Do your parents tell you to turn your music off? Do they say what you listen to is junk? Do you love what you listen to, even though other people may not? Music is just a form of art, if music were gone, what would happen? There would be so little self expression and it would be so hard to show people how we feel. Music helps people put out what they want to talk about, or what they think of a certain topic. Turning it off is only doing one thing, shutting out the views of the world.

Music is self expression. It allows people to share their view of something without saying it outright and bluntly. The song, “I’m Not Ready to Make Nice” by the Dixie Chicks is a way for the singer to express how she won’t back down and take back what she said, even though people don’t like it. Many songs explain someone’s point of view on war, hate and politics. These views should be valued and respected, saying that music is junk is disregarding and disrespecting someone’s opinion.

We all have our opinions on music; some of us like country, some like rock, some like rap. Each song from each genre brings someone to each person. Some music, even rock or metal, can calm someone down or help them concentrate. Other music helps people get pumped up and ready to go out and have fun. Some music just helps us realize what the world around us has. When someone tells us to not listen to music, it takes something more away from us. I listen to music whenever I can; when I do chores, when I do homework, when I go to bed. It helps me relax and think about me and my life, not stupid school drama and other stuff.

Music can also help kids concentrate and focus. Some need silence to concentrate. To others, music is the silence we need to think about, analyze, interpret and overall see what is around us. Music helps me think. Music helps me relax and calm down. Music helps me do everything I do during the day. Every time I try to do something, even as simple as writing an email to a friend, without music, I find myself struggling to complete whatever I am doing. I become distracted by the lack of sound, and then the slightest noise will catch my attention. Parents think that music and other sounds will pull us away from work, but it’s different for everyone. Buzzbe.com said, “Music has a positive effect on the concentration level of the listeners. It has been found to improve one’s memory.” So how can that be bad? Why do we need to shut music off?

It frustrates me when I try to plead my case to my parents. Music helps me! I need it to do work! But they don’t listen, they think it is distracting. Would you want to never have music? Would you be okay with that? How would other people feel without it? Now I’m not saying music is wonderful and amazing, awe-inspiring and lovely. I’m saying music is a way to express one’s self and escape from the world for a little while. But parents, they think they know everything. They think music is a load of junk. They think it is poisoning our minds with harsh words on harsh concepts; war, hate, anger, racism. But these are all around us anyway; I find it easier to understand something when it is in a song instead of on the news or something. We’re teens! We’d die without music!
It’s not noise, its inspiration! It’s hope! It’s a message to everyone in the world. It’s our way to communicate, even if we do not realize it. Don’t shut it off, don’t turn it down. Play it loud and proud! Music is a world-wide collection of people’s feeling and thoughts. Music is our escape, our way to show our true colors. It’s our canvas, and it’s out right to paint whatever picture we want.