Global Music Autobiography

The best thing about music is not necessarily what it sounds like, but the fact that it is a way to communicate with people of all kinds, even the deaf can feel it's vibrations. Though music is universal, it changes depending on culture. My family has been music based since before we even knew it, and the music we listened to change based upon its need. My dad listened to gospel and my mom listened to rock music. When I was little, really little, I used to put my ear to speakers to hear the vibrations of the music as my hearing was very poor. My parents would play loud music like rap and opera. Most of the opera I listened to came from Austria (Mozart), but there was also Puccini and Vivaldi (Italy). My dad was always participial to Vivaldi's four seasons. I have always loved listening to Pavarotti, and Italian opera singer. I love the warmth and depth of his voice. My roommate showed me a recording of The Phantom of the Opera in Russian. Before this, I had never heard music in Russian, although I have always wanted to sing an aria in Russian. In German class my teacher played songs that were popular in Germany. They were generally songs popular in the 80’s or early 2000’s. It was interesting listening to the older German pop songs compared to the newer ones. One of the newer German musicians was a DJ who wore a panda mask. I used to watch a musical show that was entirely in Spanish. My family likes to listen to music on our way to and from places, thus, we often take turns who picks the music. My sister Natashah always listens to the most interesting music, at some point it was 50's music, and at another it was Gaelic. This music sounded a lot like what would play in the background of a Lord of the Rings movie. I have heard music from India too. It wasn’t a full song, nor a great portion of it. The song was merely a tidbit taken out as the intro to a documentary about India that I watched in my International Studies class. It’s interesting how, when asked what music from different cultures I have heard, my first thought was “Easy, American and Italian”, but as I typed, more and more places popped into my mind of all the music I have heard.