Digital Voices

Jerod’s “This I Believe” speech

I believe in music. It is my way.
Of the largest pieces of contemporary popular culture, the shared aspect of music has got to be the vastest. Virtually everyone listens to music, no matter who someone is or what they live for. I t has so many functions in life, and everybody has their different purpose for listening to music.
When I was four or five, I lived country music. I can vaguely remember riding in the front seat of our old mini-van, waiting for the next song to come on the radio. And I’d sing. And sing. I remember I knew every song; there couldn’t be one that I hadn’t at least heard before. At this time in my life, I did not realize exactly what it was I was hearing and perceiving. It was noise, then. Fun noise that made me happy and put me in a good mood and aspired me to want to run around and dance. This strange noise would be analyzed by the same person in much greater depth a decade later with a little different take on things.
Public high school was different than a small Christian/parochial elementary school in many ways. There were people now, hundreds of them, all strangers to me and actually attending the same school as I. Eventually, I made friends and acquaintances and soon I was more comfortable and used to everything. I believe my experience with changing schools of huge dramatic difference is what influenced my over-infatuated obsession of this complex, strange but popular art of organized art: music.
I believe that events and experiences in someone’s life strongly influence their choice of music. Typically, people listen to a certain style of music because it makes them feel cool, and they like the sound of it. Before I hit high school, I liked a totally different genre of music. Now that I have experienced new and different things through attending Charlotte High School, my ideas of “good” music have changed. I am proud to say that I am happier now than I was before, and I have come to respectfully blame music for my transformation. This is why I believe music.
As time goes on and on, I look at people and think about music and how it relates to them in society. I think about what it does for them, how they think about it, and mostly I reflect upon myself in terms of them. I think back to when I was four and my perspective of music then. I believe that most humans now think about all sorts of different kinds of music the way I did then: more shallow, enjoyable, and something in common with others. Music affects everyone differently and connects us socially. I believe that good changes can come about due to the influence music has upon society. No matter what happens to me in my life, and regardless of what has happened, one thing is absolutely certain: I will always believe music.