
Throughout my CAS project, I have been working with my group to create a climate change related song to spread awareness. Since Climate change is such an important issue to talk about to save the environment from damage, I found it important to be included in bringing about change due to my eco-consciousness.
In my research and collaboration with the group, I have covered all learning outcomes so far. I have learned how to identify my strengths which lie in things like writing meaningful lyrics and singing, and my weaknesses such as adhering to a rhythm scheme throughout. I have faced challenges with these weaknesses but have been able to overcome them to a large extent by seeking the help of a professional writer and poet, as well as researching. This has shown my ability to plan and initiate this experience as I am solely responsible for creating the lyrics of this song as well as singing it. Through working collaboratively, I have learned the scope of my responsibility toward the group and have understood the thinking processes of my group members to be able to create a song that we can all agree on. For example, a part of the composition that my group members created was vastly different in sound than the other parts of the song. Their thinking was that the lyrics about the negative effects of climate change should be placed in that portion of the song, therefore, I created the lyrics accordingly. Since climate change is experienced around the globe and is an extremely important issue to spread awareness about, I have shown global engagement as well. I created lyrics that people could relate to in experiencing climate change in the areas they live in. For example, the greenhouse effect and deforestation. Here, I also engaged with my subject ‘Environmental Systems and Societies’ (ESS) as a student studying about climate change in great detail. Since climate change is debated to a large extent, I realised the importance of writing lyrics that are sensitive yet firm. I have learned about my responsibility in spreading awareness in a respectful manner, considering the ethics of the choices I make.
All of these Learning Outcomes have guided my approach to writing the lyrics of this song and I have been able to learn a lot from my research as well. My first idea was to make the song more relatable than informative, however, I decided to use a mix of both approaches to appeal to the audience as well as tell them facts about what is happening around them. The song carries a lot of weight in that it needs to be written responsibly with well researched and accurate facts. If these criteria are not met, we as a group would not have done well in spreading awareness through the song. I am also responsible for singing the song; however, the incomplete composition has restricted me from creating a melody. From my previous experiences from my studying music at my school as well as my personal project in MYP5, I have learned how to accommodate a melody with a composition as well as how to include harmonies. Therefore, I am confident that I will be able to do justice to the song on my part.

My group and I have been working collaboratively toward the same goal and have similar intentions for the audience. Therefore, our teamwork is very good, and we can share our experiences with each other and receive feedback for them. I have been learning a lot from my personal research and have been sharing my findings with the group as often as I can. Those who composed the song have also been guiding me about what structure I should follow for the writing of the lyrics, and I have been able to use their feedback effectively. So far, we have reached our CAS Project goal alongside being quite proud of our work and gaining personal experience in each of our individually led activities.
by Anoushka DP2