Dry
Mar 22, 2009 muse
It’s amazing and uncomfortable how I go from oasis to drought. I’ve had a few pretty good weeks on the dream trail, met some writers/performers both live and online with lots to say. And I continue to be inspired by artist friends who are relentless and passionate about their work. As I read through perspectives and check out the day to day activities of indie artists, I sense a deep undercurrent making the waters trickier to navigate, though many [thankfully] are up to the challenge.
Friday night I caught Kim McLean and Mark Elliot at the Muse, it was quiet, but the songs and vibe were good, and I came home with a couple of new ideas. Decided yesterday to work with my main co-writer to put together a couple of sets of covers and our own material and work hard at setting up stools in coffee shops for 2-3 hours shifts just to get heard, even if the pay is what ends up in the tip jar.
I try to spend a good bit of time on Sundays taking the day as it come, nothing too structured. I may doodle on a drawing pad or take some pictures, or object write a hook idea or jam mindlessly in between sipping a cup of coffee. I’m looking forward to this afternoon, after church and lunch, hopeful for some creative precipitation to start refilling the well.
I’ve been here before… I’ll be here again.
Tags: creativity, well runs dry, write
Active Participant
Jan 12, 2009 what if?
I dunno, three, maybe four Saturdays ago, I was headed to South Charlotte for coffee and a co-write session at my friend Allen’s apartment. On the way there I heard two short interviews on NPR that impacted my perspective from that morning on.
The second (yeah, I know, what’s up with that?) interview was with the music director for the Baltimore Symphony (at least I believe that’s her role, and I can’t recall her name) on the compositions of Aaron Copeland. Now I studied composition in college a LONG time ago, and I certainly have an appreciation for symphonic works, but what grabbed me about the conversation is the fervor and freshness I sensed as she talked about Copeland’s work and approach to composition, in a manner reminiscent of songwriters sharing insights about Craig Wiseman, Carole King, Jimmy Webb, etc., the energy was infectious.
Previous to this conversation, the interview was with an artist who resides in Denver by the name of Bob Ragland. I’d never heard of him, but it was as though he was speaking to me. He talked about be a “non-starving” artist and his approach to making ends meet doing what he loves most — creating art. His attitude of perseverance spoke to me as a writer. Sure I’m not full time, and I’m not published, or have any songs on hold, but I have desire and love to make music and write songs.
Bob’s message: do the practical, do it every day, and do it well.
Simple, huh? I checked out the list he posted titled “The Stuff You Won’t learn in Art School“, and thought to myself, get at it! I mean, why not my music and songs? Get them out there, work at promoting, and sharing, and pitching and being ready to get something placed… why not me?!?!?
Last week one of the songs Allen and I wrote got real good feedback on a SongU critique session, and today we were notified the song is going to the NSAI luncheon for potential pitch to publisher. While the essence of all this amounts to welcome validation of the passion and craft we put into the song, it’s a step in the right direction — all because I chose to embrace the risk of being an active participant in promoting myself.
Tags: Bob Ragland, creativity, promotion
Quiet Craze
It’s been over a week now since Karen and the kids made it to FL, first Winter Springs, then N. Ft. Myers, our old stomping grounds. Things have been pretty quiet, lots of time to think. I’m enjoying the opportunity to work from home more than normal, which I can’t do during summer while the kids are out of school. I’ve had time to explore photography and blogs and think about creativity, and though I’ve worked minimally on songwriting, I think the blow has been good.
Interestingly enough, Brian Hartzog and I got to catch up over lunch yesterday. He’s one of the most well rounded indie guys I know, from writing to business to craft. Per usual, I sequestered the first part of the conversation, once Brian opened the door with… “so, how’s everything going?” I ranted about work, home life, etc., the usual stuff, and the fact that it just seems like I’m in a slump again, but don’t really know why. So when I turned the talking stick over to him, I almost lost the tofu I was gnawing on when he started telling me about his new plan for writing and producing his music. Not so much the plan, but the reason he came to this decision point. Seems he was accomplishing getting things scheduled and going through the motions, but at times on tasks that really didn’t have a good ROI for time invested, or in his strategy for accomplishing his musical goals, though initially these things all seemed like great ideas. Hmm, I can relate, and double-hmm I’m giving Brian’s format a whirl, though likely in modified form.
It goes something like this… instead of mixing and matching writing, recording, business and marketing tasks done whenever something specific needs to be done, designate one day per week for a focused discipline. Maybe Monday for lyric writing, Tuesday for tracking, Wednesday for business and marketing, Thursday for mixing and producing, etc. If a specific item doesn’t get done the day it’s in scope to be done, it has to carry to the next week unless all tasks for another focal point get done and there’s time to spare — BRILLIANT!
This makes a world of sense to me, so last night I began laying out my week. I’ll likely limit my schedule to three days, at least to start, just so I can setup realistic goals in the grand scheme. Of course now it’s the weekend, gig tomorrow night at the Pewter Rose with Rick and the 4-Oh, need to hit the music store ahead of time to re-stock bass and guitar strings. We plan to meet at the Rose around 6:00 for dinner and setup, so it’ll be a pretty quick day.
So, my goal for Saturday morning is to clean my studio/office and setup for creativity. Then, I’ll work on my goals for the week, including further planning of my fresh approach to being more focused at writing and playing music. All this while doing some laundry, and hopefully catching up on some reading, and maybe even setup a couple of shots around the house (that’s pictures with a camera, this will be way before happy hour).
I was headed out to catch some music tonight, I think I’ll pass and hang with a couple of neighbors, keep it within walking distance and call it an early night home… back to the quiet craze.
Tags: be still, creativity, SMART