Tag: MusicInspiration

A Warrior’s Song

Posted on by andrew

Neema Ejercito (she/her/hers), Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

 

SO many songs have made me cry, but if I were to choose just one, it would have to be Twila Paris’ “The Warrior is a Child.” Philippine pop legend Gary Valenciano is the one who popularized this song for me, and probably the entire country. Every time I hear it, I swear, if my heart is not at least swelled up in inspiration, I am left in buckets of tears and snot, despicably ugly-crying. I may be exhausted and wasted by the end of it, but there have been times when I’ve played it over and over when I’m particularly down. It’s as if I wanted to empty all the sadness away through the song.

 

I’m tempted to write every line of its lyrics here, but due to word limit, I must choose the lines that I would like to talk about. The song begins with the protagonist’s current state: “Lately I’ve been winning battles left and right/But even winners can get wounded in the fight.”1 When I’m feeling particularly spent, just hearing this first line is enough for the waterworks to begin. I recount how much I’ve been giving and think how that’s supposed to be a good thing, but why do I feel so dang tired? And because I feel empty, I don’t feel like a winner at all.

 

The waterworks turn into a flood as the second stanza comes on: “They don’t know that I come running home when I fall down/They don’t know who picks me up when no one is around.” Dang it, I’m starting to tear up. And I listened to this song a couple of times yesterday in preparation to write this article tear-free, too. These lines hit me particularly hard at one point because I still question my spirituality at times. Do I believe in a Supreme Being, and how do I address Her? What is my relationship with Her like? These lines remind me that I do believe in Her, though I’ve grown up addressing Her as Him. But I remember the times I’ve visualized being held in Her arms, just as my mom shared with me when she would feel down and need comfort.

 

“[D]eep inside this [armour]/The warrior is a child.” Oh my oh my oh my. These two lines. I think these are my favourite of them all. Especially the second time the chorus is sung and there’s a swell in the stanza’s first two lines I mentioned earlier. Ayayay, if I had been holding back any tears prior to this part, the dam would have broken right here.

 

I love love love the distinction between the armour and the warrior here. Oftentimes, because we’ve been hurt, we believe that turning into the armour is what protects us. We forget ourselves in what we’re putting on. We aren’t what we put on. We are simply using the armour to protect ourselves. In feeling like we have to become the armour, we’ve really turned ourselves into heartless objects. Sure, we may lie to ourselves in believing that this is for our own good, that we won’t get hurt, but we lose what being a warrior truly is. We keep fighting because of the hurt, but also because we love. And to do so means being open, being vulnerable.

 

Which brings me to the last lines I want to end my blog with: “But they don’t see the enemies/That lay me at His feet.” I’ve thought about the many different enemies I’ve had in my life, and often I find it easy to see someone else as my enemy. It’s human nature to blame someone or something else anyway. But many times, I think what pains me the most is when I realize I’m my own worst enemy. Time and time again I’ve had to remind myself how awesome I am to others while I treat myself worse than crap. And I have to remember: if I truly want to be able to help others, I really have to think the best of myself.

 

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Neema Ejercito is a professional writer, director and creative writing mentor. Her 3D edutainment series for beginning readers, AlphaBesties, is showing in YouTube Japan and Prairie Kids. When she’s not writing or mentoring, she manages her household with her very supportive husband and three children.

 

1 Paris, T. (n.d.). Gary Valenciano – Warrior Is a Child Lyrics | AZLyrics.com. AZLyrics.com. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/garyvalenciano/warriorisachild.html

Musically Gifted

Posted on by andrew

Grace Cheng (she/her/hers), Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

Learning music is one of the most beautiful things anyone can do. Music is beneficial for human health.  The practice of learning a musical instrument offers countless benefits for people in terms of multifaceted development. Performing music has a positive impact on the human brain. Playing music keeps the human mind active, and the creativity and concentration required sharpens it

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The study of music touches on all aspects of learning. These are the psychomotor, cognitive and affective components. The psychomotor element of music education emphasizes the development of mechanical skills in playing instruments. The cognitive portion focuses on the acquisition of musical knowledge. The affective component emphasizes the appreciation of music. Music also stimulates language development and develops collaborative skills. Furthermore, it enhances logical thinking, hand-eye coordination and listening capabilities.  

