As many people do, I turn to art in times of sadness, loneliness, and self reflection.
Articulating my feelings has always been easiest through art. I’ve always loved to listen, sing, and dance along to music. It has become one of the most meaningful aspects of life for me. So much so that I’ve obtained a minor in Music and Culture in my University studies.
The world and history of music is just so intriguing to me. We all love music and we all connect with music for different reasons, but I strongly believe that humans need music. Music is in everything that we do!
I have very early memories of begging my mom to buy me karaoke CDs so that I could go home and sing along to the music blasting from my CD player’s speakers, while reading the lyrics off of the back of the CD cover. My goal at the time was to be as good a singer as every Disney Channel star at the time.
I would almost exclusively sing High School Musical, Demi Lovato, The Jonas Brothers, and Miley Cyrus. Then, when I was a little older, YouTube started becoming a popular entertainment platform and one of the first people I watched was a singer by the name of Christina Grimmie.
The videos she posted were of her singing her favourite songs while accompanying herself on the piano. In retrospect, she is one of the main reasons I began singing so consistently. Around the time I was religiously watching her videos, I told my mom that I really wanted to learn how to play piano and eventually, she gave me a keyboard.
I wasn’t the greatest student when it came to practicing piano, and my heart still goes out to my piano teacher, Monica, who was way more patient with me than I would’ve been if I were in her shoes. I realized that I wasn’t interested in learning how to play classical pieces and was more intrigued by being able to accompany myself on piano as I sang. So for a while, Monica and I worked on playing popular music on piano. I ended up being way more motivated to practice. To this day, my party trick is playing “Baby” by Justin Bieber on the piano — it’s become muscle memory.
Unfortunately, life got a bit complicated and I had to stop piano lessons. I miss dedicating so much time to music, but as we grow, our list of responsibilities grows with us. As an adult, it can be hard to find the time to engage in your passions. One of my deepest regrets is not dedicating myself more to piano when I was a kid. I feel like I didn’t appreciate it enough while I was in it. I would absolutely love to be able to play classical music now. Despite all of that, I believe that it’s never too late to learn.
However, contrary to playing piano, it’s really easy to find the time to sing since all you really need is yourself and naturally it became my primary passion. I focus a lot on challenging myself vocally and learning to sing in ways that don’t come naturally to me. Singing is a technical skill after all. I learn and improve by listening to music by really talented vocalists and singing along until I achieve the same result. I think all music-lovers subconsciously absorb the artistic styles of the musicians they enjoy. I’ve never gone to singing lessons so at this moment in time, I’m trying to teach myself how to sing using proper techniques like posture, breath, and control.
I think I’ll be a lifelong student of music, especially in terms of singing, and I am more than happy with that. I think that constant evolution and improvement is inevitable when it comes to passions, no matter what the passion may be.
Singing is very emotional for me. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve cried while or after singing. The contrary also happens. Sometimes singing really lifts my spirits!
It’s a tremendous release for me — a form of therapy. There have been many moments where I didn’t even realize I needed to express certain emotions and after singing, I just felt lighter. I feel heard and understood by music in a way that no human has ever made me feel.
I think it is so special that music has that power over people. Singing and writing music has really allowed me to be in tune with myself. I know that my notebooks are a safe space and that the paper I write on won’t judge me. There’s tremendous comfort in that.
Understanding myself in this way has allowed me to let go of the need to be understood by anyone other than myself. Music is there for me when nobody else is and the certainty that it’s an unbreakable bond is.
Check out Beatriz’ singing here: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZML6wrkjE/
We’d love to hear from you! Please send us your suggestions for future articles. And if you’re a writer, please see our writer’s submissions page for details.
