I, like all creatives, fall victim to “The resistance”, as I talked about in this post. Part of that resistance comes from the several times I have suffered from a creative block. As a Composer, I ideally imagine always being able to go into my studio or sit down at my desk and just create something every day, and have a bunch of music created on a consistent basis. But that’s not always the case.
I regularly sit at my desk, or in my studio at school during my undergrad, my office at home, open my logic screen, and stare blankly…..
No idea where I’m going, no ideas are flowing, I can’t figure out what sounds to use. Any ideas that do come up are disjointed or short and not necessarily useful, or just plain bad if I’m being honest.
And it’s a common and frustrating feeling. I WANT to create something. I feel the pull to make SOMETHING. But there’s nothing
This leads me to the question of: What happens then? How do I stay consistent when I have nothing for output?
I was asking myself that question a lot.
Here are some of the strategies I’ve been using:
- Timer: Like I talked about with Storm Call, I’ll set a timer for a short amount of time and let the pressure of that create something before the time is up, and then even if I don’t like it, I’ve created something. And oftentimes the idea can be used for other ideas or ends up being a song itself.
- Sketch/Make it Smaller: I commit to anywhere from 2-10 minutes of working. Or only 8-16 measures of music. When I finish that, it usually ends up with building momentum and creating something a little more significant
- Making the ritual: All of these strategies are pretty common, and this one is no different. I commit to a ritual or routine to at least go into my work station and try to make something consistently.
- Edit old ideas: Sometimes me going to my office and just taking out old ideas to edit gives me inspiration
- Inspiration Searching: In language learning there is a common theme of looking for input of the language you’re learning to get used to the sound and the accent that you want to learn. I consider the same thing when it comes to my muisc, sometimes I will learn and analyze music to look for inspiration. Sometimes even recreating them
All these strategies are ones I came up with while thinking of and composing the Final track on Bad with TItles II, Stuck. Stuck is very similar to the original song “Bad with Titles”, production-wise it’s hip-hop, Orchestral, Jazz inspired solos. I’m very proud of the track and very proud to be releasing it.