How to get inspiration?

paul e. · Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 5:42 pm Post subject:

if i don;t make music, my mental/physical health starts to go down hill rapidly...so, i really have no choice in the matter

3 days seems to be the maximum time i can handle away from music

having projects with defined goals helps keep things chugging along nicely

salo-t · Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 29 Location: Helsinki,Finland

I simply have to forget everything about inspiration, everything I know about music, and everything I have learned about music, and then just do it.
If I think too much about making music, I can't get anything done, and I drown in the quackmire of self-criticism and perfectionism.

Unfortunately, the second option happens much more often than the first one. Sad

opg · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:47 am Post subject:

mosc · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 12:14 pm Post subject:

a.vanvranken · Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 1:08 pm Post subject:

I haven't read all the replies so maybe this is covered but this is what I noticed with myself.

If my life is just going along smooth, nothing wrong, nothing terribly exciting, just get up, go to work, go home, eat, drink, sleep, etc I don't write anything. The way I usually break out of that cycle is going on hikes, taking time to observe beautiful things (sunsets, clouds, all that), going on vacations, etc. Even going to the library and looking at really amazing pictures can help. Just somehow put something new into your head that wasn't there every day. Changing even the littlest thing in your routine helps also. Infact, I used to wake up 20 minutes before work and rush there as fast as I could. Now, I wake up a bit earlier. I brew me some coffee, enjoy my breakfast, and fiddle with a few tracks. That alone has helped alot, I mean night and day difference.

Also, if I'm ever caught in that cycle where you're coming up with alot of good ideas, getting a few patterns down in your sequencer, and BAM, nothing, I've noticed that getting some regular exercise really helps me stay focused on a song and follow it through to the end.

Oh and like 3 or 4 months ago I wasn't writing anything, I watch an amazing movie, and write like 3 new tracks. So maybe inspiring movies help too. And I'm sure if you're a book reader those are helpful as well.

-edit- I just read all the replies, really great ideas, I'm going to save this thread on my hard drive and refer to it when I'm feeling blocked and forgot how to be inspired.

One other thing, if you can learn to appreciate beauty to the point where it makes your eyes swell up and chills run up through your spine and into your head that always helps too. Smile

Ferdo · Joined: Nov 17, 2005 Posts: 3 Location: Sarajevo

[quote="Kruge"] Shocked

"Lvbsx" (virtual music composer) it can be helpful, even free version(demo),...

Uncle Krunkus · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2005 2:36 am Post subject:

I used to hate the process of turning everything on just to record an idea I had in my sleep.
So I built an auto power on box. It has a master outlet and a slave outlet which everything else powers off.
If I want to do anything musical, (even just listen to a CD) I turn on my amp, and voila! evrything comes on!
It definately helps with process block.
Saves power too!

Ferdo · Joined: Nov 17, 2005 Posts: 3 Location: Sarajevo

I tried couple "shots" with demo Lvbsx and it works, but really works.
This software offers new ideas, sometime even more. Problem -only .wav not .mid.

elektro80 · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2005 3:37 pm Post subject:

I just followed some of the Lvbsx linx somewhere and found this softie. I duno. It seems a bit crude and kidding out some melodic line seems far easier to do manually than running this app. I don´t doubt that it can be fun and useful though.

klangumsetzer · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 4:06 am Post subject:

Hey all,

thank you, seraph, for this inspirational quote! funny thing to read a german text in english first. (also, the german version of von helmholtz's treatise 'on the sensation of tone' has been out-of print for ages. Mad

)

seraph · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 6:44 am Post subject:

Kassen · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 2:32 am Post subject:

I'd be interested in how that affects those who have a religion which has a malevolent God or a complex pantheon......

See also;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muses

elektro80 · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:25 am Post subject:

renevanderwouden · Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 3:58 am Post subject:

Kassen · Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:23 am Post subject:

I think that's normally called vitamin D. A shortage of that one will make you depressed...

v-un-v · Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:53 am Post subject:

Going for a bike ride? That usually inspires me.

Although I haven't done any music for quite a while now Sad

seraph · Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:48 pm Post subject:

v-un-v · Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:18 pm Post subject:

seraph · Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:30 pm Post subject:

v-un-v · Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:35 pm Post subject:

aha- then you have no excuse!

Perhaps then you should circuit bend that toy saxophone instead? Smile

seraph · Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:40 pm Post subject:

memedesigner · Joined: Feb 11, 2006 Posts: 59 Location: Berlin, Germany

This is an older topic but a classic, so...:

what has worked for me in deblocking, worked like a charm really, has been Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way. It's basically a 12 step program for creative recovery.

It's new-agey and so-80s for sure, something I would not have touched even with a long stick in 80s, but that I now find quite attracting. (I've become a softy mushy newagey person. Last night, just before falling asleep, I read some Rumi poem and thought I got it.)

So if you find your creative juices drying out and the superego ubercontrolling suggest give the Cameron book a try.

mosc · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 7:57 am Post subject:

seraph · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:26 am Post subject:

memedesigner · Joined: Feb 11, 2006 Posts: 59 Location: Berlin, Germany

You don't need to be that rigorous about the book's exercises. Just sticking with the basics through some extended period of time seems to do the trick.