Music

So I've written a lot of blogs about dance and what it means to me, and I decided it was time to share the other one of my passions and what it means to me, too. I don't know why I've never written about it before, really... but I'm going to now. 

If you've read the "About Me" tab at the top of the blog, you'll know that my two main passions are dance and music. 
Music has always been a part of my life - just like dance - ever since the word go. My mum and dad sometimes talk about the first time I heard music: I was lying on the living room floor on my changing mat (I think I was a few months old), crying (as usual) at the top of my lungs, and I think everyone was pretty sick of it. So they decided they'd try putting some music on. 
      The speakers were just a metre or so away, and when the music started, I stopped crying. Completely. My head snapped around to look at the speakers, and for the first time in months I wasn't crying, I was focused on something that wasn't sleep, food or attention and something was working. I was absolutely, completely mesmerized with the sounds coming out of those old speakers. Music.

Ever since that day, it's been clear to mum and dad that music is a part of me. It's been clear to all of us that it's a part of me. My parents are both very musical, and so are my brothers, so it was really no surprise...

Whenever family came around, I'd put on concerts and shows and make them sit there and listen to me singing a million Hannah Montana and Hilary Duff songs in to a fake microphone, and I'd just love it when they started clapping at the end. I'd start saying "Thank you Devon!!!" and bow and everything. I made up dance routines, pulled all the stage poses and loved it. 

My big brother Dave taught me my first chords on the guitar, and then my other big brother Richard taught me my first few chords on the piano. I can remember sitting on his knee, my hands on top of his and he was helping me play piano. Ever since then, I've been writing songs and playing other songs pretty much every day. A lot of my songs were made fun of by my brothers, but hey... they were pretty bad, so who can blame them? 

Anyway, music has always been something that I turn to and something that speaks to me. It was when I started "growing up", when I was 11 or so, and seeing real feelings and real life situations that it became the reliever in my life. I've always loved just sitting or standing there, singing my heart out to a song that means everything to me. That moment when you hear a song for the first time and you just think, "wow... this just says it all"; I've had that moment so many times in my life.

God always speaks to me through music. 99% of the re-building of my faith has come from various songs and Christian artists. Whenever I'm down, having a bad day or really struggling, God brings me these songs and I just listen to the words. It's very much a way that God speaks to me - sometimes I find a lyric in a song that has never stuck out before, but all of a sudden, it's what I need to hear. 

There's nothing like listening to a piece of music and hearing the singer get in to it. There's a few songs where, in between lines, their breath shakes and their voice falls for a minute. This may not be technically precise, but that's not what music is about. Music is about expressing yourself, healing, telling stories. It's an escape. The moments in songs where a voice falls at the end of a line that says it all, the moments where their voice shakes and staggers - these are the most beautiful moments. These are the moments where you know you're not alone, you know there was someone else who felt the same as you. 
      Music is my hope and my safety. In a world that's always changing and always throwing curve-balls, music is always there, consistently. There will always be a song to sing to, to make you laugh, to make you cry. There's a song for everything you need, everything you're feeling. How beautiful is that?

One day, I hope to share my music with people. I hope to bring people hope and joy; I want my music to be the reason why someone has decided to stay, decided not to give up on their life and/or faith. I want to connect with people through the power of a melody and lyrics working so well together and relating to someone's situation. Music is my reason to stay, and I want to be a part of that for someone else. I hope to inspire people one day, with music. It's very powerful; it's the only thing that will always make sense to me.