Twenty minutes south east from the city of Boston, there is a room inside a house that is filled with musical instruments. Nick, who began playing music at the age of six, loves spending long hours in this room. Nick taught himself how to play the piano, violin, clarinet, trumpet, and even the drums. After the alarm rings sharply at nine in the morning, he runs down to the room and spends all day in the room until food is ready upstairs or when he gets tired at night; but often, he loses track of time and falls asleep down in the room. As his head slowly falls on the piano, his arms and head presses the “B”, “D”, and “F#” keys on the piano, playing a B minor chord which soothes him into his sleep. Every day he repeats the same process repeatedly and seems to find new inspiration in the room every day. However, being lost in music, Nick has naturally avoided interaction with his peers or even his family. Having been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome two years ago, Nick has difficulties with communication. On the bright side, the syndrome has had a positive impact on the relationship between Nick and his music: Music to him was like his best friend.

Relying on music to uplift his mood when he is feeling murky or to provide him with energy when he is lethargic, Nick has created a robust relationship with the piano and the numerous instruments from all the years in the musical room. Whenever he is feeling down, Nick drops the needle on his record player that was gifted from his grandfather and slides in the vinyl, “Everybody Loves The Sunshine” by Roy Ayers. On the other hand, in need of a groovy mood, he chooses between “Weak” by SWV and “Me Against The World” by 2Pac. both of them have the magic to have Nick move in rhythm. Nick’s strong bond with music is not shared by his older brother, Trevor. In fact, he is the polar opposite of Nick. Trevor loves to be active and spends time with his friends. From all the things Trevor does with his peers, he never finds time to spend inside the house during the day. From the substantial differences the two brothers have, Nick and Trevor scarcely find time to spend together.

On a monday afternoon, Trevor is assigned a musical project that would help him with learning chord progressions. As he grabs his pencil to start brainstorming on his empty piece of manuscript paper, Trevor gets lost in his own thoughts and makes little progress. Inside his clustered mind, one ingenious yet hesitant idea passes through his mind. That is to ask his younger brother, Nick, for help. With his project on the line, Trevor decides to take a leap and visit Nick. Luckily, Trevor knew exactly where to find Nick. As he slowly walks downstairs, the volume of the layered piano melody on top of a loud bass increases with each step. As Trevor is about to tap Nick’s Shoulder, Nick turns around instinctually, and they stand in awkward silence for a couple seconds. Considering their lack of communication, it was hard for any conversation to start. Fortunately, Trevor’s ease with people is extended to his younger brother, and he starts to have a conversation with Nick. Whether it was the brotherhood of the family or simply Trevor’s adroitness in conversing, the two brothers had been talking for over an hour about Nick’s music.

With Nick’s help, Trevor was able to successfully complete his project. However, even more than the project, Trevor seemed to truly enjoy talking and listening to Nick’s music. Trevor was able to hear each individual guitar pluck to the low bass lines of a song. He noticed that his mood and feelings were contingent on each song’s melody. Suddenly, Trevor posed a question out of curiosity to Nick, “If you would prefer making music, why don’t you just share your music with other people?” From this simple question, Nick finally saw an open gateway to his music as a way of communication. He saw music as a way of conveying his moods and feelings without speaking words. It seemed perfect.

Nick’s first talk with another friend was deeply meaningful in a way that he found how valuable Trevor was in his life. Trevor’s opinions on music had completely been altered as well from his introduction to music by the help of his older brother. In collaboration, whenever Nick finished a track of his own, Trevor used his abilities to spread the word to others. They started off with playing their songs inside cars with other friends then worked their way up to gatherings for families and friends.

What had started as a brotherly bond had turned into a professional career in a couple of years. Now, Nick travels the world with Trevor to express his own feelings through music to other people. To be fair, what better way is there to live life by expressing your own thoughts through the gathering of different notes, instruments, and melodies?