Essay Sample: Using Music to Describe the Scene

Music can be used to describe a scene in a way that words could never. Cinema has perfected this; it doesn’t matter what the scene is: it could be an action, fight, sad, sorrowful, happy, or adventurous scene; there will always be music to convey how the mood is. The book Come on in: 15 Stories about Immigration and Finding Home is an anthology, with 14 different stories, and many more scenes. However, I will only be discussing two stories. The first is “All the Colors of Goodbye” by Nafiza Azad, which is about a seventeen-year-old girl who is immigrating to Canada from Fiji with her parents and is saying her goodbyes to her friends and family. The second is “Family Over Everything” by Yamile Méndez, which is about a girl who grew up in San Lorenzo, Argentina. Her dream was to go to University in America, and the story goes over what was happening after she got accepted and before she left. I’ve chosen five pieces of music that properly convey the feel of the scene, and will help the reader understand “All the Colors of Goodbye” and “Family Over Everything” to a greater degree.

To start, I am going over how “Ways to Fall Apart” by DYSN fits into “All the Colors of Goodbye”; the story starts when a girl, Nafiza, learns about how her family will be leaving Fiji to immigrate to Canada. Her father brings home a brown envelope, which informs them that they would be able to move to Canada. Her father was overjoyed by the news, but she was confused on why he would be happy about leaving their home behind to move to a new, completely foreign place (Azad 4). The overall mood of this scene feels somber, with small amounts of confusion on why this is good news. I think “Ways to Fall Apart” by DYSN conveys these feelings perfectly. Towards the beginning of the song the lyrics “always when you least expect, to redirect where you’re going” (DYSN) fit perfectly into what Nafiza was thinking when her father read the brown envelope. This fits because when her father got the envelope, it meant the family would be leaving their home in Fiji, which for a seventeen year old girl, would be an unexpected redirect to how you thought your life would go. I also feel the rest of the song would fit very well into the scene where she is describing her room: The bed leaning against one wall, how the windows offer no protection to the mosquitos, the faded curtains making the blue carpet appear even brighter, her cosmetic products lying on the vanity table without a mirror, where she keeps all her books, and the posters on her walls (Azad 5). This scene offers insight into how she lived, and almost seems joyful with how she is talking about her room. However, it’s quite depressing, especially with the end quote “I whisper a goodbye to my room” (Azad 6). With how the lyrics and instrumentals are working together, in a bright but depressing and dissonant feeling. They fit perfectly into the scene, since it also feels bright when she is describing the room; but the end quote makes it feel depressing and dissonant. This song should be used as a soundtrack because it nearly perfectly captures the feelings of the beginning of the story through both the lyrics and the harmony of the instruments.

Another song that would work for “All the Colors of Goodbye” is “When We Were Young” by KID BRUNSWICK. In the scene where all the cousins are sitting around a candle, and preparing their final goodbyes; the youngest cousin starts crying, and Nafiza does a little bit too. It then transitions to them going over the adventures they’ve had together-being chased by hornets and almost being carried away in a flash flood-as they’re talking about the stories, they all start being somewhere in between laughter and tears (Azad 10). The laughter from their stories makes this scene feel happy, but this is also probably the last time that they will see each other, which makes the scene sad too. The lyrics “Stop focusing on your negative things/ Stop focusing on the negative news / Nothing makes sense where you are where you are where you are / Put on your dancing shoes, I wanna make you move” (BRUNSWICK), fit in perfectly with the scene; not only because what they’d be saying, but also how they’d be feeling. The group would be trying to avoid the negative parts about leaving, and instead be “putting on their dancing shoes” (BRUNSWICK) and having fun one last time. I think this song would work very well for the story since it focuses on ignoring the negative aspects, and instead being happy and reminiscing.

Moving onto the next story, “Family over Everything” by Yamile Méndez. I’ll be going over how “Sonata for Piano and Violin in E Minor, K.304: 1. Allegro'' written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, fits into it. “Family over Everything” starts with a girl, Ayelén, receiving a letter-the letter deciding her fate as to whether she is accepted to Brigham Young University-her family has to persuade her to open it because of how nervous she is. Eventually she overcomes her nerves, and reads the letter. Reading out loud so her whole family could hear her; she reads the words “You have been accepted to Brigham Young University for our Spring semester starting on April 29th...” (Méndez 138), and her whole family erupts into celebration (Méndez 137-138). Opening a letter like this would be extremely stressful, with the intensity building more and more from the moment you saw it; to the moment it was opened and you knew what it said, and once you see that you’re accepted, you celebrate. The piece “Sonata for Piano and Violin in E Minor, K.304: 1. Allegro'' written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, starts immediately building intensity, with the feeling that it keeps getting faster, until finally, after about a minute; becomes very loud, bright, and happy, before returning to a slower, more somber tone. This fits in perfectly with how Ayelén would be feeling as she prepared to open the letter, the moment she saw it; becoming immediately tense, feeling her heart beat getting faster as she gets more nervous, and then the relief coming in a very bright, happy excitement. After the initial excitement, her father is talking about how much they have to do before she leaves in April (Méndez 139), and then the story transitions into the backstory of what she had to do to get this achievement. I think the best outline of the backstory is quoted here “Ayelén had literally burned her eyelashes in candlelight to keep studying when the power went off in their cinderblock apartment, located in a neighborhood of government housing.” (Azad 140). The mood of the scene is very austere with how she had to study in a dark, small apartment; and it fits very well into the middle “Sonata for Piano and Violin in E Minor, K.304: 1. Allegro'' when the parts of the piece are slower and more somber. I’d say this piece fits very well with the theme of the story since they both start off bright and happy, building intensity; then they both transition into feeling more somber and austere.

Lastly, I’d like to go over the ending of “Family over Everything” and “cheers” by blackbear and Wiz Khalifa . Ayelén is extremely excited to finally be in the United States, but she is also already missing home, and the sound of her people. Later, she met Florencia, and two boys who were also from Argentina. The four of them were driving around the city, looking at every landmark, the boys giving her information about fútbol teams they liked (Méndez 146). I’m sure in their numerous conversations they talked about the hardships they went through to get to America, and I think “cheers” can sum it up perfectly. The best part of the song lyrics wise, is “Cheers! Here’s to nothing, hope the tears were for something / Can we toast to the pain” (blackbear). The music itself is very upbeat and energetic, while the lyrics are slightly less so; and I think this is exactly how they would be while talking about what they went through to get there. Upbeat and energetic because they finally had their dream come true, but a slight bit of sadness in their experiences, almost like they are giving a “toast to the pain” (blackbear). Instead of using the song for context in the paragraph. I’d also like to think the group would be listening to music during the car drive, and songs like “cheers” I’m sure would be great especially if this was a movie. Either way you use “cheers” for this scene, I’d say it works perfectly; it could either be to be used for more context, or in a movie adaptation as actual background.

In conclusion, I think my four songs: “Ways to Fall Apart” by DYSN, “When We Were Young” by KID BRUNSWICK, “Sonata for Piano and Violin in E Minor, K.304: 1. Allegro'' written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, “cheers” by blackbear & Wiz Khalifa; should be chosen as a soundtrack for “All the Colors of Goodbye” by Nafiza Azad, and “Family over Everything” by Yamile Méndez, in the anthology Come on in: 15 Stories about Immigration and Finding Home. I say this not only because these properly portray how the scenes in the stories feel, but because I feel they perfectly portray how the characters would be feeling.