Summing up 2013 and 2014 :) : my music journey

To be honest, I'm surprised that my blog is still up! I thought it will be pull down since I haven been blogging for the longest time!! N here I come to write something again :)

Ahhh...time flies and its 2015 already!! And this blog has also been around for some time already! I realised that the beauty of having a blog is that it allows U to look back and see how u used to think and to remind yourself of some key events that happened to your life..that was worth a mention at that point in time..n for the same purpose, I'm blogging again to note down some of the key things which I wanna note down!

2014 has been pretty fulfilling for me! I took up the melody composing course for the second time after Eric suggested that I should take it again and frankly, there's no regret on my side. In fact, I think I made the right choice in taking it again as I was really busy when I was taking it previously and to be honest, I wasn't in the mood to give my best as I was too caught up with work. This time round, I felt that I put in more effort and I think I did better :)

I still remember that when I first join the class in the previous batch, I was overwhelmed as everyone seemed so good..and I started to feel really stress about the class..however, after a while, I managed to get over it and convinced myself that it's probably a good thing cos it would mean that I will learn the most since I am quite a noob compared to them...at the same time, I set a lot of restrictions for myself when I compose my melody..making it narrower than it already was..and at some point, I was lost in the comments such that I totally ditched my writing style and write based on how I think people want me to write..and yes, that was a bad choice.

Towards the end of the first batch of the class, I start to realise that there's probably nothing to feel inferior about and that I shouldn't be setting any restrictions. In fact, I should try to write whatever I want...and i should allow all inspirations to flow freely and I'm glad to say that I followed this mentality when I was taking the lesson for the second time.

During the second time, I no longer set any restriction. Neither did I compare myself with anyone. I was just focusing on myself on how I could do better in any way. I also tried to take Eric'a suggestion of listening to more songs as I used to listen to mainly chinese pop. That was the time when I started listening to songs on spotify. To be honest (at least to me) I think it did help to listen to english songs. I also tried listening to kpop and thai song as I wanted to widen my music horizon..

With all these background work done, I think I did better as compared to my first try :) I had many first time haha.
1) wrote different genre of songs. They may not be perfect but I love all the songs (especially the silly ones) I wrote :)There were dance song, Ah Lian song and indie songs apart from my infamous corporate sounding songs! N I seek inspiration from almost everywhere..from variety shows,dramas to day to day encounter with people at work or during my personal time..n I actually achieved some milestones that I set for myself
1) i always wanted to write those Taiwanese idol drama song..either it's about heart break or about someone liking another someone..n yes, I think I managed to write both! Haha
2) I always wanted to write dance song n yes I did it too :)
3) jingle..i was actually upset with myself for writing a v lousy jingle that doesn't sound like jingle in the previous class and I told myself that I need to write a gd jingle this time round! It's not perfect but I like what I came up with!
4) i was told that one of my song sounded indie n I'm happy cos I assumed it is diff from what I usually write hehe
5) i secretly hope that Jim will say that the lyrics is well written for some my song n in a way, I think he did :)
6) above all, to write freely and not be bounded by my own rules and I think I did!

With these, I'm glad to say that I made the right choice to join again!
Apart from this, I also took up drum lesson in the hope of doing better arrangement..I have never imagine myself playing drums as I find it too manly..but I have to say that I love drum cos it's therapeutic! N I'm very fortunate to have a v gd drum teacher who motivated me and even give me advise on arrangement :) so although I only plan to take drum lesson for 3 mths..I have been taking it for 1 yr plus now :)

In the coming year, i hope to improve on my melody composing and arrangement skills! N I look forward to explore the different possibility for music 😃