Music is a Language Everyone Loves

John Erskine - "Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing."

This quote is so true. Absolutely everybody in the world loves music. There are probably as many different kinds and styles and flavors of music as there are people on this earth. As human beings, we seem hard-wired to listen to and appreciate music. Even people who can't carry a tune with a handle on it can enjoy the many virtues of music, and the educational, social, and psychological benefits that come with it.

Recently from the library I checked out a cool book called "Learn to Speak Music", which I heartily recommend to all my friends by virtue of it's awesome illustrations, and the spot-on advice on choosing and playing an instrument, putting and keeping a band together, how to write music and lyrics, getting and performing live gigs, and recording your very own songs.

Even more recently, I have my dad Benny to thank for investing in our newest 88 key instrument: a Yamaha Portable Grand DGX-520 piano! We found it on Craigslist and traveled all the way to Hollywood (Florida) to get it. When we got to the guy's house, he let me and Adam play with all the styles and beats stored in it before Benny paid for it. It is so cool! These past couple days I've been practicing "Fur Elise" (or "For Elise", whichever works best) with both hands, because the piano has this cool feature that I've always wanted, that plays the song and pauses until you play the notes that it shows on the little screen. Bettina and Adam have been practicing as well, and all three of us are getting better and better at it.

In conclusion, music is universal, it crosses language barriers, and everybody loves it because there is not a mean bone in it's body (not that music has a body; it's more of an abstract, intangible type thing, but still). In a world that is, at times, an unfriendly and somewhat scary place, isn't it nice that we can always hum our favorite tune and feel that little bit better all in the same minute?