I think music can be used to express people’s emotions. When I am happy, I would like to listen to some cheerful songs. When I am sad, I will choose to listen to some sad songs with a slower melody. When I relax, I want to sing a song. The melody and the lyrics of the music can reflect someone’s emotion. In addition, different music can bring many feelings and understandings to different audiences.

For my course assignment, I need to perform and record a song. I choose a Chinese song called Dao Xiang. The composer, lyricist, and singer of this song are the same person named Jay Chou. This song is about the author’s childhood experience. The author mentioned in the interview that this song was created because of the earthquake in Wenchuan, China. He wanted to encourage people to live hard and not to give up easily. This song has a great significance to me because it encourages me to overcome difficulties and live bravely.

I was born in China and spent my youth time in China. Most of my family and friends are in China. Once, I got a chance to come to the United States and start a new life. The expectations before I came to the United States turned into not adaptable by real life. I feel helpless and collapsed for my new life. At that time, I really wanted to back to China but I could not. I comforted myself by saying that not everyone has the opportunity to leave the place and start a new life. Many people want to get this opportunity, but they do not. As a result, I cannot easily give up this opportunity. If I give up easily without trying, I will regret it more in the future. It is difficult for anyone to adapt to a new situation. I should work hard for it instead of giving up.

I never thought that I will perform singing to audiences. I am afraid that other people will judge my singing, also afraid of being laughed at. I am an introverted person, and I will feel uncomfortable in a crowded place. When I feel nervous, my heart beats faster and my hands tremble. I have no confidence in my singing because I think my voice is not good. I have not received any vocal training, and my intonation is bad. I need to overcome my fear and perform the song Dao Xiang. These days, I have been listening to this song repeatedly to get to know it well with its melody and lyrics. When I was alone at home, I hummed with the melody. One afternoon, while my roommate went out, I set up my phone to record the video that I perform this song. I thought it is better to record it when I am the only one at home because my roommate will not hear my singing. In my opinion, recording a video should be much better than singing to the audience in the way face to face. I should be recording it perfectly at once. However, I guessed wrong obviously. When the first time I finished it and I look back at the video. I found that the background music was too loud and my voice was weak, I cannot hear my singing. Also, my eyes did not find a focus point during the first time. Then I turned down the background music and recorded it again. I let my eyes watch the lyrics while I am singing. However, when I watched the record, I found that my voice was trembling and I thought my voice is really bad. To be honest, I really wanted to give up at this time because I thought I am not suitable for singing. However, suddenly, I remembered the professor said that there is no distinction between good or bad sound, it is a characteristic of a person. That is right, nobody will judge my voice because my voice is my characteristic. I need to overcome the barrier from myself. Only I would think that my voice is bad. Therefore, I chose to take a break and relax, then record it again. I encouraged myself and said that I can sing it well! When the third time I recorded it, I think of my family and my friends. I remembered that whenever I encountered difficulties, they encouraged me and accompanied me to move on. Although there are still some imperfections in the third time of the video, I could obviously feel more relaxed than the previous two recordings. When I finished this video, it was already dark outside. Anyway, I overcame my fear! I was succeeded!

It is not easy to challenge difficulties. We need the courage to face difficulties, and we need to overcome our fears. However, we can learn a lot of truth through the process of challenge. When we are successful to overcome difficulties, that great sense of accomplishment is amazing and irreplaceable. The most beautiful scenery is always after climbing over the mountains.