Thread September 15, 2012 editorial: comments

Dear Fellow Audiofanziners!

On the subject of music composition much has been said, but I am more interested in the small original spark that begins the chain reaction onto which a whole song structure is then dressed, and, eventually all the layers, instruments and technical aspects are added to. 

Most people I know either have notebooks of poems (lyrics) just waiting for the right melody line to transform them into a song, or have a melody in their head that they just can’t shake, which eventually becomes a song.  Many musicians have no shortage of song ideas in the assembly line waiting to be born…. It is just a question of time.  Yet, as scary as it sounds, one day, almost every song writer will feel a blank- lack of inspiration and total writer’s block.  Try harder and it becomes even worse- forced creation which sounds hollow.  So what do you do?  In this situation, one should just not attempt to make any music and instead do these two things:

• Go out and experience other music.  Go to concerts, clubs, and festivals- especially those featuring the type of music you will never in your life listen to.  And I do mean ‘go out’ do not surf on youtube or soundcloud.   It is not the same.
• Buy yourself some life experience.  Why is it normally that a band’s first record is a lot more popular and successful than follow ups? It’s because the first record took 10 years to write, embodying all those life experiences, while the second was pushed out 2 years later.  So it’s the same, life experiences, good and bad provide the spark for all creation.  It is from this pool of content- your life, that you draw inspiration to create.  Once this pool is exhausted, meaning you stop having new experiences (because say you’ve been in a recording studio for the past year), it is normal that you will not have much to write on.

You might laugh and say why do I say “buy life experience”?   Sounds like a video game.  I say this because we have become very sedentary, experiencing life online for free.   This is not true physical life experience, quality one that will create inspiration.  And unfortunately, the moment you step out the door to do anything, it costs money.

Chater-La