In The Mind Of The Creator (Portfolio Finale)

Hello, k-dreamers! It is I, back at it again with some updates about what’s been going on in my life. I’m well aware that I have been neglecting my blog for over a month now. If you’ve visited here often enough, you’ll know that after long bursts of activity, I tend to fall off the face of the earth for months due to school and life in general. Don’t think that I’ve gone and abandoned this website! There are some future segments I want to do for the blog, I just haven’t figured out the logistics yet. In the meantime, I have some pretty exciting news to share about myself and what I’ve learned in my studies about what it means to be a creator. Aren’t you guys curious about how my music portfolio is coming along?

And now, the exciting end to my music portfolio saga.

Long story short… I got in! I added a whopping two new songs to my portfolio (which you can listen to on my YouTube channel, if you’re bored). They don’t accept you straight away, though. I also had a short interview and I somehow passed. No joke, I genuinely thought I made a bad impression on them by making it sound like I wasn’t fit for the program. Fingers crossed I can complete my degree without a hitch. And don’t worry, I’ll also work on making improvements to my music because I am nowhere near satisfied with what I have in my portfolio.

Being an academic versus being a creator?

I don’t know if this is an obvious statement or not, but analyzing music is very different from writing music. I’ve talked in the past about how I know what I like to hear in music but I don’t have the skills to make that kind of music. There are two things helping me bridge that gap. I’ve started taking online classes at Berklee College of Music to learn a few tools for writing lyrics. I’ve also been taking a creative writing workshop at my university since I’m pursuing a minor in creative writing. When looking at short stories, my creative writing teacher tries to get the class to focus on how the writer is able to affect the reader rather than trying to analyze the text. It’s not about the plot or the fancy writing, it’s about conveying the human condition in a way that’s authentic. That’s how you hit readers in the gut! Ironically, my lyric class teaches me about fancy ways to make songs more interesting. Even so, I like to think that both classes help me affect people emotionally through my writing. The difference between writing lyrics and writing fiction is, obviously, the oral component. The way a song gets to a listener’s ears is through avoiding clichés and conveying messages in new ways. Both of these classes have helped me get closer to actually creating music.

So, what’s left to do?

There’s one area of my music creator journey that I still find lacking: music production. Hopefully I can take care of that in the fall. I’m finally feeling like a competent songwriter. Who knows? I might release a song soon (I shouldn’t promise anything, though). For now, I leave you with one of my favourite artists with one of my favourite songs of 2021:

I’ll wake myself up from this slumber
And fill myself up
I’ll color it faintly
As if I’m wet with rain
I’m still a dreamer
I’m raising my value
I want even more colors
Everything looks good with me

– Wheein, water color

Video belongs to RBW Entertainment.