According to the Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus, the definition of music is as follows: the art of combining vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. To the students of Community High, and teenagers in general, music possesses many different meanings.

Music is present at all or scarcely any moments of a student’s life. While some may just pop in headphones on a long airplane flight, others find it beneficial to listen as they do schoolwork. “I listen to quiet slow music while I do homework and unwind,” Griffin Hall, an avid listener of Beyoncé and John Mayer, said. “Music is my pass time. I listen [to music] whenever I have down time.”

Like Hall, many students agree that music helps with concentration and efficiency towards work. On the caveat, however, it’s fun to belt out Hannah Montana with friends, or relax to more mellow melodies. Hall states, “I listen to hard rap and other hype music when I am with friends or in a good mood.”

Khalil Eljamal, a sophomore at Community, explained that “[Music] helps me connect with other people. And it helps me bridge to other places… If you go through my Spotify playlist you could be listening to Latin hip hop and then country the next minute. I’m weird like that.”

But he’s far from weird. With such a vast network of artists, albums, and songs, no two people have the same music taste. And rarely do you find someone who solely listens to just a certain artist. That’s part of the beauty; the variety. Whereas one song might elevate a listeners’ spirits where another would have them feeling blue, it’s all a matter of personal experience and preference. “Music resides in my soul as a living embodiment of my state of being,” student Ronan Clague said. “If I’m happy my music can be a reflection of said feelings and bring out further joy and positive emotions.”

The idea that what playlist you select correlates to your mood reoccurred in many of the interviewed students. “If I’m having a bad day I’ll listen to my favorite song,” sophomore Makela Lynn said. “Or if I’m having a good day I’ll turn up music super loud and its all good.” Music is a reliever, a pastime made for relaxation or crazy dance parties with your best friends. Since prehistoric times, people have studied how to fit melodies together to appeal to the public, so perfectly that they send shivers down the spine of anyone who hears them.

Music is dynamic, spirited, captivating. It fills an average student’s life, making it a very notable part of our world. Andrew Reynolds, a freshman at Community, agreed. “Music is very significant in my life,” he expresses the powerful emotions instigated by music as well. “When I listen to it it can make me laugh, cry, or cry from laughter. I love it.”