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Jenitza Quiones
Professor Tripp
ENC 3417
24 February 2015
Curated Exhibit: Twitter Profile for Music Literacy that describes some narratives and
includes quotes about music literacy. https://twitter.com/MusicLiteracy
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Music Literacy
Music is a very powerful tool for many individuals to really be able to express
how they feel. Some musicians that we have all come to know, such as Adele, Taylor
Swift, and Sam Smith, have used their music to get through some tough situations they
have experienced in their lives -- like a break-up. There are also styles of music that
encompass more than just a lyrical form of expression such as genres of music, like
techno, that use beats and sounds to evoke feelings in others without the use of words.
Basically music seems to come down to one thing: emotion. Music is an expression and
people who can play instruments, write songs, or create beats know how to express that
emotion through their passion so others can hear and relate to it.
Music means a lot to me because it helped me through some dark times. In my
life, listening to music, rather than performing or creating it, is my outlet. There are songs
that seem to perfectly match how I am feeling at any given moment, or help me flesh out
the plot of a story I am writing on those rare moments where I actually sit down to write a
story. Whether I am sad, happy, heartbroken, or anxious, I turn to my favorite songs to
give me some perspective on the world and how to handle my emotions better. With that

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said, I do believe that by listening to music I am literate in it to a degree. I can understand
the tone of the songs and get lost in the meanings that the artists want to relay, which
makes me literate in understanding the music. Being literate enough to create the music
requires a much higher skill level. Whether a physical instrument is being played or a
song is being performed, creating music requires knowing how to read music, understand
the different pitches, memorize the notes and lyrics, etc. I will illustrate how music and
emotion play off of each other and why music literacy is important for society.
There are a few narratives that stood out to me from the Digital Archive of
Literacy Narratives (DALN) that explain not only why these authors are passionate about
music, but why they define music as an important literacy in their lives. One of the main
themes that are discussed throughout the narratives is how strong emotional connections
have led to peoples passion for music. In Jason Stuckerts video interview, he describes a
simpler time in his childhood where he was constantly raised around music and how he
felt that it was a natural stepping-stone in his life to be involved with music somehow.
Allison Scherer shares an emotional story about her father abandoning her. Her brother
knew that his guitar playing soothed her when she was upset, so he left her a book where
she could learn to play guitar so she can soothe herself when times got hard. Brandon
Nelson also has a very emotional story with the death of his grandfather inspiring him to
write a song for his family that would help them through the hard times of mourning.
Allison Westerheides narrative not only demonstrates a lot of passion, but she mentions
how she learned to play the guitar when she was ten and how much she admired the
teacher who taught her. Without the emotional connection, music would just be a bland
stringing of random notes that wouldnt be interesting to listen to.

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Another important topic that Allison Westerheide brought up in her narrative
occurs when she says that her music teacher taught [her] more than just the music, he
taught [her] the history about how musical styles progressed and evolved and how new
artists emerged and made their name (Westerheide). The history of music, the different
styles and genres, and the artists that make music their own is all part of music literacy.
These are important subjects to consider because they are all influenced by the culture
that they form part of. In his essay, Street presents this idea of an ideological model of
literacy that literacy is a social practice, not simply a technical and neutral skill; that it
is always embedded in socially constructed epistemological principles. It is about
knowledge (Street, 77). Although Streets definition of literacy is geared more
towards the traditional understanding of it, knowing how to read and write, this concept
of literacy being about a social construct to gain knowledge satisfies why knowing music
is a literacy as well. This is true because it is embedded in our culture, it is a social
practice, and it helps the individuals that create music gain knowledge.
Our culture thrives on music and it is a very rare occasion when you do not have
music playing in the background. It plays in the mall while you shop, on your radio while
youre driving, and sometimes even on the elevator as you wait for it to go up or down to
a new floor. It is rooted into our subconscious and we sometimes even find ourselves
humming a lively tune to ourselves to stave off boredom. Simply put, we turn to music,
we need it, because of its ability to move us, to induce feelings and moods, states of
mind (Sacks, 2529).
Music has come to be so integral to our culture that we celebrate musicians for
their talent in award ceremonies. We even offer courses for people to learn music history,

