Importance of music in my lifeMusic is one of the most important and powerful things in my life. My life without melodies and harmonies would be totally empty. Listening to and playing different tunes helps me to de-stress, relax and it can also help to motivate me in trying times. I love listening to music while on my way to school, as I feel it helps me to prepare for the day that waits. I think it is like the memoirs to my life as it has been there throughout everything with me.When I was younger, I didnt have the great love for musical as I do now. I mainly listened to whatever was playing in the background or what my parents were listening to. I didnt have much of a care for musical compositions. There was sometimes a little bit of pop music thrown in to the mix here and there, but thats really all I liked back then. Whether I was in the car, the house, or anywhere else there was sure to be some Beatles, Buddy Holly, or the Dubliners constantly playing somewhere in the background. At the time I didnt care for that genre of music much, but now as Im older, I enjoy it as it allows me to reminisce on memories from times of my childhood. Once I hit my teenage years music became my life and gradually started to inhibit my soul.I believe music has the ability to convey all sorts of emotion. Whether the emotion is joy and happiness or sadness and despair through rhythms, harmonies and the lyrics music shows it. The song A little bit longer by Nick Jonas is such an emotional and inspiring song that when I hear it, I always come close to tears, especially when I watch it being played live. The effect that music can have on our emotions is tremendous, as it can bring people to floods of tears or bursts of laughter.The musical images that music and song are able to create are amazing. Music has the ability to transport me back in time just like a time machine. It lets me revisit lost and forgotten moments in life. Songs can paint a picture, for example in classical and country music where a story is being told. The music in classical music tells a story without lyrics which is an immensely powerful thing. I feel that this applies to the saying music imitates life and life imitates music.Recently song writing has wandered its way into my life. I believe there is no better way to express myself than through song. After a bad day, its nice to be able to sit down and write about it. It can make all your problems just disappear and float away. Listening to other musical artists that I like gives me inspiration. My guitar teacher also points me in the right direction and gives me guidance as I need it. I love to just sit with my guitar and make up random lyrics about past experiences or what Im going through at the moment.I started learning how to play the guitar last year and within the past few months I have fallen completely and utterly in love with it. Once I start playing, I find it extremely hard to put the guitar down again. Its very addictive and can also be distracting sometimes. It distracts me from my homework since my guitar sits right next to my desk. Playing guitar is one of the only things in my life in which I dont feel pressurized to do well in. I think this is because I have a great teacher and she doesnt push me to the music exams.This past summer my grandma taught me how to play the piano. I had always heard stories about how my great grandfather, her father, was brilliant at the piano. He would sit at the piano for hours on end playing different well known songs as making up his own little tunes. He had taught my grandma how to play and I felt it was about time that I learnt. So when I was staying with my grandma and grandpa during the summer, I asked her to teach me. She was delighted to and now its something nice that we can both do together and bond over.I believe music effects people in many different ways. To me music is more than just something to listen to or play, its something to feel. Music is extremely important in my life. I think it brings me closer to my friends and family. I also feel that it helps me to get through things. For example, I remember doing the twenty six kilometre gaisce hike and the whole way along the hike we sang songs. Music is an immensely powerful thing and has a huge place in my life right next to my heart.The author's comments:I was inspired to write this article just so I could express how much music means to me and how empty my lif would be without it.1. Music is the Key to Creativity.Music fuels the mind and thus fuels our creativity. A Creative mind has the ability to make discoveries and create innovations. The greatest minds and thinkers like Albert Einstein, Mozart, and Frank Lloyd Wright all had something in common in that they were constantly exploring their imagination and creativity.Listening to instrumental music challenges one to listen and tell a story about what one hears. In the same sense, playing a musical instrument gives you the ability to tell the story without words. Both require maximum right brain usage which not only exercises ones creativity but also ones intellect.The strength of all the Arts including writing, painting, dance, and theater have the ability to create a similar effect.2. Music makes Education more enjoyable.Music can be very engaging in the classroom and is a great tool for memorization. Im sure if more teachers used song to teach the multiplication tables, kids would retain that information much quicker.My spanish teacher in 10th grade used a song to teach us the past tense endings and even today, I havent forgotten the song. Its as if she imbedded it in my mind and now I will never forget it.Besides the obvious, Music teaches us self discipline and time management skills that you cannot get anywhere else. When you study an instrument on a regular basis you work on concrete ideas and take small steps to achieve larger goals. This way of thinking organizes the wiring in your brain to start looking at Learning in a new light.In raising children, Music education can be used to keep kids focused and keep them off the streets. Instead of running around and causing mischief, your child may be practicing piano or rehearsing music with friends.Unfortunately, some forms of music can influence children in negative ways. It is well known that music has a power to influence the way we dress, think, speak, and live our lives. Profane and violent lyrics can have a negative influence on children.Looking back at my High School days, I notice that I followed the herd when it came to listening to Hip-hop and doing things that were cool to look tough and be like the Gangsta image that was portrayed. When I got to college, I realized how much it pervaded my lifestyle and when I got into Jazz, my entire lifestyle began to change.

There are two ways of searching for alien life. We can look for physical evidence in the form of UFOs, messages from outer space or alien sightings. The second one would be looking for clues about our origins.Weve directed our search for extraterrestrial life towards deep space but the answer might lie within us, on a microscopic scale.So, is there an alien message hidden in our genetic code?The answer is yes, according to two researchers from Kazakhstan. They believe our genetic code contains an extraterrestrial signal and that it was encoded billions of years ago by technologically advanced aliens.Its no secret that DNA is the most effective means of storing information and this is the idea behind the research done by Vladimir Cherbak and Maxim Makukov. They have been searching for a code embedded inside human DNA that could not be explained by Darwinian evolution and they call it the biological SETI.The two scientists have analyzed aspects of the language in which the human genome is written and they hypothesize the existence of a mathematical and semantic message that would remain virtually unchanged over extremely long periods of time. This code would pass on from generation to generation and continue to exist for as long as humans do.Intriguingly, the human genome does present evidence supporting this theory. The Kazakh scientists have identified several mathematical patterns in the precision with which DNA binds and in its relation with amino acids, the building blocks of life. These patterns include the use of decimals and the abstract concept of zero, as well as logical transformations.Their research checks out with a recent theory that determined DNA could be ten billion years old. In this study, two geneticists applied Moores Law to biological complexity and reverse-engineered the modern DNA molecule. According to their calculations, life first appeared ten billion years ago, so it must have originated somewhere else in the universe, as the Earth is only 4.5 billion years old.While their research has yet to be proven correct, it gives rise to a very interesting concept and should definitely benefit from further study. After all, it might just answer the question of where we come from. It would certainly explain our penchant for searching for extraterrestrial life.IS THER AN ALIEN MESSAGE HIDDEN IN OUR DNA?