Initial Response to Music Lessons

Music Lessons by Sarah Vowell is all about band and what it means to be a part of it in middle/high school. Vowell is going to teach readers about lessons that she learned from being in band. To do that, Vowell starts with a situation that happened to her while participating in band, that she returns to at the end of the story. In between the start and end is where the reader is given access to the important life lessons Vowell accidentally learned.

Vowell does an excellent job of making her titles summarize what the lessons explain. While the title “Where’s Walter” makes no sense on its own, having read the story makes it clear that the title fits the story perfectly. Another excellent strategy from Vowell is her consistent use of “Accidental Lesson” throughout the text. These aren’t lessons anyone intended for her to learn, and not everyone in band learned them. However, learning these lessons usually meant Vowell was in some embarrassing or detrimental situation that we have the benefit of looking from afar at. Awkwardly joining a group full of recorder users or not knowing what a sex change was, Vowell shows us awkward moments of her life that we can learn from. Allusions to things like Sodom and Gomorrah add to the absurdity of some of the situations Vowell finds herself in!