Swingset Drifting
Amy Y.
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The swings have always been my primary choice of a playground activity. Before my legs were long enough to scuff the tanbark floor, my long-suffering parents had to push me as I executed “the Superman.” This unconventional swinging technique involved me laying horizontally on the swing, parallel to the floor, with my head to the sky and both arms stretched out in front of me--just like Superman. The point is, swings have always been my closest thing to flying. The wind whistling past your ears, hair flying around your face, head in the clouds as you reach for the sky. Just like life, it’s a never-ending ride of ups and downs. Sometimes you fly backwards, but you always swing back up again.
Once in a while, I’m stuck with the realization that I am a sophomore in high school. I had a comparably easy childhood, ignorant of most 'harsh realities' of the world until hitting middle school. In 7th grade, the happy bubble had popped and I was overwhelmed with insecurities, academic anxieties, and family issues. I had no experience dealing with these negative life factors, and struggled with a lot of unexplained guilt and self-loathing. Looking back, the biggest thing I regret is being so hard on myself for things I couldn’t control. I don’t think of myself as an optimistic person, but when bad days catch you off guard, things don’t stay bad for long. Life gets easier, as it often does. While high school has been another terrifying pendulum of changes, I find comfort in the idea that I'm more resilient than I think. My music composition Swingset Drifting came to represent how life is always changing, for the better or worse.
The main melody of Swingset Drifting was created from a determined attempt to finish a piano composition that I had been working on for more than a year. With no end in sight and an acute awareness of my ever-slowing progress, I sat down on the piano bench one September 2022 evening, and decided that I would put an end to my composition once and for all. But the termination of one journey was of course, the start of another. The new melody came to me quickly and unusually well-developed. I liked it too much to let it be buried under the languishing, timeworn composition, so I took it by itself and ran with it. And within a few hours, the new melody had overtaken my old one in consistency, completeness, and musicality. More importantly, I heard a new story in this one that was more up-to-date with myself than the story I had begun two years ago. So I took off on this fresh start with renewed vigor, and finished the new composition within two months. The making of this piece itself was a journey of ups and downs, but in the end I have something that I can be proud of. I hope you enjoy my little creation!
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Creating things keeps me sane. It takes my mind off the daily anxieties of a teenager. I have many ideas in my head all the time, but seldom enough time or motivation to start them. When I actually complete something, I gain confidence in my ability to get things done.
