If the instruments and the songs did not directly teach me some form of emotional intelligence, then the teamwork aspect of many of the music groups I participated in did. I learned how to listen to the music, and how to express the emotion of the song through body language, speech, lyrics, and general expression. Emotional intelligence is the ability to be aware of one’s emotions and to be able to handle them in an appropriate manner.

The piano taught me how to express myself through my body language and way that I played the notes on the piano. It taught me to find the high and low points of a piece of music, and to tell a story without words. This helped me become more emotionally intelligent because I learned what expression was like and how to express my emotions without saying them.

Playing in band helped me to learn to work together as a team. This was the first time that musically I had to work in a team. I learned to play and blend and match the people around me even if we were not similar in personality (trust me, we were not). Playing trombone, I was the only girl, so I learned a lot about how to handle myself around a group of middle school boys. This helped me to learn how to develop relationships with people that were different than I was/am. It taught me leadership and how to be a good respected leader.

Choir taught me the most emotional intelligence. Listening to the words, analyzing the lyrics and the meaning behind each song taught me how to express myself through words. This was a similar experience to playing the piano, except I learned to express emotions through my face and the way I emoted to the audience. I also learned through acting in the school plays that even though I was just a chorus member, that everyone is equally as important and the story cannot be told unless everyone is working together to express the story to the audience with a shared goal.

All these experiences have given me tools for when I finish college and am entering the workplace. Being able to navigate personalities and understand where people are coming from is a vital tool that will allow me to better understand my co-workers and the way that they work with other. It also helps with communication. Emotional intelligence is vital for all people to understand how to better communicate with each other and it helps build a more successful business.