Family is like a Rock Band
When I was in high school, and even to this day, I loved listening to my all time favorite band Taking Back Sunday. They are a rock band and I love listening to them all day every day. When I saw this assignment I thought about a number of things but I soon realized that I didn’t know much about any of the things I had thought up. I turned to something I did know and I thought it could work.
I love music more than most things in this world. I love playing it, listening to it, and writing it. How is this compared to a family though? Well it all starts in the early stages with an idea. With Taking Back Sunday, and any other band, it starts with someone wanting to make something for them self. Eddy Reyes, the “leader” of the band started with the idea of getting a group together in 1999. They came out with their first cd in 2002. The band has gone through 3 other band members in their years of playing music; but how does any of this compare to a family? How does music compare to the inner workings of family interactions? How is it similar to the relationships within the band itself? Let’s get to it!
I compare the band to my family personally because like any great band, it is going to start as an idea. My parents had the idea to start a family, much like Eddy had the idea to form a band. 2 years later, they had me as a baby; much like Taking Back Sunday produced their first “baby” album. We grew and my parents had more and more children topping the family at 8 kids. Taking Back Sunday also has 8 albums. As my parents had more and more children, we hit some bumps along the way. Just like TBS lost some great members of the band, they were replaced with other skilled musicians. Now we didn’t lose anyone in the family, but if there was an issue we worked it out allowing for something better to come about. As kids we would argue about all sorts of things. We would fight over most everything we could fight about. It’s the same in bands. No one is perfect, but together you make sweet music. My family worked hard at being a good family and it wasn’t until the last 6 years that we all started working “perfectly” much like in bands, their last album is usually one of the greatest albums yet.
Now as far as relationships and boundaries go, my family had a ton! In bands, the relationships and boundaries are with the band members, their instruments, their families, fans, recording studio, band managers, and more. The same goes in a family. Parents have relationships with friends, family, kids, each other, in-laws, and more. We as kids had relationships with parents, friends, cousins, hobbies, and each other. The boundaries in the band relate with the family because sometimes in the band, they have fights with each other, but then put on a front when in front of the media, or fans. They stay together for the good of the “community.” In my family it worked the same way. When one of us kids acted out, our parents laid down the rules and we had to follow or be punished. Do bands have rules? Of course they do, and when they are broken, consequences follow. Much like band members have relationships with their instruments, we s kids had relationships with each other. When we were in a room together, you knew who was going to work together because it worked. You wouldn’t ask a lead singer to play the bass without any training because it would sound horrible. It was the same way in our family. My sister and my father worked excellent together so we knew they would be the ones helping each other. My brothers all shared similar interests so they were always together doing something and it worked. Band members know their place just like the children knew where they belonged.
When the family all worked together, we made excellent “music.” The music itself is a comparison relates to the inner workings of a family in the sense that together they flow and make music. If you heard a song that was just drums it wouldn’t sound good at all. When you add in the guitars, bass, and vocals, it becomes a priceless sound of excellence. They do mess up however. At times, a wrong note is played thus altering the sound of that song making it undesirable and hard to listen to; much like a family unit and its interactions. When one would “mess up” the family didn’t function like it should have. We had to make a change and practice and practice. With this practice came the idea of discipline and honor. We honored our parents for allowing us to change and we knew that they were always there to help us get better. The band Taking Back Sunday did the same. They would have times when some would struggle and they would step in to help that person out because they knew they couldn’t sound the same without him. It took a lot of discipline too. Much like writing music takes time and patience; you have to be disciplined to try it over and over again until it is perfected.
So how is my family like my all time favorite rock band? We work together to make amazing music, we help each other when one is struggling, we do things together that make the family function like a well rehearsed rock show, and all together we rock the masses. Why do people love our house, our family, and us as individuals? Because we try to make and create an environment where people love to be themselves. We love having people with us because deep down we do it for the “fans” and those we truly care about. Taking Back Sunday is like my family because like them, we are awesome!
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