I have been learning and playing the piano for the past 7 years which is what motivated me to take up composing music as my personal project. I had always loved listening and playing music on the piano, and during the pandemic I highly invested in it. Majority of my time went by listening to music and I continued to listen to it even while performing other tasks. My ultimate goal is to eventually start producing music, however I wanted to start with something that I had some amount of experience in already. Therefore, my goal was to compose 2 songs on the piano and execute them myself. Music has been a primary stress-reliever and something that manages to keep me calm and happy. I explored a multitude of genres during the pandemic and loved the variety/spread of options music had to offer. I found the art of creating music to be incredibly interesting, and since I already had a passion for playing the piano and listening to music, I decided to combine both those interests and compose 2 songs on my piano.

After reflecting on the completion of my product, I believe that I did achieve my goal. However, there were certain skills I could have used more effectively. One particular quality under my self-management skills I should have done better was the strand; ‘Mindfulness awareness - Practice focus and concentration”. I am certain I worked hard through the course of my product, but I struggled with procrastination and distractions the entire time - whether it was planning, researching, or composing, I let myself get distracted by the smallest things and found excuses to deviate from my work, or if I wasn't in the right mood, I would put the task off to the last minute. Some of these instances were reasonable as I wasn't able to think of tunes/melodies at the time but there were multiple tasks that could be done at any time which I still managed to put off. I also believe I could have worked more on my communication skills and remained in touch with my piano teacher at home. Even though my goal was to keep this as an independent learning, it didn't mean I couldn't seek guidance when I needed it. However, my communication skills lacked in certain areas which meant I didn't receive much guidance or help from any of my musical supervisors. My reflection skills also could have been worked on more. Wherever I got stuck during the project, I should have listed out the things I was doing wrong and try to improve it by reflecting, however I would just quit for a few days out of frustration and repeat the same actions until I learnt to reflect more (towards the end of my project when I was finishing my second song). These were skills I lacked through the majority of the project, but they were also skills that developed as time went on as I understood what I was doing wrong and how to fix it.

Although I lacked in a few areas, I am still happy with the outcome of my project. As mentioned above, my project was an independent learning which meant I conducted all my research and executed it myself (with minimal external support). I believe I performed well for a first time composer, but more importantly, I am happy with my project because I have gained the fundamental knowledge and experience to continue composing from now onwards, as this was the starting point.