Humorous Wedding Speech: My Love With Music

When we first were aware that our theme would be “That One Thing” It struck a chord in my heart, because, I love that song, and I almost immediately chose music to be my “One Thing”. Though now I was faced with a tougher challenge, writing a speech about all of us. It would have to somehow relate to music.
It finally struck me again, almost everyone in our confirmation class can play an instrument or has a deep love with music. I know I have a deep rooted love with music. I've been writing heavy metal lyrics since 7th grade.
I constantly practice guitar; I'm listening to every little nuance and somehow managing to fix it. I self produce home made dance songs. If you were to walk into my room, on my desk you would find a small keyboard, a mixing board, a laptop with a music software running and 3 guitars hanging from a four-way guitar stand. You would see a small amp and effect pedals that some of your favorite musicians might just be using.
I work with other musicians all the time. On Fridays my best friend Alfredo comes over to help me fix problems with my next dance song. I go to school and talk music with my friends and how mad certain forms of the heavy metal genre make me.
I remember when my sister, Aryn, and I first started out middle school, she took up the trumpet because she wanted an instrument that not everyone else wanted to play.
I remember having to listen to her practice almost every night. Though now she hates the trumpet I still think it was one of the reasons I ever got into guitar because my sister had the determination for three years to play the trumpet. Though now I've progressed much farther than a person who has been playing for one year should, I still wish I could have said thank you to Aryn for giving me the determination to play an instrument in a less cheesy way, I still would like to say, thank you,
Aryn.
Though midway through 7th grade I believe, Zak Kapel joined our congregation. He would later become one of my best friends along with Justin Webb. The three of us are kind of like the guitar trio in the Confirmation class. We're always bickering about some problem with one of our ideas on music. If not that, its video games.
Another person in our confirmation class who is also very musical, though she doesn't play any instruments, is Samantha Dias. Her voice is just, wow. She has a very beautiful, or in musical terms, melodic voice. She is probably the best singer I know. I really think, that if she pursues it, she could become a very popular singer in whatever genre of music she chooses.
Gabrielle Giancaspro, and Tierney Torchin are both good at the instruments they play, Gabrielle at clarinet, and Tierney at guitar. They both just don't have someone to help them out to learn to play or just never talk about playing an instrument. I think that just kind of makes them better than Zak, Justin, and I because we kind of like to boast about our abilities sometimes.
Daphne Levy, a friend of our at Ner Tamid, since day one, she always seemed a little weird to me. I'm not going to lie about that fact. But she also has a great taste in music, and actually, whether she knows it or not, has helped me listen to some pretty extraordinary bands, that I really like. She always did like bands that were more obscure and underground and she helped me get into the local music scene. In fact some of my favorite bands come from the Las Vegas and Henderson local music scene.
Then we have Ben Stolberg and Paul Chenin. Ben is probably the most likeable person in our class. He talks to everyone and can always make a subject hilarious or funny. I don't think anyone in our Confirmation class hates him at all. He really is just a good person and is overall unbelievably just the coolest person I know. Paul is the guy I talk to about tech and dance music. He just understands my language when others really don't. I like to debate with him and talk to him about Macs and PCs.
But how does this subject of music apply to Judaism? I think the better question is how doesn't it apply? Every prayer we sing has some form of a melody to it, or we can certainly make a melody. Here at Ner Tamid, we're graced with a rock n' roll style of our prayers courtesy of the “Shabatones” I think music is a big part of Jewish culture. I don't think we would have the same enthusiasm about being Jewish if the music of our prayers didn't uplift us and make us want to believe in God. I think music is also a great way to express ourselves and help shape a personality. It also makes praying more personal and fun. I can't imagine saying Mi Chamocha or any other prayers without the songs tune that I've grown to learn and love. So “That One Thing” for me is definitely music I make, Music I listen to, and Music I pray to.