 

Skills Learned from Music

 

  1. Language and Reasoning Skills 

 

Children who receive early musical training will develop areas of their brains related to language and reasoning. Music develops the left side of the brain, which can affect how information is imprinted on young minds. As children learn their instruments, they gradually become accustomed to the nuances of a variety of sounds. In this way, their ears are trained to recognize the subtleties of speech and language.

 

  1. Muscle Development and Coordination

 

When children play instruments, they can use their entire body to maintain rhythm. Musical instruments can also develop motor skills that involve coordinating different parts of the body simultaneously. You can develop excellent hand-eye coordination while playing musical instruments.

 

  1. Problem Solving

 

Music is not always a simple subject. There may be difficulty in reading the score, executing a complex technical section or determining motivation. You will discover that there are ample opportunities to come up with creative and unique solutions to musical challenges.  

 

  1. Creativity

 

You can express yourself creatively by playing music. Your approach to and interpretation of music is unique to you. It can help shape your identity as a creative individual. It is this creativity that will shine through in other areas of your life as well. 

 

  1. Social Skills

 

When you play music in a group, you must learn to work together toward a common goal, manifesting tolerance, patience and encouragement with your peers. Music can help you develop social connections with other people.   

 

  1. Spatial Intelligence

 

Studying music can provide students with the opportunity to develop spatial intelligence, which will enable them to form mental pictures and perceive the world accurately. It has been demonstrated that pitch and rhythm have a significant impact on spatial reasoning skills.

 

  1. Emotional development

 

Individuals often develop their emotional maturity while developing empathy for other cultures through learning music. They also tend to have a higher sense of self-esteem and a more effective ability to cope with anxiety. Feeling the emotional power of music and engaging in the practice of expression enables one to better recognize the emotions inside oneself.

 

  1. Discipline

 

Learning an instrument can teach us important lessons about discipline. You will have to set aside time for practice and rise to the challenge of being disciplined to master the playing of an instrument.

 

  1. Thinking On the Spot

        

Music requires you to make numerous split-second decisions over and over. This requires you to think quickly on your feet. Over time, you will become extremely adept at detecting small mistakes and surprises in the music, while adapting to unexpected outcomes.

 

  1. Coping and Stress Management

 

Practicing music offers you an outlet that you can turn to when dealing with stress or other challenging situations. The act of playing music is also very therapeutic. The ability to cope through music is a valuable tool that can assist in balancing out life’s many difficulties.

 

Are you interested in learning music? Cross-curricular and lifelong skills await you as music’s valuable benefits.

 

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Grace has an accounting and finance background. She enjoys reading, writing, listening to music, watching movies and playing sports.

A Crescendo

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Cristina Cresecenzo she/her, Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

 

We have come to know rhythm as the beautiful synchronized sound that takes form in music and plays through our ears to bring about a plethora of emotions. However, what if we tried to convert a rhythm into the form of our daily lives? I have meditated on the idea and come to the conclusion that since life itself is not perfectly balanced we will have to create a whole new rhythm for ourselves. Luckily, music of modern days has strayed away from conventional formats by testing out new instruments, beats and sounds, even going so far as to sample something we use everyday like a light switch to create something completely unique. 

 

Therefore, I have no doubt we can invent our own melody to glide us forward and make each day a little easier. Before I finally focused my thoughts, I personally believed that I had no rhythm in my routine and instead I was just floating around aimlessly but I know now that this is not true. I heavily rely on the music playing in my headphones to temper my thoughts and help me with my decisions. It might sound silly yet every song I have heard has been written from the experience of someone else. The artist and I may not be exactly the same but there are always lyrics I can connect with. There have been instances in which I am listening to a song for the first time and the words feel as if it was meant specifically for me to hear; in those two to five minute intervals I know I am not alone.

 

I trust these voices to be my joy, anger, sadness, and comfort because they have chosen to spill the secrets of their hearts to the entire world to hear and I am one who believes we can learn from one another. I am not saying we should follow every piece of advice music gives us, what I am saying is that music is there as  an inspiration for you to examine your surroundings and think about the things you want to do next for yourself. This may sound overly sentimental but our lives are symphonies only we can conduct and if we were to copy the notes of others all we would hear is a constant echo and there would be no real progression towards our final crescendo. On that note, it makes me think of my last name, “Crescenzo” which in Italian stems from the word crescendo to mean to thrive and prosper. Thus, I can’t help but feel that the name I have bore since birth is challenging me to do just that. So, like a crescendo, the loudest point within a musical piece, the rhythm of my heart has to make the same loud impact in tandem with the things I choose to do in this lifetime. 

