August Rush reminds me

Dec 02, 2007

I don't even know where to begin...
Tonight I saw the movie "August Rush" and it is, without a doubt, the best movie I have seen in a long time. A movie hasn't affected me so much since The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring. When was that? Like 6 or 7 years ago? I can't believe it's been that long. Nevertheless, I thouroughly enjoyed watching August Rush.

When I asked my friend Eric which movie we were going to see, I initially responded "Oh I really want to see that!" But the more I thought about it, the more I desired to see a more...romantic, chic-flick type movie. I bought a ticket for August Rush regardless. And now...now I can't wait to see it again. It has reminded me of my love for music and the feelings it evokes from me.

Music has long been a passion of mine. The summer before my third grade school year, I started pressing keys on my small keyboard. Keys turned into notes and notes into tunes and before long, I had mastered my first song "Turn the Beat Around." Well...the chorus at least. It wasn't long before my parents found a piano teacher for me and I went to weekly lessons. When the school year started, though, I struggled to balance time for practicing, time for homework, and time for friends (i went to an afterschool daycare everyday). So I slacked off at practicing and eventually stopped going to lessons. However, I learned much from the few lessons I attended.

I then went through a phase in which I hardly ever touched my keyboard (my parents bought me a bigger keyboard for christmas in the 3rd grade). I think it was the 5th grade when I started getting back into playing. Now that I didn't have specific songs to learn and read from a music book, I was left to learn them by ear or make them up myself.

About a year-and-a-half ago, I played piano at my uncle's house to pass the time before dinner and he ended up asking me if I wanted to have his piano. At first I thought "no," then I thought it would be impossible (at the time, my parents and i lived on the second story of a condo). I thought for sure that if the piano didn't fall through the floor, the neighbors would complain and force me to play softer (if at all). But after being assured that none of that would happen, my father and my uncle (his brother) struck up a deal that the piano would be free, all we had to pay was for the transportation of the piano to our place. Deal.

I've played nearly everyday since then. I've also started learning songs with a different method (e-chords.com) and i've learned hundreds of songs since i was given my precious gift. It has been a whole 10-and-a-half years since I first started pressing the keys of that old keyboard (that i still have).

I would say that the piano is a part of my being now. I can not stand to go more than a few days without playing. Even when I go to my two week-long church camps over the summer, i constantly keep my songbooks (notebooks actually) with me just in case I stumble across a piano. Even though I appear nervous and shakey when playing for my friends, it is something that I thouroughly enjoy. It has even become a desire of mine to play in front of an audience of my peers.

I can not put into words the way I feel when I play a song with the full emotion and meaning behind it. It isn't just playing the song, it's a performance. I've noticed that when I get into the character of the song, I play it so much better and with a lot more "umph." There's more to it though. When I really get into a song, I tend to play the whole chords and press the keys down forcefully and powerfully. It's as if I'm playing out the strength of the meaning the song holds for me. For example, one of my favorite songs to play is "Indescribable" by Chris Tomlin. It is a song that basically says that words such as "wonderful" and "powerful" don't acurately describe how amazing God is. His power can not be captured into words like that so He is, in effect, indescribable. The meaning behind this song holds a lot of weight in my heart so I play it, or more specifically, I play the chorus, with a lot of power.

I'm not sure that that example really shows just how much music moves me, but it at least gives you a sample of it. Maybe one day in the future, I'll be better able to put those thoughts into words. Well, that is it for tonight. It's 2:03 am here in the sunshine state (Florida). Good night.
- Kaylen.