyday. You can tell she grew up in church by the soul she has when she sings any of her songs. She said she is on the choir and she loves to sing and experience praise and worship. I remember her telling me about her dad and how he would listen to R&B songs in the car and thats how she is so fond of them now. Every time a much older song comes on and she starts singing and I look at her thinking what in the world is this mess. Girl, you dont know nothing bout this girl and you aint ready for it! she would respond. She always talks about her daddy and his love for R&B music and how she grew up with it. But now she has branched out to newer songs and genres. She thinks that music has shaped her in many ways and I can tell. I can tell her dad really influenced her music taste, but that was not really the case for me. Remember when I said that around 12 years ago my life changed? It did because my father went to jail and I was left with my mother to take care of me. She had multiple

jobs and strived to help support and care for me. When my dad left I went into a mini depression and closed up very quickly. I held everything in and was very quiet when it came to my feelings. The only time I really expressed my feeling to my mom was when I was around the age of 10 years old. I want to say it was near fathers day and I remember being sad that whole week. My mom took me to McDonalds earlier that day and got me a kids meal, which had a Nsync CD with only one song on it to help promote the group. I do not remember the song but I do remember lying on my mothers bed while she held me and we started to listen to the song. Many thoughts of my dad ran through my mind and I just broke down, as well as my mother. That was probably the most connection that I had with my mother that whole week. It is amazing how rhythm and beats can construct different feelings and emotions. I want to know exactly how and why it can change our personality as well as our emotions. Many people say that music is life but some say it is just music but which one is right? The authors Samuel A. Mehr, Adena Schachner , Rachel C. Katz , and Elizabeth S. Spelke make very great points when they constructed this article called "Two Randomized Trials Provide No Consistent Evidence for Nonmusical Cognitive Benefits of Brief Preschool Music Enrichment." This article takes a childs point of view on music. They look at the childs behavior as well as their actions when listening to different musical types. Why do children dance and sing to Barney but, fall asleep when listening to lullabys? The authors test groups of children and put them through a series of musical courses when coming to music. They let certain children listen to specific music types and see how they start to develop by the music. They came up with very interesting results because they saw the children change their personalities and start to act a specific

way when listen to certain genres. I believe this article related to me very much just because music changed my life as a child as well as my life so far. Through middle school I started to listen to hip hop and a little rap. My friends brought me to rap music and I loved the hardcore beats and the rhythm. We would sit in class and someone sings a rap song and the girls would shakes their hips to the song. I was still very quiet and secluded but I started to open up to people a lot easier because everyone liked rap and that was something I could join in, in the conversation. When I made a lot more friends I started to listen to many more types of music. I could see myself blossoming into the person I really wanted to be. As soon as I became more open a surprise knocked on my door and started a new chapter in my life.