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theory, and practice as part of the arts in lower and upper education schools. Everyones
passion or relationship to music may be different, but the fact still remains that people in
our society have a relationship with music. It can help lift a bad mood, liven up an
occasion, or serve as background music to bored guests at a party. No matter what it is
used for, music is a way of life for our culture.
As a social practice, music can heighten our relationship with others. People have
become friends over shared tastes in music and those with higher education on the theory
and practice of music use it as a topic of conversation. Those passionate enough to tackle
the feat of learning the technical skills of music actually learning an instrument, the
notes to play, and how to read music gain a lot knowledge that pushes them further in a
musical career to creating successful music that others will enjoy. Music literacy can be
very similar to traditional literacy in that music is a language of its own and you have to
know how to read and write it in order to be successful in playing songs, or creating
them. That is what makes it so revolutionary.
In their narratives Jason Stuckert and Allison Westerheide describe how music has
helped them achieve a lot academically. Allison said that for her it helped her learn
concepts and advance in school, especially when it came to learning about sound in
physics. She also says that simply listening to music helps her think better, which is
something even I can relate to. Jason mentions how he feels that music stimulates your
mind in ways other things cant. It can help you learn and achieve more academically if
you always have music with you. Knowing music literacy, the knowledge of being able to
read and write music, can help achieve a lot then. It helps stimulate the mind in even
more ways if you can create music in your head rather than just listen to it. It also helps

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those literate in music become a more valuable member of society because they get to
contribute more music to the society that seeks it.
Allison Westerheide had the best description of what goes into learning how to
play music. She compares learning music literacy and traditional literacy by stating how
learning how to read music and learning how to read literature are both difficult at first,
but become easier with the passage of time. Even Allison Scherer described how music
was hard for her, and she started a little later in her life than Allison Westerheide. Like
learning a new language, learning music is easier when youre younger, but doesnt
always mean that you cant learn to play when youre older. The memorization and
dexterity that goes into it continues to stimulate the brain and -- once you get the basics
down -- it becomes much easier to learn. In order to be successful in this endeavor,
though, you must want to learn to continue to learn music and keep at it, it is a skill that
can be lost without practice. Therefore, one must be truly passionate about wanting to
learn music literacy to be successful in it.
In all, music literacy is similar to traditional literacy but with more passion.
Although both are always around us and embedded completely into our culture, music
literacy requires a more emotional connection because music is a more complicated type
of expression with more layers than traditional literacy. It benefits society because it is
relatable and gives people an outlet they dont usually find in traditional literacy.
Furthermore, although music literacy is a complicated manner, one does not need to play
an instrument or compose a song to be literate in music, simply appreciating the art
behind it and attempting to understand the lyrics behind a song can be construed as its
own type of music literacy. That is what makes music literacy so special.

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Works Cited
Nelson, Brandon. ""Music From the Soul." Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives. The
Ohio State University, 19 Sept. 2010. Web. 10 Feb. 2015.
<http://daln.osu.edu/handle/2374.DALN/1907>.
Sacks, Oliver. "The Power of Music." Ed. Dimitri M. Kullmann. Brain 129.10 (2006):
2528-532. Oxford University Press. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
Scherer, Allison. "Zen Guitar: Literacy and Music." Digital Archive of Literacy
Narratives. The Ohio State University, 21 Mar. 2014. Web. 09 Feb. 2015.
<http://daln.osu.edu/handle/2374.DALN/5280>.
Street, Brian. "What's "new" in New Literacy Studies? Critical Approaches to Literacy in
Theory and Practice." Current Issues in Comparative Education 5.2 (2003): 7791.
Stuckert, Jason. "Importance of Music Literacy." Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives.
The Ohio State University, 01 Nov. 2011. Web. 09 Feb. 2015.
<http://daln.osu.edu/handle/2374.DALN/1729>.
Westerheide, Allison. "Music Is My Literacy." Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives.
The Ohio State University, 03 Dec. 2012. Web. 09 Feb. 2015.
<http://daln.osu.edu/handle/2374.DALN/3580>.