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. My eighth grade year, my dad came home. That event emotionally tore me up and confused me all together. I sit here and just learned how to emotionally balance myself and then everything goes crazy again which equals the true definition of my life. Many may not understand why I was not extremely happy or overjoyed. But for the past 7 years at that time, I had experienced a fatherless life and now this man wanted to come back in

my life like nothing happened, not going to happen. My first thoughts were anger and sorrow and how he didnt deserve to put me through that. Then I started to think about my origins and where I came from. Many kids in my town lost their dads when they were young. They lost them to guns, drugs, or they didnt even know who their father was. I tried to recall all my memories with my dad, like my preschool graduation, my first birthday, the day of my birth, and all the love and joy that he gave me when we were together. I also thought about the origin of music. Where exactly did music come from? How was this great thing thought of and put into play? Ellen Dissanayake actually did a book review on The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body by Steven Mithen. Dissanayake does a great job of explaining this book and giving us inside answers. When I think of the Neanderthals, I think of ape like people who were not as intelligent as the normal assumptions of what we call human beings today. This review actually broke down who the Neanderthals were and actually how they could have birthed what we call music. Dissananyake explains how even though these creatures were not exactly the smartest but, they are more intelligent than we thought. She said their communication skills were as low as a infant, basically saying they hard no true form of communication, but they somehow communicated with beats and tones. They could probably remember songs more than actual phrases or words. They developed a music-like communication system that was more complex and more sophisticated than that found in any of the previous species of Homo Dissananyake explained. I love the fact that something so complicated, rhythmic, and detailed can be made by these individuals. It is amazing how the most complicated things can come from the simplest places.

As I thought of music and how it affected me, I decided to give my dad another chance. We started to hang out more, and grow more just like music grew on me. I tried to treat him like I treated music. We inched and connected little by little and we became closer than I could have ever imagined. As I started high school, I became my own unique person. My ninth grade year, I went to a public school called Ragsdale High School. I was listening to more rap and hip-hop music, which influenced more of my actions and physical appearance. I would wear more inappropriate clothing types and started to change when it came to my attitude. I wanted to be like the female rappers who wore short skirts and cropped shirts. I wanted to have my own gangsta swag. Then music I listened to did not only affect me as my own individual but as well as the artist. Many people looked up to the very physically blessed music girls in the music videos. That is how I saw myself but that is not who I was and definitely how I was raised. Ed Gordon from NPR news made a very good statement about a certain genre of music that was so popular to me in my early high school years. Did you know that two recent national studies on alcohol consumption are making headlines? One report sheds light on potential ground breaking treatment for addiction. The other suggests young people who listen to rap are more likely to abuse alcohol. I know my paper is not about rap music specifically but it is amazing how one genre of music can create a very deadly and dangerous trend for children and teens. Gordon states that rappers are very powerful role models and many of the teens that look up to those rappers wants to be exactly like them. They want to act, dress, and live the lives of the rich and famous even if that means

they change who they are physically and emotionally. In my ninth grade year, I went through a small part of that transition but thankfully I did not do drugs or alcohol but all teens werent as lucky as I was. I started to realize a change in myself and I did not like it. I decided to go to a different place the rest of my high school year and it was one of the best decisions of my life. My music expanded when I went to a Christian private school called First Christian Academy, which is located in the small town of Kernersville, NC. From there I went to a more secluded music type. I thought more about my musical choices and the messages they gave off. I started to convert to more Christian music and soft hip-hop, what I call pop music, which had less cursing and less of a harsh meaning to life. I opened up to classical, gospel, pop, and even a little country music. I started to seem happier and down to earth. I developed a new connection with my music and even a deeper connection. I tried to listen to songs that had more of a positive lesson behind them and I just became a very joyous person. I dressed more conservative but at the same time I acted more like myself. As soon as I graduated, and went to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, I started to just branch open to all types of music. My first year at UNCC has been a very interesting experience and music has helped me through many of my loneliness and my difficulties. I have developed as an individual now and music is still having my back. Kurt Stricker has a blog website called Gen321 and he has this blog called The Importance of Music in Our Lives. I love how Stricker says Music is one of the most beloved human experiences. I agree with him because music has done such good damage in my life. He talks about how music can take you back to certain memories like

your wedding day or even your first kiss. He also demonstrates how music can make you more energetic or pumped like if you have party music you may want to dance, or if you are at a basketball game and you have a fight song. I remember playing basketball in high school and we had a fight song that would always pump us up. Stricker made really great points and I can really relate to what he is saying. I can tell that music can really change a person and have a tremendous affect on ones life. Till this day I thank those wonderful Neanderthals. They brought me and my dad back together, helped me through my lonely years, and has made me grow as a person. I love how a rhythm or a beat can physically and emotionally change a person. I think my inquiry question is a question that can be answered in a scientific way but it is just one of those questions that cannot be answered. I also think that it is one of those wonders that we try to find answers to but is just not intended for us to find. The wonders of the world are beautiful and they can help us through life and builds us as unique individuals. Some of the most beautiful things are unexplainable. I guess beauty does lie in the heart of music. Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. Garth Brooks

Works Cited Stricker, Kurt. "The Importance of Music in Our Lives." The Importance of Music in Our Lives. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. Gidney, Natural D. "Natural's Music Experience." Personal interview. 17 Mar. 2014. Bonneville=Roussy, Arielle, Peter J. Rentfrow, and Jeff Potter. "Music Through the Ages: Trends in Musical Engagement and Preferences From Adolescence Through Middle Adulthood." (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 29 Feb. 2014. Mehr, Samuel A., Adena Schachner, Rachel C. Katz, and Elizabeth S. Spelke. "Two Randomized Trials Provide No Consistent Evidence for Nonmusical Cognitive Benefits of Brief Preschool Music Enrichment." Ed. Marina Pavlova. PLoS ONE 8.12 (2013): E82007. Print. "Study: Rap Music Linked to Alcohol, Violence." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. "The Human Nature Review Edited by Ian Pitchford and Robert M. Young." The Human Nature Review Edited by Ian Pitchford and Robert M. Young. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.

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GLBMLJsQSkzIIQ&bvm=bv.64542518,d.dmQ&psig=AFQjCNFSHTZwqFOI2UI7BJTZI0YMcwZ_w&ust=1397533996672221>. "." [Online image] May 2013. <http://www.winsonictech.com/image/3090/3090%20barbie.jpg>. . "." [Online image] 15 August 2011. < http://hiphopwired.com/2011/08/15/jay-zsays-beyonce-is-second-coming-of-michael-jackson-audio/>. . "." [Online image] July 2008. <http://static.gigwise.com/artists/nsync.jpg>.

Quotes Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. - Garth Brooks at BrainyQuote. (n.d.).