The Importance of Music In My Life- Hayden Budofsky

         For as long as I can remember, I've been either listening to or playing music. And as I get older, it still consistently reappears and finds a way to intertwine itself into everything that I do. Whether it's at home or in the car, or even at school or restaurants, music has become almost inescapable...and I don't mind that at all. In this day and age, where music is found anywhere and everywhere, it has remained a major and important part of my life.
         My earliest profound memory of music came from way back when I was four or five. I lived in a smaller house at the time, and life was quite different from what it is now. My dad (who worked for a drum magazine) had a small office that was connected to our garage, which he had actually built himself when we moved in. It had a normal office vibe except for the fact that it was filled to the brim with music memorabilia from his earlier years. He had his desk and laptop hidden in one corner while every other shelf and floor space had been filled in with instruments, instrument parts, records, CDs, books, hardware, anything you could imagine. It was a truly remarkable thing to behold as a child. One of my favorite things to do was to sit in my dad's big office chair and try to spot some new knickknack that I had never seen before. Sometimes it would be a new DVD collection or cassette player and other times it would be a new percussion instrument that I could annoy my siblings with to my heart's content. Either way, that office was basically a treasure-trove full of objects that could keep me entertained for hours on end. Now that I think about it, hanging out in that office all the time probably is the main thing that got me into music at such a young age.
       When I was a bit older, my parents decided to choose instruments for us kids to play, in hopes of us being able to excel at them. My brother chose the guitar and my sister chose the piano so I was left with the biggest and the loudest of them all. Since my dad was a drummer, it was only fair for one of us three to inherit his drum skills, and of course, that had to be me. I was actually quite good in my earlier years; with my dad's collection of drum books and drum hardware, it was no wonder I became obsessed with rock n roll. I had formed a love for the legendary drummer, John Bonham, and his band, Led Zepplin, in which I had memorized much of their music. To this day, I still find joy in playing their songs, even if I have shied away from classic rock a bit in recent years. Nowadays, being in a jazz band, I have gravitated towards playing more funk, soul, jazz, and Latin. Especially with a drum teacher that has jazz roots, I have played less and less rock over time, even if it still does have a special place in my heart.
       Listening to music is a totally different experience from playing music, however. When I was younger, all I listened to was classic rock from the 60s and 70s, because that's basically what my dad played. It was all very similar to each other, yet I never really tried to listen to much more. When I got older though, I was really able to break out of my bubble and explore music that I had never really thought of before. With the introduction of streaming services such as Spotify in my life, I have gained access to basically any artist and band in the world. This has really allowed me to expand my music preferences. Although yes, I do still listen to rock, I will sometimes also listen to soul, jazz, pop, indie rock, cinematics, soundtracks, you name it. The biggest thing is that I'm always finding more and more to listen to, even if it seems like I've stripped down a genre to its bare bones, there is always more for me to find and explore.
        As you can tell, music was, and always will be very important to me. I believe in the future, I will rely on music to make my life just a little bit more exciting and worth-while. Whether I'm staring out of a plane window ready for my next adventure, or I'm driving to my first job interview, music will certainly always play a crucial role in my life, and for that I am thankful.