Food for the Soul

Music is one sphere I can talk inexhaustibly on. And that’s because music is not as surface level as most people place it to be. I am a firm believer in the fact that we are what we listen to and if that is true, that means music is so much more than rhythm, lyrics and sound. It’s far too profound than something that shallow.

Music has positives just as it has negatives. And while I may try to think that I’m a person who pays in-depth attention to the lyrics and reason behind a song before I listen to it, that is not the case. I’m moved, first by the rhythm and sound, and then by the lyrics. The lyrics and the meaning I put behind it is what would determine if I would ever listen to the song again.

But then, I’ll be taking music back to my childhood and my encounter with it in the schooling sphere. Primary school was not it at all. I remember seeing instruments in the music room but I’m not quite sure I ever got to play any of them. I’d been fascinated by the violin and the guitar then. I still am anyway. But I was only ever given access to the recorder, and I think even that was useless in my hands. Oh, I played the drums too, since I was part of the school’s band. But yeah, that was about it.

Then I got to secondary school, and again, I had only access to the recorder. But this time, I at least learnt how to play nursery rhymes and the national anthem. It was not my instrument of choice but I loved the fact that I was still able to create something melodious with something that small. My school’s issue, as I assume would be the case with a lot of other Nigerian secondary schools, is that it was too theoretical with music. It was a compulsory subject in junior secondary so we had no choice but to learn it. We learnt about different notes and I think it was through that theoretical aspect of music that I learnt the power of mnemonics and creating songs that would make mastering different topics easier.

But again, that was about it. So, it was no surprise when no one offered Music when we got Senior secondary 1(Grade 10) because music as a subject had lost its appeal. I understand the need to learn theoretically but if it was more applied, maybe it wouldn’t have lost its novelty. Our only access to practical music then was during Chapel service, and even that was limited because my school was a Christian school that followed the doctrine of Acapella as the only acceptable kind of worship. So, we sang mostly hymns and the likes.

It had its appeal because voices blended in a way that was so incredibly melodious, you could be brought to tears sometimes. But maybe it’s because it was worship and not just music in itself. Then there would be those few times during student week where secular music would be played and then dance groups could do their presentations, and then we would laugh, jeer or cheer as the case demanded.

Every song has a message, whether we choose to believe it or not. If we as adults are impressionable enough to live by the messages of the music we listen to, how much more children who are even more impressionable and have very receptive minds, soaking up every line they listen to like a sponge.

I know that I came from a generation that still paid attention to the less vulgar side of music. That paid attention to what love really is than the carnality that is infused into so called “love songs” today. And so I can say that this was my generation and the ones coming in are different. But should we lose all sense of self and morality because we are trying to be....woke?

I was in a public transport one day and there were these secondary school girls seated beside me that were commenting rather animatedly on the dance presentation that had been done in school that day. They talked with barely hidden glee on how the dancers appropriated the very lyrics of the song into the dance and when I heard the song that they had danced to, I was shook.

It’s this extremely vulgar song by Odumodu(I’m not sure if this is the spelling) who has become a popular Nigerian artist. And I remember asking a few ladies I know in school when I heard them sing it why they were singing a song whose lyrics were so incredibly sexist and condescending to women. And they replied that it didn’t matter since the song was “catchy.”

I couldn’t hide my repulsion then or now as I watched these girls that were barely 15, singing and demonstrating to that depraved song. I was only grateful that I’d neared my stop so I could hop out of the vehicle and be gone.

Music is food for the soul. And children are known to pick up everything they find. So whether they like it or not, the music they feed on would have an effect on them and depending on what it is they listen to, it could be good or bad. If we can help it, children should be made to understand these effects and see music for the beauty or doom it could bring them.

Shout out to the Inleo team and the Afri-tunes Community for this reflective prompt.

Jhymi🖤

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