Get on your feet, Get up and make it happen

Movement and music have almost always occurred simultaneously in my life and yet, it wasn’t until approximately ten minutes ago when I realized this. My mom put me in a tutu and shuttled me to dance class when I was knee high to a grasshopper, as so many mothers do. This was my first experience with music and movement. Looking back, this was probably also my first lesson in recognizing the beat in music. Every beat belonged with a specific movement. From the experiences in my life I conclude that movement has and always will rely on the music.

          Music moves people to dance. I’ve hardly ever seen anyone dancing without music. Also depending upon the genre of music being played, you move a certain way. If there is a waltz being played, the general population will not begin break dancing or shagging. Few other things can cause you to move like music does, that is SO powerful.

Music does not only move you to dance, but also exercise – which is something that is so desperately missing from many people’s lives. In a yoga class there is fluid, relaxing music that sets the mood for you to stretch and let everything do. Also as ridiculous as this is, Richard Simmons’ career would not be what it is without music. Much of his success can be attributed to the fact that he does exercise routines to music. He uses motivating music that people cannot help but get up and move to.

I was a serious athlete for 10 years, until I was seriously injured and began my deeper music education. All of my athletic days would be filled with training to music. It keeps you at a steady pace because of the rhythm. People just have a natural tendency to move their bodies to a rhythm that they hear, even if that means simply tapping their toes. This is something that is innate in human beings.

Perhaps I am a little bit biased, seeing as music is my life these days, but I strongly believe that without music, people would not have to urge to move. Music on the other hand can and does exist without movement occurring. What a wonderful art form we study that can cause people to move because it really touches them!

"As happens sometimes, a moment settles and hovered and remained for much more than a moment. And sound stopped and movement stopped for much, much more than a moment." -- John Steinbeck