Little Duckling reminds us of the waddling yellow fur balls that follow the mother duck to swim in the nearest pond. But I have a different view of the little ducklings, I have a past that some may call coincidence when it comes to the topic of little ducklings. Others may call it ‘coincidence’ but I call it ‘fate’.

Not many people know but this story as it happened when I was 9. It all began when I had to look for inspiration for a new song that I was composing. At that time, there wasn’t anything in my life that inspired me to create a song for it, I lacked inspiration.

This all happened during spring. In my neighbourhood, we would get visits from different animals. One day, my parents told me that they saw ducks and their adorable ducklings walking around the neighbourhood. I ran out to catch a quick glimpse of them but I wasn’t successful. There was another time when my parents said that there were ducks swimming in the swimming pool next door. I ran outside, again I saw nothing. Out of luck again! After five times of failed attempts to see the ducklings, I lost interest in seeing them.

My piano teacher asked me what story I wanted to tell in my song piece. I had to think of something on the spot because I didn’t come prepare (like always for any music classes). I suddenly came up with the idea of little ducklings walking by a ditch and accidently fell into a ditch. Based on this storyline, I wrote a song, titled as “Little Duckling”. This was how it all started, from a disappointment to a song. What’s really ironic is that I’ve never seen a little duckling before writing this song. I’ve just imagined what they would look like.

I completed my song when I was 9 or 10. The influences of this song on me were endless. This song was picked to perform in a festival. I performed it live in front of a live crowd, under the spotlight. This song was the top 5 self-composition song in Canada. (or maybe top 4. I don’t remember it, it’s too long ago.) This song was one of the songs to be chosen for a performance and a song competition in Japan. This song was performed in my school’s talent show. This song has it’s own CD. This song changed my life. This song gave me courage, imagination and life. It never gave up on me as it handed me many opportunities to explore music. Every time I listen to this song, it makes me reminisce the hours of excitement and the joy that song composition brings to me.

Every time I play this song to others, I feel extremely nervous because the goal of my song was to relay the image of a duckling. If the listeners can guess that it’s a song about ducklings, I immediately feel extremely accomplished. There are no words to describe the feeling when someone guesses it correctly. It helps build up confidence in my ability to compose songs. Thus, this shows the importance of ducklings in my life. I love “Little Ducklings”!