What keeps you from composing?

[Im Drew]

Not knowing what to do with my song usually makes me end up procrastinating, and that's why I'm here right now

[sameal]

in the beginning it was experience. then, as experience came it was lack of knowledge of the gear. as that came it was lack of money for the gear. as that came it was lack of space to put all the gear in, then when that finally came in, it was lack of wiring to connect and use all of that gear.

and now, finally as all of those planets have aligned,


it's repairing, wiring and maintaining all that shit that's keeping me from composition.

[ForWerd]

Halo

[sameal]

the seemingly whole worlds attitude towards musicians being worthless lazy drug addicts unless they are on the radio making a billion dollars only fuels my drive.

[dionysiananarchy]

endevers that take time and effort of the magnitude take a lot of time, energy, and dedication,,,,, no one is the same all the time, as Nietzsche said,

“The formula for my happiness: a Yes, a No, a straight line, a goal.”

basically, motivation, you feel the initial urge, and its fun,,,, but as things go on, and nothing happens, recognition or whatever, the passion wains, but at this time the effort needs to be redoubled, ignoring the naysayers the while time,,,, it seems like the passion comes and goes, but the way to really make things happen is to work thru the down times. maybe try new approaches, learn new skills, come back better then ever,,,, no one is on 100% of the time,

[Mike Reticuli]

That one is easy, cuz it keeps me from composing AGAIN AND AGAIN :

Women

[Mike Reticuli]

Originally Posted by crufty

dongles

[ozy]

Originally Posted by dionysiananarchy

i do life coaching

Interesting.

I coach ONE SINGLE task in the mornings [hitting a tank or a plane, avoid being hit]

and ONE SINGLE task in the afternoons [hitting a ball, avoind being struk out]

and it took me 37 years to learn the former, and 45 to learn the latter.

I have lived 54 years to the date, and I couldn't coach "life" , much less professionally.

How do you learn that?

[dionysiananarchy]

basically involves knowing the particular area better then the person you are talking to. Then, a ton of listening and giving pretty much common sense answers, coaching baseball is harder, no doubt.

[dionysiananarchy]

i didnt answer the last part, mostly I was self taught, lots of reading. Only area I work in is with woman, teaching them about how guys think, that didnt take much time to learn, as i am a guy, the other stuff is just pretty basic logic, which isnt very common.

[ozy]

Originally Posted by dionysiananarchy

I work with woman, teaching them about how guys think, that didnt take much time to learn, as i am a guy

Right. Being a guy, you know how guys think.

Originally Posted by dionysiananarchy

pretty basic logic, which isnt very common.

You are right, it's not.

[peter_martin]

Practice the days you eat. If your well enough to eat your well enough to practice, period.
Bach had 7 kids and still managed to get some work done.

If you watch tv for 15 minutes a day that's 15 minutes you should be doing something musical.
If you go out to a bar one eve, thats an evening gone.

Vacation for a week? Then you should have a 'staycation' and stay in and compose the entire time your off of work.

Even if its 'hey I'm going to program a cool bass patch tonight', ect.

At one point in my life I had 2 part time and a full time job and girlfriend. Still had and made time for music.

Music shouldn't be something that you 'should do' or something that you should be motivated to do, its something you should HAVE to do. How I feel about it honestly.

If your serious, thats the attitude to have, cuz you should realize it takes thousands of hours to be 'good', and a ton more on top of that to be 'great'. Thats what motivates me everyday.

Knowing I'm an inch closer on a 1000 mile journey, even if its just an inch.

Your either seriously obsessed about it or not. Know if your not this seriously, think of how you'd end up being 50 with a bunch of keyboards in your house and some half assed tracks you play to for friends from time to time.

Do you want to end up like that?

That could be another form of motivation.

[peter_martin]

Originally Posted by sameal

in the beginning it was experience. then, as experience came it was lack of knowledge of the gear. as that came it was lack of money for the gear. as that came it was lack of space to put all the gear in, then when that finally came in, it was lack of wiring to connect and use all of that gear.

and now, finally as all of those planets have aligned,


it's repairing, wiring and maintaining all that shit that's keeping me from composition.

LOL, kinda funny. People like that don't have passion for music, let alone composition.

Sounds like people like that only have a passion for musical TOYS, not tools to help achieve a musically competent result that moves peoples emotions.

