Inspiration comes from odd places
Every musician and songwriter surely lacks inspiration at one time or another. It doesn’t happen to me often and the times it does it’s usually because my mind is too occupied with something other than music. Let’s have a look at the one tip you’re sure to get when you have a writer’s block… And lets twist it a bit to!
Today I got inspiration from something as weird as an old computer game (I’m talking really old here – the 80’s man!). I didn’t even play it, I just stumbled upon a clip of it on Youtube. What got to me was a) the superb soundtrack it had, especially for the day – can’t be easy making compositions with a SID chip, and b) it was composed completely different from other styles of music I’m listening to at the moment. I went straight to my Nord Lead and started playing.
Another time I was watching some TV show where a really cool, slightly psychedelic song started playing (I later looked it up and found out it was a Primal Scream tune). I thought it was really good, and again, kind of far away from what I was listening to at the moment. I started playing right away.
What can we learn from this? I don’t even have to say it, do I? In every list of tips for getting over writer’s blocks I’ve seen “listen to music you don’t normally listen to” is featured. So I’ll say it again:
Listen to music you don’t normally listen to.
But lets go a little deeper with this. While these two examples strengthened the argument for the above statement, neither of them are isolated to being just music.
- In case number one – the video game – there’s a possibility that nostalgic feelings were involved. I played this game when I was a kid and loved it.
- In case number two – the TV show – there were more than just music too. In fact, I distinctly remember how I was caught up in the visual that was going on as well. There’s a possibility I wouldn’t have liked the song nearly as much if I hadn’t seen it in that context when I first heard it.
Why do I complicate such a simple formula as “listen to music you don’t normally listen to”? Because I can of course. And just listening to other music won’t necessarily do anything good. For instance, if I listen to some MTV hiphop/pop or whatever I’ll probably just be bored, in worst case maybe even irritated because I don’t care for these styles.
Therefore, let me suggest trying something else the next time you get a writer’s block:
Listen to some music you liked when you were a kid but haven’t listened to in years.
Some interesting feelings are bound to boil up from that.
I’m drawn to music which initially confounds or confuses me. I actively seek out the pleasure of that confusion. Inevitably, as I get more familiar with the music, the confusion clears up, like a dissonant chord resolving to C major. But I try to remember the first feeling, of, “what the f***’s going on here?”
Some music that did that for me: Balinese Gamelan music, Public Enemy’s “It Takes A Nation Of Millions…”, the Rite Of Spring, some early Rave stuff, My Bloody Valentine…
By Guy Sigsworth ~ September 4, 2008 kl 6:55 am
Well, start off here:
http://closetcurios2.blogspot.com/
I myself find a lot of inspiration from other disciplines.
-Graphic design (I try to translate Graphic Design Cookbooks’ into aural ideas)
-Film (The Directors on Ovation TV is my current fave in this area)
-Actors Studio (with good old James Lipton)
-Modern Art theory, Literature (Critical Theory), modern philosophy, information theory (see McLuhan link below), and general current scientific discoveries all hold possibility for systems, structures, sound design direction, and overall ‘narrative’ ideas or simply ‘distraction’ to allow the subconscious to work out problems.
-Sometimes, just a good short story makes a good song idea.
-Or some basic ‘cut & paste’ at the conceptual level:
http://www.soniccouture.com/pages/genreStim2.shtml
The best way ‘in’ is to ask ‘What If’?
Of course, there are the ‘classic’s too:
http://www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/
http://www.creativethink.com/
http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2007/12/21/understanding_new_media_marshall_mcluhan.htm
By Loopy C ~ September 4, 2008 kl 5:40 pm
Great tips Stiff….I had writers block for 3 years once….well it was partly writers block and partly working in a full on job.
By Leadfinger ~ September 4, 2008 kl 10:55 pm
“Nation Of Millions…” forever!
- c
By Chad ~ September 5, 2008 kl 12:11 am
Good tips Loopy. Will have to check those out!
Guy: I’ve never thought of it like that, but I think I’m the same way sometimes. Other times I’m a 50% whore, meaning I like things that are “the same but different” (there’s a zen nut to crack right there!).
Leadfinger: “it was partly writers block and partly working in a full on job.”
That’s what jobs does to you. Never get one
By stiff ~ September 7, 2008 kl 12:43 pm