Composition Reflection
Artistic intention
What was the message, theme, or emotion you wanted to communicate in your song? The message I wanted to communicate is I am very stressed because of school and have a strong desire to leave for vacation.
My song is inspired by a rap song “Everyday Normal Guy 2” especially the part “I'm up early in the morning, in bed early at night” where the singer complains about how plain his daily life is.
Creative Process: Describe the steps you took to create your song (lyrics, melody, structure, etc.).
I first came up with my topic of the song, and then the initial parts of my lyrics. First version of my lyrics is about myself waking up feeling tired but later changed to my daily life conditions.
After I wrote 4 sections, I divided them to verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus and outro. I skipped the bridge because I wanted to talk more about my problems, less about sensitive emotions.
I then decided that for my verse, I needed to use a wide range of minor chords and diminished chords to make the listener feel negative, while in the chorus, I used chords like C major and F major to provoke a sense of joy, then returned to minor and diminished chords to remind the audiences that the problem is not solved yet: C minor, B♭9….
I then made small modifications to the chords, so it has more pattern, and finally completed with a predominantly minor outro.
The biggest challenge I faced is I wanted a good balance between complaining and hope. First version of my lyrics complained about stress in the chorus and talked about my daily life and hopes in the verse. In first versions, I sung about “I’m a piece of meat on a grill” for the chorus. I changed it later for it being overly negative.
Overall, I did not change the main idea I wanted to present. I changed the ratio between two topics and which parts they are placed.
I also changed the specific issue I talk about in the song. My original idea was about how exams stressed me out, but I then changed to general school stress, as it would be more relatable for most audiences. ( The line “this stressful wasteland”)
Melody
In this song, I did not write a pitched melody, or any notes. The song is rap because two reasons. First is that since the message of the song is about boredom and stress, rapping would sound more robotic and give the feel of “the singer is too tired to even sing, instead he speaks.” to the audiences. They can also focus more on my chords.
Rhythm
The rhythm of my song remained in a steady 4/4 beat of 4 chords every bar. This is because irregular or syncopation rhythm are usually more energetic, against the message of my song.
Harmony
In the first verse, I used a range of chords but avoided major chords so I can express feelings of uncertainty and anxiety, like the c7 and c6 chord. Similar for the second verse, where I used mostly minor chords. I used major chords like C and F.
Dynamics
The song is 115 bpm. I chose this speed because overly fast songs can remind people of immediate danger or joy, while being too slow would remind people of relaxing. These are both unsuitable for the emotions I wanted to send.
Structure
The song started with a verse, chorus, verse 2, chorus and outro. This is because I want to make audiences focus on the chorus part while the verse prepares for it, and the outro defines the emotion of the song finally.
How well did your performance communicate your song’s message? I believe my performance communicated the song’s message quite well. I played my chords quite steady, sang with a rap-like rhythm and ended the outro with a loud c minor, making the song dark and negative.
What were your strengths during the performance? My strength during the performance is mainly confidence. Though I felt nervous and forgot what to sing for a few times, I did not stop performing and carried on even though I made mistakes, so my final performance communicated well.
What would you improve if you performed again? I would work on my skills to work with multiple teammates. I believe my song would sound better if more instruments like drums are used, but I did not communicate effectively with all my teammates, so we did not have time to practice for my piece.
What feedback did you receive from peers or your teacher? From my teacher, I received feedback about my song having funny lyrics but quite negative in the same time during the practice. Taking the feedback, I changed my chords to even more heavy ones, like C minors and G minors to make the song sound even darker. To improve, I should use more distinct chords next time, so my message can be supported with stronger chords.
From my peers, I received feedback about my chords too hard to play. To address the issue, I changed all my chords to numbers instead. After the performance, my peers gave feedback about the song sounding quite successfully sending the message, but it could be smoother as I forgot the next line several times. I believe if I worked on time management better next time, I could sing with less stops. In terms of the chord issues, I could use communication skills to better teach my teammates what I wish they can play during my song, saving us all time and make the performance more complete.
What new skills did you develop in songwriting or performing? One new skill I developed this unit is the ability to rhyme. Before this unit, most of the music I listen to and made are purely instrumental. I didn’t think too much about rhyming before the unit, I just thought these words sounded quite good in a song. Now I can quickly find a variety of words to put in lyrics of songs I can right, with the support of tools like rhyme zone that I never knew about before.
How has this unit changed your understanding of music? This unit changed my understanding of music by exposing me to a wider variety of music. Most famous music and what I usually listen to is related to a film, game or some more energetic themes like love or emotions. Through this unit, I realized many songs can be about the specific problem the singer is unsatisfied about, or to express their needs/protest, not only to “sound pleasing.”
Compare your work to a professional artist or song. What similarities or differences do you notice?
I watched my video and compared my work to “Everyday normal guy 2”.
I found that though both being rap songs, the “Everyday normal guy 2” mixed some melodies, while mine purely focused on lyrics. Using a combination of melody and rapping could make audiences engage to my song better as it is more diverse.
I also found that in “Everyday normal guy 2”, the chord progression is very clear (Dm, F, A) where the chord in my verse has a lot less pattern (it completely changed the second time.) Though my chords are more diverse, it might be less easy to memories one clear motif for audiences, making the message I sent less strong(repetitive.) How effectively did your song connect with your audience? Why? I believe my song strongly connected to my audience. Most of my audiences are students like me that experienced the exact same stress from all the pressure they face about the future. As the semester is about to end, I hear about many students talk about how excited they are to go to vacation.
I believe my audiences in the music room that saw the performance connected with my song well. During the performance I can see them smiling and nodding when I talked about escaping from school and going to vacation in the “Before I leave this island” and “I failed my math exam” part.
