Entering Music

A reflection upon my life would find those moments that profoundly influenced me occurred amiss the moments of chaos that have sporadically interfered with my life’s course. Searching for moments that profoundly influenced me in the absence of other defining moments is like searching for a needle in a haystack. I found a singular example in my hours of reflection, a simple discovery in 9^th grade study hall. The story begins before that, back in 8^th grade when my Spanish teacher, in his quirky manner played “Dear Mama” for the class. I liked the song, but it stored away only in my memory, as my interest in music was less than existing in my younger years. 9^th grade study halls were free periods of computer time. On the rare occasions I had homework to do it was an afterthought. Upon my boredom I began imitating the other kids in study hall – I decided I would listen to music even though I hadn’t the slightest idea that I even liked it. A reflection upon my brief encounters with music brought me upon two moments – my flirtation with country music in 4^th grade and the song by 2pac that my self-proclaimed “hood” Spanish teacher had played during class. I searched “Dear Mama” in Youtube and was hooked. Somehow in the course of a year my maturity had subconsciously expanded into the capacity of understanding music. I was hooked. After running through all the 2pac songs I could find in the YouTube search query I moved on to Nas, then Eminem, and Lupe Fiasco, and Kanye West, and so on … a continuing cycle to this day. Like Hampl, one rather uneventful moment profoundly influenced me into understanding a form of literary expression.