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Richard Scotti
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3/24/2011 10:22:47 PM
---- Updated 3/24/2011 10:26:21 PM
Writer's block
What do you do when you have writer's block?
a) leave it alone for a while and come back with a fresh perspective.
b) Work harder and delve deeper into the music, no matter how futile it seems.
c) Go back and try to update older songs or try to improve them.
d) Experiment with different genres.
e) Use different instruments.
f) just keep writing until you break the curse.
g) none of the above
h) all of the above
i) OTHER______________ (explain)
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Chandra Moon
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3/25/2011 2:30:57 AM
I do something called "morning pages" from a brilliant book called the Artists Way by Julia Cameron.
You write a few pages every morning even if it's drivel just straight from the pen long hand without even thinking about anyone reading it ever again.
It clears the brain, gets at least pen to paper and sometimes leads to something creative and makes you feel you've achieved something!
I'm in the middle of a new song after a really long "block" - it's discouraging but you'll get through it!
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Hop On Pop
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3/25/2011 5:42:47 AM
It's been 3 years since I've written a complete song. I think I may be breaking through.
Chandra's advice is good: just write. Even if you think it sucks, at least it's something, and you keep the juices flowing.
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Bob Rylett
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3/25/2011 6:01:16 AM
---- Updated 3/27/2011 8:56:12 PM
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Bryon Tosoff
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3/25/2011 6:33:25 AM
---- Updated 3/25/2011 6:34:20 AM
I dont ever get writers block, all my songs are total inspiration.well for the most part,
and I think that is because I dont write lyrics. so that is why my music is different from most musicians, mine is instrumental, but there are times when something of a songcrafting lyrical nature happens and I sit down and just do it and it develops, but like I have said before, that is not my strong suit so I go with what I know I am good at
For me, it is an idea, when the time is right, songs just happen. I get into some kind of cosmic groove and will go in binges, then like a switch, it turns off for awhile as I turn my interests to other aspects of my life, but when I walk into my little studio and sit down at the piano, noodle around,a song usually comes. that is a instrumental composition.
So I dont try to write a song never have forced myself, to sit down and come up with a song, a composition, not my style, and it does not reflect my spirit one iota, to sit down like i am at school and have an assignment today to do so, it probably be good for me to do that though, but I know it would be contrived and not based upon inspiration, which I rely wholly upon, for me a song writes itself, cause ultimately it aint mine anyways.....I consider myself of vehicle a conduit of sorts in which the universe is using. I believe in the cosmic and mystical wonders of this universe and world.
So in short, for me , it is all about being in the moment, that magical something that just happens
here is a thought..just came
The spirit world might be something that I might be connected to more then I know and you too. for some, this would be something they would not like to admit and or acknowledge , but there was a world of sorts before we ever stepped foot on this earth as human beings, so all that evidences is all around us, and honestly i think there is a spiritual essence that still lives from times past....
sounds scary eh......but for you and me, be in the light, shining bright, and fear not.cause you are shining lights in a sometimes dark world. let your music shine, shine bright my friends
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Bob Rylett
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3/25/2011 6:41:41 AM
---- Updated 3/27/2011 8:56:22 PM
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Bryon Tosoff
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3/25/2011 7:00:53 AM
Hey bob, guess I am wired different. I wouldnt say one of a kind though, I just will not try to force myself to do something that is not natural, I rely on inspiration Bob, there are many others like me i am sure, what I was trying to get at, with song crafting, that is music and lyrics, that is a whole different kettle of fish, its harder, to write lyrics then it is to write an instrumental , there are more components involved, marrying, dovetailing many elements that fit together like a piece of furniture. I might just put a song away, if i am doing something, but come back to it, but i dont consider that writers block. I think if someone has that, then do something else, take a break. to me , it should just flow, then one will refine it later, like I would say 90 percent of my songs come almost right away, like i am so happy, it took some time to get the parts down, but i sat down , and it happened
Sometimes i think musicians get caught up in the fact they are just that and nothing else and they have to write, but then I dont know much about the process I guess, my whole being is built upon spontaneity and inspiration
I am connected to more then just playing music,. music is not my whole life. that is in the sense of playing, writing recording, I teach, that is the majority of my music life, and sometimes write songs, but it comes under inspiration.
I like gardening, admiring the beauty of nature, now that is amazing, the beauty of the rain, the wind the clouds, the birds , I admire that, and draw my inspiration from that process, not within me and my own mind,. what i try to do is capture the natural elements of life and let then flow though me in song
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
HOLDING TO THE DREAM SOME OF MY THOUGHTS
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Holding to the Dream;
My songs are but a reflection of me,they are a mirror into my soul,a compilation of my years on this planet.I am but a sojourner here on this earth trying to walk the walk.My spirit though is caught between time and space and this flesh my spirit lives in,well it is just a temporary fabric. We are all but visitors to this planet, we are like a flash of lightning , like the misty breath of the buffalo on winters day,we are here for a short time.then gone like a puff of smoke, So change the world the best you can in doing good things,serving mankind.
