Music is Power

Whether it be jazz, rock, hip-hop, or classical, music has the ability to touch people in ways nothing else can. It can reach right into your soul and bring out your deepest fears, problems, or insecurities. It takes those troubles off your shoulders and carries them for you. 

A while ago, a group of musicians were playing for a local nursing home. These musicians played the same songs they had been practicing for weeks and barely had to think about it. The individuals notes were played by muscle memory, and the music flowed right out of them. 

During one of their more popular "old people" songs, a man began to sing along with them. The players were touched by the old man's sweet voice blending with the tune of their instruments, but overall, they didn't think about it much. 

After their performance, the audience applauded and a few individuals personally thanked the musicians. One woman, the wife of the man who was singing, approached them teary eyed. She explained to the young musicians that those were the first words she has heard come out of her husband's mouth in years. 

The music performed was able to reach that man in a way that years of therapy never could. By simply playing combinations of notes and tones, the musicians were able to reach him in a new way. 

Similarly, when Sherman Alexie's father "could barely move"(33) he could still respond to music. He "broke both his legs, cracked his ribs, and punctured a lung"(32) in an almost fatal car crash, so his wife came to visit him in the hospital and sang to him. Alexie's father responded to her sweet tunes by "tapp[ing] his finger in rhythm"(33). 

Even if just for a short while, music cured these two men when nothing else could. The man in the nursing home hadn't spoken in years, and Alexie's father "could have died easily"(33). Music was able to once again step in and seize the day.