Exploring how music continues to be the bridge between yesterday and tomorrow.

Music is a part of who we are. It’s a universal language, one that doesn’t need words. When you’re left alone with your thoughts, what keeps you company? Music. When you’re in the car with your friends, what do you listen to? Music. When you’re standing in an elevator in a country you’ve never been to before, what’s that coming through the speakers? Music. Music is everywhere — it’s always uniting us, focusing us, and relieving us. To imagine a world without music is to imagine a world in 2-D. Music gives life such depth. It is able to take us both below the surface for introspection and carry us above the clouds to escape. Music has been a part of the human experience since the very beginning and continues to accompany us in our respective stories.

Think about it: nations have anthems, churches have hymns, and communities have protests. Collectively, music is as important to humanity as the air we breathe — giving life to movements, thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. Music is the ultimate uniter, grabbing the hands of strangers and able to provide coalition between different values and backgrounds. Music is culture, and culture is in the music. Where would we be without it? The world itself would be offbeat, and there would be no rhythm to the chaos. The way that music is able to serve as a connective thread between the mayhem that can often ensue in our lives, along with the beauty that we are capable of feeling, is easy to take for granted. But without it, its absence would be sorely felt.

Needless to say, music isn’t just important; it’s mandatory. If the music dies, does the dream die with it? The fight to keep music a part of our schools, our cities, and our communities isn’t one fought in vain. The truth is, music isn’t just a part of being alive; it is a part of staying alive. It is a cathartic release and a version of breathing. Music sits directly in the balance of who we are and what we hope to be. And, with its help, we hope to be headed in the right direction.

“Music sits directly in the balance of who we are and what we hope to be.”