 

Nevertheless, I have stayed firm in my conviction to do things my way just like the songwriters of today who do things differently than the musicians of past eras. I know the flow of my rhythm is anything but synchronized and yet I wouldn’t want it any other way and I don’t think anyone else should strive for their steps to be perfectly in sync because that would only make for a boring tune. 

 

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Cristina Cresecenzo (she/her) an aspiring writer who strives towards having her writing spread awareness to a range of topics but most importantly disabilities and mental health and she hopes Low Entropy is the first step to that journey.

Music: The Connection that Makes Us

Posted on by andrew

Bethany Howell (she/her/hers), Low Entropy Volunteer Writer  

I remember being four years old, in the back seat of my father’s old red Volkswagen. I  would dance along to the songs he played, raising my arms as high as I could for the chorus  “Hands up, baby hands up” while he laughed and sang along. There are few things my father and  I shared, making our joint music taste all the more special to the both of us. As the years wore on  and we became more distant, we could always bond over Duran Duran, Billy Joel, and David  Bowie. My father and I are seldom close; but music, and the memories that came along with it,  brought us together.  

 At age eleven, I began discovering music outside of the realm of my father’s tastes. I  discovered modern rock, then alternative, then indie music. Artists such as Fall Out Boy, Glass  Animals, and Vampire Weekend replaced the familiar sounds of 80s pop with which I had grown  up. My father would always try to keep up, creating playlists with a mix of our favourite songs, 

but I preferred listening on my own. With the new age of modern music came the disintegration  of the only thing that he and I had.  

 I believe it was age eighteen when I finally began looking back at what I once knew.  ‘Retro’ music was making a comeback and I was surprised to find myself already knowing the  melodies and words to the songs being ‘discovered’ by my peers. Today I consider myself lucky  to know all the lyrics to the ballads and karaoke classics. After all, it is pretty fun to shock my  friends with my knowledge of classics obscured by time.  

I fell in love with music before I knew what love was. All of my most cherished moments  came with a soundtrack. Throughout my childhood, my love of music permeated into every piece  of who I was and what I did. If I wasn’t singing made-up songs and playing make-shift  instruments, I was listening to the music that surrounded me. Some would say that our political  viewpoints or the people we idolize makes us who we are; others may say that the books we read  or the people we love are more influential. I disagree. I believe it is the music we listen to, the  lyrics we sing to ourselves while cleaning up and the tunes we aren’t afraid to butcher with our  terrible singing voices. I am who I am thanks to not only my current favourite melodies, but also  the songs I still somehow recall from almost two decades ago in that old Volkswagen.  

My love of music still drives me today. Though I have attempted writing songs like I used  to when I was a child, I find that they never live up to expectations. Lyrics and chord  progressions are not my calling. I decided a few years back to, instead, focus on the rhythm and  meter of poetry. This has brought me quite far, with multiple poems published and a few on the  way. I know that not everyone would agree, but I believe poetry to be at the heart of music. Yes,  the two have many differences, yet both are based on the same drive – the creation of something 

beautiful. We all just want to create something that gets stuck in your head and moves you,  whether that be literally or figuratively.  

I love music for the same reasons I love poetry, film and all other artistic creations – the  connection it brings us. Music brings us all closer together through sharing the same favourite  songs or hating the same Top 40s artist. Music can be an agent of change and an agent of  connection. In my own life, it is the connection of music that brought my father and I together  and sparked my love for art that still inspires me today. I don’t believe that my work will ever  make as great of an impact as John Lennon’s poignant classic “Imagine” or have the lasting  legacy of Queen’s anthem “We Will Rock You”, but I do hope to make a small difference, even if  it is only in my own life. I write for myself and in hopes that others may relate to the words I  spill onto the page.  

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My name is Bethany Howell and I am a third-year university student majoring in psychology and  minoring in family and child studies. I have a passion for writing and mental health, and my  ultimate goal since age 13 has been to make a difference in the world through helping others,  which is how I ended up here at Low Entropy!