Alyssa Monas sits before a half-dozen toddlers, clutching a steady old friend, the $150 acoustic guitar her mother bought for her on a cable shopping network ages ago. “Good morning, friends,” Monas ...

Farewells are a rite of passage in the human condition. Farewells could be to a tangible person, place, or thing, and they could also be to a fleeting moment, a period of time, or an experience.

Think about the soundtrack of your life that would be played upon your death. This is not a morbid fascination with taking the final leap. Rather, contemplate what songs that not only capture the ...