My Creative Process
Inspiration
Throughout quarantine, I was consistently inspired by Taylor Swift's determination and skill. With the release of folklore, I felt pushed to improve my songwriting skills and wanted to try my hand at a concept album. Hearing that Swift had created this album completely at home made me believe that quite anything was possible. Though a lot changed in the world around me during the process of this project, it began during a time where I felt quite hopeless. I wanted to create something that represented that, but also the breath of hope that continues to wash over me and my peers.
How the project changed to fit my message...
This project started out as a 3 song EP that was meant to demonstrate the progression from the beginning of quarantine to today. While I still created this, I decided to shorten each song so that the whole EP could be modeled as one piece that flows from one message to the other. For example, in my cover of epiphany by Taylor Swift, I decided to only include the verse that I felt could be directly tied to COVID-19.
Techniques
Songwriting
I always had a love for songwriting, which led me to take a songwriting workshop last semester. There, I learned verse-chorus form and tips for inspiration. While I strayed away from verse-chorus form, I carried tips for inspiration, such as word dumping, with me. This project helped me quicken my lyric-writing pace as well as allow me to write lyrics to music rather than write music to lyrics.
Arranging
Before this project, I had minimal experience with arranging but since there was no arrangement available for epiphany, I had to do so by ear. I used my account on Note Flight while I was listening to the song in order to map out the different sections of the song. Each time, I would start with the bass line and see if it sounded right, then move to the main line.
Producing
This was the part of my project that I was least familiar with. There is still so much I have to learn, but this project was a way for me to try out using GarageBand's MIDI instruments, mixing and mastering. Though it is not perfect, I am proud of everything I learned through research and practice for this project.
Recording
Prior to starting this project, I owned recording equipment that I rarely used because I was too scared to tackle recording my music. But through this project I forced myself to learn about the different settings on my Yeti microphone as well as figure out the best way to record my voice in a room that is not sound proof.
Iteration
For this project, I decided to do something I rarely do: write the music first. To do so, I spent many days sitting at the piano plucking out notes. I recorded each try on my voice memos and tried to pick out my favorite ones. Though I ended up tweaking the chosen melodies as I began putting lyrics to them, it was helpful to have them to build off of.
My Research Process
And What I Learned!
Literature Review
I began my research by listening to artists and songs that inspire me. This included a lot of Lorde, Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers. I find a lot of their music to be literal and metaphorical at the same time, which I really wanted for this project. On top of this, I began to research how music affects anxiety, looking at research articles and studies conducted over the past few decades.