Through the experience of making music as a group, I came to realize that I underwent a change in the role of being a creator. At the beginning of the formation of this group project, I was an active participant playing the keyboards with broken chords and harmonies. Nevertheless, towards the last two months of this project, it dawned on me to experiment by playing rhythmic sounds and beats.This opened my eyes to the possibilities of venturing beyond the familiar realm of music that I am used to, and I found the chance to explore new ways of expressing my creativity when creating music as a team.

To begin with, I was a supportive character during the process of the production of music. This is due to the fact that I provided the atmosphere and harmony of the environment with sounds from the keyboard. My playing mostly consisted of chords and sustained pads used for linking different parts of the music together.Having had a history with keyboards and pianos, I tended to look at music from a harmonic perspective, using the elements of emotion to influence it rather than rhythm. This would allow me to utilize chord changes to influence the mood and melody created by others.

It seemed natural at first because it was in line with the style of how I had been studying and performing music all along, particularly as a pianist who was accustomed to thinking through harmony. Yet, as rehearsals progressed, it became clear to me that the group required more energy and variety in terms of rhythm and texture. This was particularly crucial when developing the final project, which would attempt to achieve a more modern sound.

This led me to try out rhythmic performances and beats as opposed to using only keyboard backing. This became an entirely new experience for me as a composer as, besides worrying about the chords and the mood of the piece, I had to learn to think about the groove.Beats and rhythmic patterns began to emerge in my work that had the potential of bringing motion to the ensemble. Initially, it was an awkward experience as my rhythmic mind worked differently than my harmonic mind.

One of the major hurdles was getting to grips with how rhythm could affect musicians’ live interactions. In performing keyboard textures, my part was primarily that of a background player. But once I started making beats, it was up to me more than ever before to provide the impetus that propelled the music forward in the performance. To achieve this, it became necessary to pay closer attention to timing, coordination, and communication during rehearsals.

Collaboration was crucial during the whole project process. Through conversations with other group members, I was able to think about my own creative process and learn from others about alternative ways of making music.One student expressed his/her participation in this piece of music as a support of the general mood of the performance by playing rhythm guitar.They said that they came up with ideas through the harmonic progression of the song and then experimented with their guitars’ tones and rhythmic styles.

This method was quite distinct from mine in its early stages. Initially, I concentrated primarily on key-based textures and harmony. Nonetheless, listening to how one of my teammates employed rhythm and timbre to generate musical energy helped me consider other possibilities.Their technique affected my choice to explore beat programming at a later stage in the project. Through their technique, I learned that rhythm is not just a part of musical structure, but it can also be used for emotional expression within the performance of the group.

One of the students talked about the problems he faced when shifting his focus from playing the classical piano to the ensemble form. He said that he was used to practicing alone by following written music scores, but he was not comfortable playing along with others. He mentioned having problems with improvising, accompanying, and communicating in English.

I felt a strong connection with this experience since I also grew up in an environment where there was music training based on keyboard training.Similarly to this student, I started by applying prearranged harmonies without rhythmic participation. This allowed me to become more flexible during rehearsals as part of the band. At the same time, it gave me more assurance regarding my ability to perform improvised music rather than depend solely on musical notation.

With hindsight and given the way things ended up at the conclusion of this project, perhaps one of the most positive elements was the diversity in textures that resulted from the combination of different music. The harmony, rhythm, and actual live performance certainly helped contribute to this.In my opinion, taking my musical journey from being a pianist to a beat maker gave me more opportunities to explore myself as an artist. I began to understand how essential rhythm was for energy in the music, and how roles relate to one another.

Despite all that, there still were certain shortcomings during the creation process. There was an occasion when the rhythm got too monotonous; moreover, the transition between two different sections (the first one with atmospheric keyboard sounds, the second one with percussion sounds) was sometimes unclear.Furthermore, since I was still developing my skills as a performer of rhythmic music, at times, I felt insecure during the rehearsals.

However, despite all these difficulties, I believe that this assignment was extremely valuable for me from a learning perspective. First, it allowed me to transcend the boundaries of my normal performance style as a pianist and engage myself in some creative work with new techniques. Second, it made me understand that playing in an ensemble is about much more than just skills.Through engaging in rhythmic performances and the creation of beats, my knowledge regarding musical conception through group interactions was expanded. Going forward with my projects, I plan on using a combination of harmonic and rhythmic methods in order to develop into a better musician overall.

Interview

Interview – Jiahui Wang

Jiahui Wang: What was the biggest challenge during the project?
The biggest challenge for me was adapting from a classical piano background to playing in an ensemble with other musicians. It was my first time experiencing this kind of collaborative performance environment, so it felt very different from practising piano alone.

Previously, I was more familiar with following written scores and practising individually, which felt more comfortable and controlled. However, playing in an ensemble did not give me the same sense of security because I had to react to other musicians in real time.

I also had very little experience with improvisation, accompaniment, and harmonic playing, so improvising during rehearsals was difficult for me. At the same time, working with other musicians pushed me to improve these skills more quickly because ensemble rehearsals required faster musical responses and interaction.

Another challenge was communication, since English is not my first language. Sometimes it was difficult to clearly express my musical ideas during rehearsals.

Interview  – Dylan Chen

Q: What was the biggest challenge during the project?

 Dylan Chen: The biggest challenges were improvisation and communication. I struggled with improvisation because my music theory knowledge was not very strong. Communication was also difficult because English is not my first language.

Q: What was your creative role in the ensemble project?

 Dylan Chen: My role was rhythm guitar. I used rhythm, tone, and dynamic changes to support the overall atmosphere of the performance.

Q: How did you usually develop your musical ideas during rehearsals?

Dylan Chen: I usually developed my ideas by following the harmonic progression of the song. From there, I expanded my ideas through experimenting with guitar tone and rhythmic patterns.