Can you believe it? I’m going to start making my own music!
Back in 2018, my son and I became huge Alan Walker fans. This Norwegian DJ created the most awesome music. The beats had such a great vibe and I was loving the songs he was producing. ‘Faded‘ was the first song we fell in love with, but since then Alan Walker released several other singles that topped it.
We used to spend hours watching his music videos and as we learned more about him, we became inspired to get into music. My son even dreamed about becoming a DJ just like Alan Walker. So I thought, why not get him a DJ set so he can try it for himself.
I bought my son a beginner’s DJ set for Christmas that year and together we learned how to fade songs, mix tracks, and put on a dance party. At that time, my son already started piano lessons with Matthew, so he was coming over every Thursday. I told Matthew about the DJ set and he was excited for us. We even got a few mini lessons from Matthew and then off we went to test things out.
The DJ set came with Serato DJ Lite, an interface used to select tracks to mix. It was pretty easy to use, but being able to transition between songs smoothly was something that required lots of practice. My son is still much better at DJing than I am, but I’m glad to at least know the basics.
After some time, we thought about creating our own music together, so I got a cable that allowed me to connect our keyboard to my laptop. I also got Ableton Live 10 Lite and started to play around with it. Admittedly, my son gave up faster than I did. Unfortunately, the interface wasn’t very user friendly and I struggled to get going on music creation. Since we both don’t have a strong music background, a lot of the buttons didn’t make sense to us and our attempts to create songs turned out pretty bad. I decided to take a break from it since we weren’t making any progress. Then, time passed and I forgot about the whole ordeal.
Suddenly last month, I had a brilliant idea that involved music for a future release. This sudden 3 a.m. spark of inspiration motivated me to try creating music again. This time around, I did a lot of research and asked around to see what I should get to make things easier this time around. I ended up getting the Akai MPK Mini 25-keys midi and it came in the mail today. It’s so exciting to have my own midi now! Woohoo!
I know I’m going to struggle (just like last time) and probably have no clue again how to use it. But, hopefully, with some help from YouTube and my new circle of musical friends, I can figure it out this time around.
My self-publishing experience has taught me that it’s okay to struggle, get stuck, take a break, and get frustrated. But, it’s what we do when that happens that matters most.
Apart from creating my own music, I’ve decided to resume playing the piano. Relearn myself and get those rusty fingers flowing again on the keyboard. I think it’ll also be good for my son to see me play. Perhaps it will encourage him to practice more if he sees that I’m doing it too.
I played piano for over 12 years, but stopped in university to focus on my studies. Looking back, I wished I didn’t stop because I really did enjoy the music. I had the most fun on the piano, learning new songs from my favourite movies and TV shows. My sheet music used to be either classical or Disney songs, but the song that stands out most in my memories was Pachelbel Canon and Tarzan’s ‘You’ll be in my heart.’ My goal is to learn ‘Faded‘ since I hear my son play it all the time now. With time, maybe these rusty fingers can get going again. Only time will tell and a lot of practice.