Finding your Entrance Song
Music has an effect on people that feels unexplainable and magical. It has a mysterious way of making you cry, laugh, and recall long forgotten memories. It has the power to make you feel.
This issue of The Corsair is about music. I didn’t see that it was until just before the morning of production day, when my News Editor, Gavin and I were laying out pages on the whiteboard in the newsroom, which made me do some research.
Around 1.3 million children in elementary school don’t have access to music education, and some studies have shown that access to music classes help kids do better in school. This is the power of music.
No matter what the emotion it is that you’re feeling, I don’t know anyone who can sit down and listen to one of their favorite songs without feeling anything at all. In my daily life, it’s really important for keeping my mental state positive.
There is nothing that makes me feel more like the main character of my own life than driving down the highway with my convertible top down and my favorite songs blasting.
Whether it’s LP, Edith Piaf, or Carole King, there’s a smile on my face while I’m driving. For a lot of my life, music was one of my very few friends. It comforted me when I felt alone and got me through the toughest times. The right music empowers me, and makes me feel stronger than I did without it.
It plays in the background of some of my favorite memories, and reminds me of the loved ones that I have lost. This issue is special in its own right because of music. I didn’t plan it, and neither did my editors but we ended up here anyway.
Oddly enough, the other day a friend of mine was telling me that at her job they take one day a year to gather everyone in the conference room. When they’re together, they take turns playing everyone’s “entrance song”. An entrance song is a particular song you pick that gets you really excited for the day. It's the song that plays in your head when you enter a room.
After she told us about the concept, we all went around the table and played the songs that we chose. I didn’t choose mine that night, and I debated for a long time what I wanted it to be. What did I sound like? What did I want to say when I walked into the room?
Somehow I passed on "Living Dead Girl", and landed on "Twilight Zone" by Golden Earring. (If I could play it everytime I walked into the newsroom, I would.) But the concept of the entrance song taught me a few things. One, that you can tell a lot about someone by the lyrics of their favorite song, and two everyone loves to play the song that they think describes them best. Music has a way of defining us.
Here at The Corsair, I think I’ll introduce the Entrance Song activity to my team, and enjoy how they introduce the most vulnerable parts of themselves through music.
So without further ado, I give to you Issue 5 of The Corsair, the Music Issue.
