I grew up listening to music my whole life; it started from my mother putting headphones on her belly when she was pregnant with me to my father blasting rock and roll in the kitchen while I was helping him cook. Music has been a big part of my life growing up, whether it would be Indonesian, English, or Japanese - all that matters is that it sounds good and if I’m not preoccupied with either school work or friends, I’d be listening to music all day. Music is not only a pastime for me but an outlet where I could let go of my problems. It helps me get through a lot of tough times during school, with friends and hell, even at home. It’s safe to say that I love music. Even so, I have not really had the chance to make any. I would scribble lyrics in my notebooks whenever they come into my head and sing them alone in my room but the opportunity for me to express myself never came.
What I wish to achieve in this personal project is to create an EP (extended play record) that consists of five songs about the struggles that teenagers go through everyday, including myself. I have chosen five specific struggles that I have observed from my friends and my own life which include, love , addiction , parental issues , self-image , and depression . I have seen countless occurrences of these struggles in my grade alone, and I would like to shed light on these issues that plague us all in the form of self-expression. My goal statement is to create my own EP that captures the struggles of teenagers using FL Studio . This means I will be writing the lyrics and also producing the songs.
This is highly challenging for me because I don't know anything about producing music. The most I know about producing was from observing my friends click random buttons on their screen and making short compositions for music class with Garageband. I have never used FL Studio as a producing software before, but at the very least I know what constitutes a good song. The most difficult part of this personal project would be confronting my own problems. I have never been seen as a guy that opens up or shares his feelings because of my “carefree” lifestyle. I would always be absent, do poorly in school, and generally not pay much attention so self-expression is something foreign to me. This personal project is not only a chance for me to express myself but also a chance to confront my own personal problems through song composition.
The Global Context that I chose for my personal project is personal and cultural expression since it focuses on an individual expressing feelings, beliefs, and culture. The EP that I plan to make will show how individuals (like me) express their own feelings, beliefs, and themselves in the form of music.
The final product is an EP (extended play) that consists of five songs meant to showcase the problems teenagers experience through their adolescent life. The EP is titled “Struggles” and is used as a means of not only self-expression but a way to address these teenage problems in a creative manner. As the producer and composer of the songs songs, I can say that my EP strikes at the very core of the chaos and confusion teenagers face these days with songs like “Back from Work” and “Mirror” unapologetically expressing angst and uncontrollable rage about the issues of parental abandonment and self-image respectively through instrumentals.
My product meets most of the requirements that I set in my rubric. Due to unfortunate circumstances I was unable to satisfy all the criteria in my rubric. My product was able to meet the full requirements for everything except for “lyricism”. My product completed all the requirements for “audio quality” by achieving a very high bitrate of audio at 24170kbps. This was achieved by dividing the size of the song in bytes by the song's duration. My product also met the maximum requirements for song composition because it was very challenging to create a satisfying melody with intricate chords, a harmony that entangled itself with the melody, a solid organization of elements with great structure and form.
My product also responds to the global context of “...philosophies and way of life…” because the songs’ intention is to express myself through music whilst talking about the problems teenagers face throughout their adolescent lives. My product is a personal expression in an artistic format and uses musical components to convey my message. The motivation and purpose that came from doing this personal project gave me the chance to create something artistic and express myself in a whole new way, this project serves as a catalyst for my pursuit in music and other future artistic journeys I will go through.
Working on the personal project has also given me new insights on my global context of Personal and Cultural Expression. Throughout the process of completing my Personal Project i have learned so much. This experience has given me a deeper understanding about self expression through music. This Personal project has given me the opportunity and motivation to pursue a field of self expression I had yet to explore. I have also been able to reflect on myself and others, giving me insight on the problems many go through growing up. With the vast amount of knowledge I have gained from this project I can apply them to real life situations to also help those around me express themselves. I have come to the understanding that self expression, especially through music can serve as a way to spread a message and awareness to a plethora of people. On top of everything my personal project has not only improved my already existing skills but given me new ones too. My ability to produce music was practically non-existent when i started but now i can compose intricate melodies and chords. Besides my artistic skills I have also improved my skills relating to the IB learner profiles.
Throughout this entire project I have shown the use of many IB learner profiles. First of all I had to be reflective. When creating musical compositions I reflected on myself about issues present in my life so I could accurately represent those feelings and problems into music. Being a reflective person doesn't mean reflecting only on yourself but others too. I’ve had my fair share of struggles as a teenager and this is something we all can relate to. Acknowledging this, I went through the process of creating my personal project with the intention to reflect on these issues and struggles. Another IB learner profile I used throughout the project was being a communicator. To effectively convey my message to other people I had to use this skill many times. One example is the use of different melodies in my songs that served the purpose of communicating different emotions to the listener. The last IB learner profile that i have used throughout the project was being a thinker. I thought about the process on how to begin the project and steps I had to take to complete it. I used the thinker IB learner profile to not only plan out my process but also to expand upon my ideas that would be incorporated into my product.