bryon
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Bob Rylett
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3/25/2011 7:04:49 AM
---- Updated 3/27/2011 8:56:34 PM
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Bob Rylett
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3/25/2011 7:10:08 AM
---- Updated 3/27/2011 8:56:45 PM
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Bryon Tosoff
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3/25/2011 7:15:24 AM
I totally get what you are saying Bob in your thoughts to Rich and Tom who ae prolific songsters, and as you do, i do as well, I do a whole lot of listening, to songs here at iacmusic, and reverbnation,, many hours a day, probably too much some times, but will listen multiple times to a song as you do. but for me, in the songcrafting element, well that is difrferent from song writing an instrumental piece. I give kudos to those who have such a talent, or more effectively put, developed a skill from the natural gift and talent they have been given
that is what I dont do though is write lyrics, aint my strong suit like I said, and as for the writers block, I just dont believe in that type of thing.. it is a mans way of saying, I give up, or this is frustrating, or I just cant do this, maybe I have had writers block. but I dont operate the way most of you do, i quite frankly I dont think I am the first and only human being in all of mankinds walk on the face of the earth to never had that induced element, writers block, what the hell is it anyways, something like a concussion : )
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Bryon Tosoff
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3/25/2011 7:21:57 AM
its all good Bob, I know all about prepping up for writing for giving speeches , i was involved with toastmasters club for years, and did a lot of public speaking, and presentations at other places for music seminars, so i know a lot about writing, but not music crafting. lyrics, like i said many times here, that aint my strong suit, and I admit,. songcrafting i know is a tough challenge, getting the right thought or piece to make it fit all together is sometimes a pain. so maybe writers brain cramp.
all good man. writers block sounds fine to me.....I guess it is getting stuck in the mud kinda, or snow. finding ways to get unstuck, so that i see....makes sense
bt
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Bryon Tosoff
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3/25/2011 7:30:07 AM
---- Updated 3/25/2011 10:47:10 AM
On Writers Block
if I get writers block this is what i do
I grab my gun, a stick, a cane or something, and I usually take the piece of crap outside and shoot it ,beat it ,stomp on it, kick it, swear at it, then bury it in the ground and put up a sign, do not resurrect
for more information on writers block and the various things that can cause it or contribute to it go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writer%27s_block
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Bob Rylett
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3/26/2011 1:29:56 PM
---- Updated 3/27/2011 8:56:57 PM
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Stoneman
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3/26/2011 3:20:26 PM
I seldom have writers block but when there is nothing gnawing at me creatively, I tend to listen to previously unfinished ideas and see if they are worth further attention. Another thing I like to do is switch instruments. If I have been playing keyboards for a while I will switch to guitar or maybe even feel around the sonic scape with a horn. Ideas come from many musical stimulants. Then there are those days that I will just sit down and write a lyric and try to see what that feels like on an instrument. I carry a hand recorder with me everywhere I go. I have one in the car, in the bathroom, kitchen and even on my patio. Sometimes I am driving and a bass line starts to run through my head. I grab the recorder and hum that bass line. As I hum the bass line I can begin to hear the other parts. Drums, guitar, keys, etc. Stop, record, stop, record is what I do until I have hummed a small section of each instrument part into the recorder. I even have a recorder in my shower because for some strange reason I often start hearing melodies while I shower. I just reach up and click record for a few minutes until I have hummed the parts I hear.
Then, once I have time to sit down and assemble the actual tracks in my studio, I rewind the recorder all the way to the beginning and begin to assemble each part into song form. Usually I start with the drums and bass lines. Sometimes I start with the vocal hook and then build the music parts around it. I like to refer back to the hand recorder in order to make sure that I am ad hearing (pun intended) to the original idea I had. I also like to audition several variations of the song in regards to instruments used. You know? Like, playing the guitar line on keys and the bass line with one of my horns. This causes all kinds of weird contrasts and may spark a remarkable revolution in the songs sound. But I try to be careful with that because it is so easy to morph a song into something different than what you were first feeling.
My approach to songwriting is like that of an adventurer. Everything I am exposed to is open game for a creative spark. The big booty girl in the club (Supersize Me) a traffic stop by racist cops who made me lie face down on the ground handcuffed and accused me of being some gangster they were looking for. Hello? I was driving a Toyota Echo? Any way, that incident caused me to write an award winning Reggae song called "Danger". The homeless man who asked me for change and the tip I gave him about free temporary housing for veterans. That look of hope in his eyes sparked a creative surge towards "Hope IS Still Alive". There is material all around us if we just open our eye's and really begin to see the world creatively. I believe songwriters are listeners and observers who publish what they hear and see musically. The added spirit behind whatever idea made us feel allows us to put melodic feeling on it and structure it all into song form.
Writers block for me is an indication that I am being distracted by some dominant event unfolding in my life. Lately that has been the physical pain from the bulging discs in my neck or my swollen arthritic hands. Of course I have herbally medicinal methods of dealing with that! I grab the old recorder and make sure that none of those ideas go up in smoke. Enough said..........
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Richard Scotti
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3/26/2011 6:10:23 PM
That was an inspirational post, Stoneman. I really dug it. I've never used one of those little recorders before. Can you recommend one? Is it a multi trk recorder?
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Stoneman
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3/26/2011 6:42:24 PM
No, the recorders I use are all just little cheap voice recorders. That's why I have so many. I think their primary use is for business men who dictate notes to their assistants. But they work well for me as I just hum the ideas I have and notate what instrument I envision them to be. I even do drum beats with my mouth and then either play them back or program them later. The idea for the recorders is to make sure that you don't miss any ideas that may come along. I have this little radio in my head and I like to capture what its playing. Generally, if I don't record what I hear when I hear it. It is gone and never to return. So I try to be ready for whatever come to me at any given time.
The good recorders are made by Sony and you can find them in Target, Radio shack, Walmart and any other store that has electronics. The most I ever pay for them is about 40 bucks and they usually last several years. The newer ones are digital so you don't even have to put a tape in them.
Keep making that great music you make! I dig it........
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