Ryan - it sounds at least partly auto-ethnographical to me. If the narrative (which will need to be written - otherwise where is the translatory data?) is based purely on your experience alone then it would be. It's the fact that you then 'progress' to a further output that muddies the water. Is the creation of your own music just a byproduct - or is it an intended additional methodological phase from the first phase? Musical analysis is not my thing - but it sounds like you are looking to adopt a multi-method format. That can be the problem with 'creative/arts-based studies; it's not all black and white - nor qualitative/quantitative. From a mixed-methods perspective - the auto-ethnography could be the first phase of a mixed methods approach. Then you would have to decide what to do quantitatively with your own music output i.e. some rating/survey-type approach related to a sample audience.

It sounds like part of your research is auto-ethnographic, in that you are contextualizing your experiences when listening to this music. It would be worth looking at some of the theory of it. It appears to me that you are using a mix of methodologies, both auto-ethnographic, and analytical.

Dear Ryan Coulburn