Jazz musicians were not only talented people who presented humanity with a rich cultural heritage. For musicians, the blues has become an opportunity for self-expression, a way to convey their problems and thoughts through music. For some, it also helped to express their identity, their real inner world. Moreover, like many in those days, jazz musicians faced difficulties related to gender and race issues. In some cases, the musical life was accompanied by global life changes: a person lived a life that was not one’s own, being a different personality. The purpose of this work is to reflect on the topic of another identity, namely, what would be one’s own another persona.
In times of the development of the blues, there was a problem related to the sexual issue. A talented woman who wanted to connect her life with a musical career could not do it as a woman. In those times, only a man had the possibility to build a professional jazz career. Thus, there were cases when women lived the life of a man for these purposes, and this secret was revealed only after death. Thus, Joss Moody, the main character of Jackie Kay’s Trumpet, anatomically born female, lives his entire life as a man (Amideo, 2018). The book is interesting in the context of reflections on identity, gender, and race. Moreover, the writer expressed these questions against the backdrop of musical art, using an unusual narrative. In this regard, it would be interesting to reflect on the topic of another identity in the context of one’s own life.
However, the book is not as straightforward as it might seem at first glance. In fact, this is a reflection on many things in life, such as family and loved persons, private and public life, fame, and its consequences. Every public person has two worlds, one that is visible to everyone, for the press and fans, and the other is a private personal one. Sometimes these two worlds differ dramatically: a person can seem happy and careless, but in fact, be desolate. For creative people, especially jazz musicians, the differences can be even more dramatic since music usually contributes to better self-expression.
Talking about what one’s other personality could be, it will be based on the life experiences. Now, I am a student, and I spend a lot of time studying. However, I used to play sports and could probably build a career related to sports. Thus, the other person might be a famous athlete, aged 30, in the twilight of his career. Usually, I give myself entirely to the activity that I like and spend a lot of energy on becoming a professional in the chosen field. However, at the moment, my life is related to studies, and my goal is to get an education.
Thereby, based on my passion for sports, my another personality could be a famous sportsman. The life associated with sports involves many challenges and difficulties, including competitions, motivation, injuries, and the end of a career. Being a 30-year-old athlete, namely a professional football player, the career is followed by the same difficulties in terms of ambition, playing time, and club selection. One is often faced with a difficult choice: to stay in a club that has never held a championship position and try to achieve a triumph, or to move to another club. However, an attempt to move to a stronger club may result in a lack of playing time if there is not enough qualification. Besides, it formulates differences in career goals, namely, my alternative personality wants to achieve success in sport and to gain world-famous football titles. As a student, my career goals aim to develop myself in my chosen field and obtain an education.
Similarly, my alternate personality faced a serious problem, as every footballer’s dream is the titles won with one’s club. However, there are many more or less well-known football players who are talented and who could become world stars. Many reasons influence the end of their career, including their own ambitions. The age of my alternative personality, namely 30 years, is a transitional age for a football player, physical indicators begin to fall, although experience grows. After 3 years of playing with my club, it becomes clear that it is difficult, maybe impossible, to achieve the championship title with the current team. Most likely, it is time to put aside ambitions and start a new stage in a new club, which can help to achieve the coveted title.
Thereby, it is the result of my reflections about my alternative personality. One may assume that the personality of a professional sportsman is connected with my past activities and scrupulousness. To conclude, I would mention how I am different from my fictional self. Thus, I am a young student and have less experience, moreover, my outlooks on life also differ. My current key goal is to build a foundation, which my future life will be based on. The purpose of another personality is to reap the rewards of training and spent time playing, namely to achieve titles. Besides, I have no difficult choices at the moment, my future path is clear, in contrast to a “footballer”: one should make a choice of the entire life.
Reference
Amideo, E. (2018). Translating gender and race through music in Jackie Kay’s Trumpet.Anglistica Aion, 22(2), Web.