I used to be that way then came to the conclusions of well does this rewiring session help the emotional capacity for my music. Does it help me get there quicker, and in a more coherent/better way than before.

Its all about does this push the capacity for emotional manipulation forward, or is it just jerking off with gear?

Its an honest assessment to have with every single gear purchase. If it falls in the latter, its not bought.
Amazing how much money one can save.

Even a vacation somewhere can help with getting a musically emotional result down the road.
Every action, every food you eat, or whatever it is you do should be the foundation to life to serve those musical statements.

[elan]

The problem in 2012 is everything is too related to making money and arts, music in that case, suffer because has nothing to do with making money

I'm not saying you can't making money with music or saying that people shouldn't make money with music, I'm saying that the pressure of making money with it, blocks most of us

In the past, musicians, did music for the sake of it

They did music to enjoy it with people and just for themselves

Art hates rules, borders, schemes, everything that in today society seems normal and it is a value, for music and arts isn't

In the past, the society was less predictable, things where more left to the case

That's why things like free radios, abusive concerts, and things like that, happened daily and people was all into them, today if you open a free radio you're closed after few hours by the police, if you try to make a concert in a country or I don't know, even in your house garden, and you don't have the permission, you go in jail...

Many things like that makes our times not prone to arts, music, and things like that

Art requires one thing, being honest with your audience and most importantly with yourself and we are corrupted while we are doing it, even before doing it, because we are thinking "ok, it has to be pop, cool, easy, but particular, catchy, so the people will remember it, otherwise radios will not play it, blogs will not review it, labels will not be interested...and I'll be a loser" and so on.....

What I'm saying is that people "should" (if they/we can) make music staying connected only with the song they are working and the inspiration they are living and do choices that only depends to these two things forgetting everything that's outside these two things.

Then, after having done it there is always time to correct stuff and if after having done an album in that way, people likes it and you sell thousand/millions of copies it is all gained and you've finally become an artist whose allowed to make music all day without having money problem or limitations and who has the society respect

Success, money, is a consequence.

Think about it, honestly, and tell me if that's not the reason, if you think it is not, then study a bit of story and you'll agree with me

[synthguy]

I'm one of those guys who does whatever the heck I want to, without any regard to what's on VH1 or popular these days. My bro is trying to twist my arm to do something commercial, which... eh, if I got a notion worth pursuing, I might.

But my main impediment is my damned gubmint job which is sucking my brain out my nose. Then there is the fact that I'm doing too much at once, fiction writing, painting or whatever, while wasting too much time trying to impress people on the intranets.

I basically need to knock some sense into my dumb self.

[ozy]

Originally Posted by elan

The problem in 2012 is everything is too related to making money and arts, music in that case, suffer because has nothing to do with making money

Fresh new idea.

2011 was indeed different in that regard.

And 2012, and 1944, and 1917, and 1816, and 1720, and 1492 and 1088, and 70, and 442 bc, and 5773 years ago.

[cuckoo.old]

Aliens from Zeta Reticuli.

Every time I sit down to compose, some stupid UFO abducts me and wants to give me an anal-log

[Lune]

Fresh new idea.

2011 was indeed different in that regard.

And 2012, and 1944, and 1917, and 1816, and 1720, and 1492 and 1088, and 70, and 442 bc, and 5773 years ago.

Your missing your true calling Ozy- stand up comedy- i don't always agree with your views but you're as funny as hell (and this is from someone who did stand up)- BTW what on earth is your avatar? Got a larger pix?

[elan]

Originally Posted by ozy

Fresh new idea.

2011 was indeed different in that regard.

And 2012, and 1944, and 1917, and 1816, and 1720, and 1492 and 1088, and 70, and 442 bc, and 5773 years ago.

Obviously I said 2012 meaning "today times" I could have said the last 30 years, but I think people is clever enough to understand that

And no, 2012 and 1944, 1917, 1816, 1720 etc, have nothing in common from that point of view

In the past there were the "Caffè" where intellectual, nobles, artists, people, meet to discuss about arts, poetry, music, etc, and the aim was find something worthing from a cultural point of view, something that with their ideas elevates the human being, and great art, or artists were people who had the brightest idea, or the most interesting way to represent something, were people who could see things from a different point of view that people hadn't considered before.. and so on.

