Music can be expressed in many different ways and the ways it affects students can vary. Overall, it is a way that students can bond together, relieve stress, and build new relationships.
Listening to music can create peak emotions, which increases the amount of dopamine, a specific neurotransmitter that is produced in the brain and helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers.
Senior, Alexa Hindmarch uses the highways not to reach a physical destination rather a mental stress release. She listens to music in her car while driving to process her thoughts. Typically, her windows are rolled down and the top of her Jeep is almost always off in the summers.
“The feeling of the warmth from the sun and the wind blowing through the car is one I can never forget, I feel at ease with myself and everything around me.”
One of the pinnacle attractions of Colorado is Red Rocks. Alexa has attended numerous concerts especially in the summer, and through these experiences, she has developed new friendships that exist to this day.
She states, “Some people will travel far differences because of their passion for music and being able to connect to people with the same passion is a great feeling.”
Alexa’s favorite artist is XXXTENTACION because all of his songs have a deep meaning behind the overlay of beats. She states that “it’s hard to understand artist’s sometimes”, but with XXXTENTACION she is able to relate to the emotion in his voice. This artists’ main goal is to let people know that it’s okay not to be okay.
The song New Divide Linkin Park is the first song Alexa remembers because it takes her back to when she played soccer. She was getting ready for a championship club game when her plugged in her headphones and NewDivide came on. “I remember staring at the field and I was able to visualize myself playing”, said Alexa. During the game, she was able to focus on the beat of the song while doing her job on the field.
Music has been a way for Alexa to cope with her numerous injuries. In specific, she suffered from a severe concussion hindering her for looking at screens for a few weeks.
“This helped relieve some of my symptoms because I was able to focus on the beat of the song and that was enough”, she said.
Although music does not allow her to keep in touch with society as the news does, it allows Alexa to stay in touch with her thoughts and the artist’s thoughts. She felt as though she was blocked off from the “normal things” and “everyday activities”, but “the one thing that kept [her] in touch with the world was music.”
It also allows her to focus while she’s studying. The beat of the song keeps Alexa on track. “It also helps [her] relieve anxiety because [she] can put every thought [she has] into music. Lyrics can help [her] release tension and thoughts that normally consume [her] mind.”
Similarly to Alexa, junior Isalina Colsman uses music as steady support in her life. Music can be found in all aspects of her life from running to band to swimming.
Isalina loves listening to music especially when she is running with her cross country team. It makes her “really happy and excited”, and it keeps her team motivated on long runs. Those simple beats and catchy choruses have bonded her team into the strong group of friends they are.
Though under the water at swim practices the words to a song cannot exactly be heard, the music played during the few seconds in between sets has a way of putting the team in a “better mood” explain Isalina. The “pump up music” also gets the team focused before big races.
Isalina is known as a very athletic individual around the Regis Jesuit campus, but one thing that goes unnoticed is her love for the flute.
She believes that band tap into the more emotional aspects of music in her life. She also explains that “Band is really fun because we all have something in common which is playing music, and it’s a great way to bond.”
Some of her favorite events to perform at are open house and graduation because she feels a connection to the people in the Regis Jesuit community especially during these events.
“It’s really nice to share your gifts and talent with other people especially through music”, she states.
The “really pretty” flow of classical music takes her back to when she was a child and all of the memories surrounding those times. In specific, the genre of classical music allows her to commemorate her grandfather and her love for music.
She also listens to classical music when she is studying to remain focused.
Her favorite song is I Can’t Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake. She believes that it embodies her because she is constantly feeling with energy and she loves “the feeling of sunshine”.
These two students from the Regis Jesuit community come from very different walks of life, but something that they have in common is their love for music.
The power music holds to build relationships, relieve anxiety, and bring communities together is truly inspiring.