Top Nav Breadcrumb

MYP student raises awareness about the visually impaired

Middle Years Programme (MYP) student, Kieran Hozack from Canadian International School―Lakeside, Singapore shares the inspiration behind the musical composition he created for his MYP personal project and how he plans to continue raising awareness and funds for the visually impaired even after he graduates from the MYP.

Middle Years Programme (MYP) student Kieran Hozack in his studio.

For his personal project, Kieran Hozack set out to use sound to convey how a combination of common things can come together to make something greater, extraordinary, and beautiful while also eliciting a sense of self-reflection within the listener.

With this in mind, he created a musical composition from the common sounds throughout his community. He travelled around Singapore and recorded an array of sounds, ranging from the sound of a bike cog to the flicking of a stop sign, and sounds of cars passing to the sound of water dropping in a glass. The song he composed, “The Black Box Song”, is a compilation of commonly heard sounds of Singapore that have been brought together through processing, editing, composition, and production, to produce a song that acts as a medium to transport a listener to a state of self-reflection.

“I have titled this song, ‘The Black Box Song’, as this song is most appreciated when eliminating all other senses,” says Kieran.

Hear from Kieran as he shares in greater detail about his personal project and have a listen to the unique song he composed.

*Note: The screen goes black during the duration of the song as the aim is to raise awareness of how a blind person would experience the song. 

John Kernis, Vice Principal of the secondary school said: ‘‘Kieran’s project succeeded because of a stellar recipe: He constantly reflected on his passion and interest, stirred by enthusiasm to learn more about new forms of music and mixing, sandwiched in between a robust work ethic and an adventurous, creative disposition, and sprinkled with independence and drive to push the limits of the project’’

Kieran also has plans to continue with this newfound endeavour throughout the Diploma Programme (DP), where he will create a concert featuring additional songs composed of the sounds of Singapore to raise awareness and funds for the visually impaired.

The IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) will host a new community event of student learning through our IB network which can be enjoyed by everyone. Schools are invited to share their MYP community projects and MYP personal projects digitally on our IB website to showcase creativity. Compile your community projects and/or personal projects into a clip or compilation and tag it with #MYPX2020 to share your work!

If you enjoyed this story, consider reading more below: