As New Yorkers, we have fully become accustomed to the loud sounds of the street and the annoying neighbors. We are also used to hearing different songs playing extremely loud at every turn some we don’t mind and some we wish we could tell the person to turn off. Ralph Ellison stated in Living with Music “In those days it was either live with music or die with noise…” Music is our personal way of blocking out unwanted noise that we have no control over. As referred to in soundscape by Murray Schafer is creates our own personal bubble blocking out the sounds we do not want to hear. 

Living in New York City Ralph Ellison upstairs neighbor was a singer. The sounds of her song rang throughout his apartment as she sang. As Damon Krukowski believed the music reflected how he felt singing the words he wouldn’t say to her. He fought music with music the louder she sang the louder he played. The music his neighbor and he shared would go on to create a bond between them the music had “magic with mood and memory”.  Ellison thought he would never be able to get past his writers block but as much as the music tortured  him in the beginning, it reminded him of his love for his music as a child. Music has a way of “reminding us of what we were and of that toward which we aspire” the music Ellison heard in his building stayed with him even after he moved away from his New York City apartment and helped him with his writing.