By elmacaco
Wed Nov 17, 2004 10:22 am
Saw this on another list.
"Though I write and produce more in the pop/rock areas, here are a few
simple ideas that seem to help (provided I can remember them) when I
find myself in a rut:
1) Try playing/recording at a different tempo than you're used to. I
find that I naturally gravitate to 120-128BPM, so I have to think about
"what would happen if I sped this song up or slowed it down and tried a
double-time beat?"
2) Along the same lines, try recording in a different time signature
than usual, even if it's only 3/4 or 6/8
3) I often find myself toying around with sounds/sound design and
finding musical inspiration in the sound creation process. Still this
can bog me down, so sometimes I'll just record something quickly to
capture a musical idea, then try playing it back (if it's MIDI) or
re-recording it later (if live) using a different instrument or sound.
Get down what you can, when you can, be it sounds or parts -- try not to
lose momentum.
4) Start a piece, then leave it alone for a while and come back to it.
My musical listening tastes run in unpredictable cycles, but I do get in
cycles nonetheless. What you're listening to can and usually does
affect your writing.
5) As someone else said, pay attention to instrumentation and
study/listen up if need be. For those of us that are chord-minded, we
have to remember the power of voicing even a simple chord across
multiple instruments or different timbres. Listening to Bill Frisell
(who is more than a jazz guitarist, but that's the most readily
understandable title) helped me understand the power in instrumentation.
Similarly, studying Tony Banks' chord structures was truly illuminating
for me at one time.
6) One more approach which may sound silly, but which I find it useful
nonetheless (especially when collaborating with others): try to define
what you like about your favorite songs and sounds in a minimum of three
highly descriptive adjectives. You may find that it's easier to think
about and express what you're looking to achieve if you have a creative,
colorful vocabulary to match your musical tastes.
And, sorry for the pep talk, but be honest with yourself. I find that
what I write well is not always what I want to write or set out to
write, but it is my natural style and it's nothing to be ashamed of.
Most artists are their own worst critics. Remember that our minds are
like a blenders -- we can feed them all kinds of things, but we can
never be sure what's going to come out. Hone *your* craft and learn to
embrace *your* strengths. True artistic originality is not easy to come
by (and it's even more rare to be able to come by repeatedly), but
that's not the only measure of musical success. If you can do something
that's been done before, but do it very well with your own small twist,
that's still pushing the envelope IMO.
-Synth80s (who usually forgets to take his own advice)"
"Though I write and produce more in the pop/rock areas, here are a few
simple ideas that seem to help (provided I can remember them) when I
find myself in a rut:
1) Try playing/recording at a different tempo than you're used to. I
find that I naturally gravitate to 120-128BPM, so I have to think about
"what would happen if I sped this song up or slowed it down and tried a
double-time beat?"
2) Along the same lines, try recording in a different time signature
than usual, even if it's only 3/4 or 6/8
3) I often find myself toying around with sounds/sound design and
finding musical inspiration in the sound creation process. Still this
can bog me down, so sometimes I'll just record something quickly to
capture a musical idea, then try playing it back (if it's MIDI) or
re-recording it later (if live) using a different instrument or sound.
Get down what you can, when you can, be it sounds or parts -- try not to
lose momentum.
4) Start a piece, then leave it alone for a while and come back to it.
My musical listening tastes run in unpredictable cycles, but I do get in
cycles nonetheless. What you're listening to can and usually does
affect your writing.
5) As someone else said, pay attention to instrumentation and
study/listen up if need be. For those of us that are chord-minded, we
have to remember the power of voicing even a simple chord across
multiple instruments or different timbres. Listening to Bill Frisell
(who is more than a jazz guitarist, but that's the most readily
understandable title) helped me understand the power in instrumentation.
Similarly, studying Tony Banks' chord structures was truly illuminating
for me at one time.
6) One more approach which may sound silly, but which I find it useful
nonetheless (especially when collaborating with others): try to define
what you like about your favorite songs and sounds in a minimum of three
highly descriptive adjectives. You may find that it's easier to think
about and express what you're looking to achieve if you have a creative,
colorful vocabulary to match your musical tastes.
And, sorry for the pep talk, but be honest with yourself. I find that
what I write well is not always what I want to write or set out to
write, but it is my natural style and it's nothing to be ashamed of.
Most artists are their own worst critics. Remember that our minds are
like a blenders -- we can feed them all kinds of things, but we can
never be sure what's going to come out. Hone *your* craft and learn to
embrace *your* strengths. True artistic originality is not easy to come
by (and it's even more rare to be able to come by repeatedly), but
that's not the only measure of musical success. If you can do something
that's been done before, but do it very well with your own small twist,
that's still pushing the envelope IMO.
-Synth80s (who usually forgets to take his own advice)"
