Are you answering your essential question?

Essential Question: How can I tell my story through creating music?

Sub Questions: How can I grow as a musician by better understanding music composition?

How can I develop my own voice by listening to and covering songs of artists that I admire?

I definitely feel that I have been answering my question, and I am glad I made it somewhat open ended, so that I could explore the answer to it in many different ways. I have been slowly learning how to turn my thoughts and feelings into lyrics that reflect who I am and can also be relatable to an audience. I have also been learning about the ways that the music and chords themselves can tell a story even without lyrics, and the importance of mood and tone when it comes to expressing yourself through a song. A key part in answering this question is finding my voice and what my creative process is and learning that has been very exciting and informative.  I have been surprised to find myself writing parts of songs quickly but then writing whole songs to be a challenge.

My main challenge has been completing a whole song with all the lyrics and chords, but I have found it feels much more natural for me to work on bits of multiple songs as they come to me. So I think I have begun to solve my challenge but I also have my teacher that can help guide me in a direction if I get lost in a song and feel like I can’t complete it. It has also been a challenge to always feel motivated when I can’t write chord progressions that I like or lyrics that sound good with the melody, but taking classes and listening to other artists has helped me push through that. I have continued to break down other artists’ songs and learn from others’ creative process, and it has inspired me to get through the “writers block” and keep going.

I have started to learn how to use metaphors and short descriptions to tell a story and express complex emotion. I have been learning about composition and music theory, which is broadening my music knowledge in general and opening my mind to a lot of things I did not previously understand. I have been learning a lot from other artists and musicians as well which is helping me find my voice. But I do want to know more about appealing to an audience and using my own story to relate to other people. Throughout these few weeks it has become more and more apparent to me that one of the most important things about music is that it brings people together and creates community/connections so I want to start focusing on that aspect as well and learn how I can share my story in a way that is relatable.