Music saved my life. This is a story of survival, a story that means everything to me because it is something I am deeply passionate about. By sharing my experiences with you I hope to convince you that you should learn to play an instrument.
I began creating music in pre-school with my church’s choir. At the time I was not a huge fan of choir itself but the socializing with friends that came after. Choir was just the “toll” I had to pay to get to that. As I grew older I continued to be involved in choral programs and over time realized that making music in an ensemble of some sort had become a part of my life. It was something that I didn’t think I’d be able to manage without. 
During my senior year of high school I was hit with a crippling depression that sucked my love for everything. In that moment I felt like I had no friends, no talents, and no self-worth. I went day to day with little to no enjoyment for anything, and interacting with people seemed like more effort than it was worth. Eventually I stopped trying.
Truthfully, there were times when I really wanted end it but I managed to persevere somehow and came out on the other side, stronger than before. But as is often the case with depression, it didn’t stay away for good.
During that period of my life, I still found joy in choir, but I didn’t have any way of enjoying that outside of the classroom. Sure I could sing my part but it didn’t have the same effect as when the other parts were sung with it.
Fast forward to my freshman year of college. I was an 18-year-old aspiring music therapist, hell-bent on learning how to treat people with mental conditions like my own and bring them joy. I bought a guitar that I had no idea how to play because it was a requisite for the major and away I went.
Regrettably, I dropped the major relatively quickly and my guitar gathered dust as I switched to Music Education.
When I was 20 I felt felt so much anguish that I had a guitar with no ability to play it that I asked a friend to teach me. After two months of lessons I branched out on my own and tried to learn as much as I could about the guitar. By the next year I was practicing daily and using the guitar as my biggest tool in the fight against depression. Writing words fueled by the emotions I felt, I channeled them into powerful songs that contained my depression within their lines.
I am by no means a songwriter, and I’m a mediocre player at best, but sometimes playing my guitar at 3 a.m. and writing a song about surviving has been the only thing that’s kept me alive.
That may seem dramatic but it’s the honest to God truth.
My story may be different than most because I already had a love for music and that made the prospect of learning to play an instrument more practical. Still, I didn’t begin learning the guitar until I was 20. Now, just two years later, I’ve become fairly good at it.
Study upon study has shown the many benefits of making music. Aside from the magical ability of being able to make an inanimate object sing, playing an instrument has been proven to increase various aspects of your health.
Nina Kraus is a Professor of Communication Sciences and Neurobiology at Northwestern University. In an article from the National Science Foundation, she claims that “Engaging in high-level cognitive processes like music enhances your sensory system,”
In other words, creating music makes you more perceptive to the world around you.
According to an article on Chicago’s WXRT website, playing music has also been shown to improve your performance on cognitive tasks, increase memory capacity, increase math scores, increase mental health and improve self-expression. Learning a musical instrument can really change your outlook on life and view of the world. It did for me.
Learning a musical instrument can be a daunting task, but if you stick with it you will see a plethora of advantages come your way.
I can say I have never met a person who regretted picking up an instrument, only those who regretted not learning one sooner or at all. It is a life altering thing to play an instrument. I recommend you give it a try, it just may save your life someday.