Today if I look to what are called "independent or indies" bands on the net, I see bands much worst then many mainstream band, I see bands that have totally forgotten the reason and the impulse that made them start playing and they are worst then the worst manager that tries to sell albums using half-naked-cool-girls that sing oh-please-****-me-now

And I know they are not in that way intentionally, but they are part and victim of a mechanism because of that if you don't sell, you are no one

Please, tell me, Pink Floyd, Hendrix, John Lee Hooker, Led Zeppelin, and even Beatles and Rolling Stone, and many more, many more, do you think would be ever existed if they did what they did for money? I guarantee you they don't.

Leonardo, do you think would have ever did what he did if he did what he did only for money?

I mean, really? A guy who slept like 2 hours a day to have more time to finish his inventions and who hasn't ever cared about selling them because it would have been like giving away a part of his own, probably one of the smartest people of all the time, and he never had a proper job that let him live without economic problems

Again, not saying that an artist should be poor, I'm saying that often an artist is poor because is too busy in making his art that he forget he has eat

[the donal]

Originally Posted by cuckoo.old

Aliens from Zeta Reticuli.

Every time I sit down to compose, some stupid UFO abducts me and wants to give me an anal-log

"That's not our system..."

[macmurphy]

Originally Posted by Ossicle

+ 1

that too... and Dishonored.

[ozy]

Originally Posted by elan

In the past there were the "Caffè" where intellectual, nobles, artists, people,

RICH people met in the Cafes! And only them.

"People with money" were intellectuals at the time of Enlightenment cafes, and nobody else.

Get back to your history books and check again.

The more you go back in time, the more this is true.

The "indie" kind of people in 1700 were... well... dead by starvation. neither rich nor willing to work in the countryside, they just disappeared.

OR they were protected by rich people because of their talent.

OR, of course, they were "folk" artists - who played after 12/14 hours spent tending cattle.

Money has been necessary for art production since Adam and Eve.

[laikenf]

Lately I've been doing some sculpting: https://picasaweb.google.com/1139494...SignalFromOgas, it's a little narrative I've been working on, I'm even considering putting up a little exhibition once I have enough pieces to show off... Being broke is a distraction too ...

[Polarelch]

Great thread.
When I was younger, ideas came like breathing in / breathing out, but it might not have to do with age, but with a different time without internet etc.
Also, back then, there was less music in the streets, shops, around every corner.
You can't really compose in the city anymore, because of all the music being played, and when you have a lot of errands to do, be it with or without job, with or without family, then there is not much time and energy left to compose.

Under the line though, my answer is:
The internet.

[elan]

Originally Posted by ozy

RICH people met in the Cafes! And only them.

"People with money" were intellectuals at the time of Enlightenment cafes, and nobody else.

Get back to your history books and check again.

The more you go back in time, the more this is true.

Yep, I agree with that, not totally because actually there were also artists which usually were poor or not settled

What all my posts were about is the fact that those rich people, nobles (which weren't all rich, actually many of them were broke) were interested in arts, culture, philosophy, music, for the sake of it, considering it an elevation of the human being intellectual ability that leads to excellence

They didn't finance most of the important arts heritage we have with the exclusive intent of making money with it (still there wasn't a mass production market) and artists weren't influenced by that while making these decisions, they were more influenced by gaining reputation from some of the brightest mind out there, so they took patience to make some of the finests piece of art we know to elevate themselves and to elevate the people who read/watched/listened their art, gaining success because of that

In short, gaining success because they did their job

The book Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde talks about that, about the ineluctable uselessness of the art, because it isn't a product, because it cannot be replicated (and didn't intended copy of it, but that everything is unique, which is quite revealing in an age of clones, specially considering it said that long time ago when they probably couldn't even imagine what the arts market would have become, but still he was right)

OR they were protected by rich people because of their talent.

That's what I'm talking about, because of their talent, because of their ability, because of their art, because they had something to say, not because of their boobs because that gives you a percentage of people not interested to music buy that album because they like their boobs and how much they are cool

Hey, I love boobs and I'm for sex all the time, but what does it has to do with music and stuff like that? Nothing

Money has been necessary for art production since Adam and Eve.

Yep, but it wasn't the mean, today is and that made music become something else, losing its original value and people is not that interested anymore because it isn't something essential to their life, because it doesn't communicate to them as they did and people interested in music actually continues listening to the old stuff, even at school (here I'm not talking about the MTV lobotomized ones obviously)

That's the reason of piracy and so on (also some others, but that's the antropological reason)