I wouldn’t even know who I am

What would your life be like without music?

My spontaneous answer to this prompt was silence. Maybe my life would be quieter, or boring without music.

But then I realised that music is such a huge part of my life and identity that without music, there wouldn’t be the same me.

My favourite movie of all time literally has ‘Music’ on the title (The Sound of Music). I spent most of my childhood and adulthood embarking on various musical endeavours, from singing to playing piano, violin, viola, angklung, having a go at contrabass and cello, playing in orchestra, serving as concertmaster, training angklung group, trying songwriting, dancing, you name it. Imagine taking them all out of me. I would probably just be an empty shell. I wouldn’t be who I am.

One of my favourite music, Brahms Symphony No. 1. Playing this was a dream come true.