Strategies for Dealing with Composers Block - Music Composition

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Composer’s block strikes most writers at some point. Sometimes the block is temporary and at other points it can be a more extended barrier. This music composition lesson explores the topic and suggests strategies for dealing with it, including the notion of how to use moments of inspiration well and how to rely on technique when feeling less inspired. It even suggests how you might welcome periods of composer’s block as a gift that can rejuvenate your writing.
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🕘 Timestamps
0:00 - Introduction to strategies for dealing with composers block
2:02 - Sometime it can be a good thing
4:02 - Being in good company
8:58 - Relying on technique
10:41 - Finding inspiration
11:33 - Writing in a new style
14:45 - Storing musical ideas
18:14 - Overthinking and underthinking
20:49 - Conclusion
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Опубликовано:

24 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 72

@MusicMattersGB 2 года назад

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@bryanhitch9383 Год назад

I'm a professional artist and writer (writing music is the hobby) but the same is true for me. Mastery (as much as you can have at any period in your life and career) of your craft and process means on the days where inspiration isn't as obvious as you'd like it to be, you can still produce a day's work and, sometimes, these are the better results. I think inspiration is somewhat overrated and it's much more about work than anything. The inspiration is really just deciding on the direction of each creative process or journey but the story, picture, song or symphony is a series of decisions. It's work, pure and simple. I do agree about taking a walk though. That's the space where you allow your brain to start that process. Much has to happen in my head before I start the drawing or the typing. The key thing to realise for any of us is that inspiration is not essential, it's merely an open door that invites you to sit and do the work. Enjoying the process is important as it is, mostly process. Love the channel, by the way, hugely instructive and always a pleasure.

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

Thanks for sharing your experience

@ThomsenTower Год назад

Certainly no RU-vidr’s Block here! 24 minutes of useful thoughts and ideas. Thank you!

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

That’s most kind. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

@tobiasshklover2006 Год назад

The capacity of combining the intuitive way of composing with the rational one comes with gaining a lot of experience...

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

Absolutely

@jayducharme Год назад

Great advice! I'm the opposite of you in one respect: I thrive on deadlines. That's when I'm the most creative. When there isn't a deadline, I tend to flounder since there's no urgency to create. I've found that I have to impose artificial deadlines on myself to complete anything.

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

It’s very useful to be self aware about these things

@rogernichols1124 Год назад

I feel the same about deadlines. In day-to-day matters, I'm a terrible procrastinator - I'm told it's a coping mechanism when external pressures are applied - but, curiouly, if I have a musical deadline to meet, I swing immediately into action. The ideas, however, might not be forthcoming but what keeps me on task and pressing ahead is the deadline, seen not as a threat but as an achievable goal. So far, this hasn't failed and I've always met the deadline, even though I might not always feel totally satisfied with the finished product. There's an element of egotism also at work here, or, more candidly, an element of vanity, the driving force being the thought that I will be heard by others and praised for my efforts. When the deadline is initially presented, I might fo for a long walk to formulate a "sound plan", a brainstorming activity in which I allow my mind to be open to everything and anything, waiting to see what floats to the surface of my consciousness and presents itself as a workable idea. I dislike the word inspiration, by the way; it implies an almost mystical takeover of the imagination. For me, composing is about technique and graft.

@jayducharme Год назад

@@rogernichols1124 “Composing is about technique and graft.” I guess that depends on how much money you want to make. 😁

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

Thanks for sharing your thoughts

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

😀

@DavidJohnson-pp4sy Год назад

Great video, Gareth. Some really valuable advice in there.

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

Glad it’s helpful

@FrancescaBettiMusic Год назад

Loved this video. I agree technique is a life saver

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

Thanks. That’s great

@evelyneduval6441 Год назад

Thank you very much for this very precious video! I will share this with my daughter who is experiencing a creative block as a painter!

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

Creative blocks strike most artists from time to time. I hope she finds a creative way through it.

@emanuel_soundtrack Год назад

I agree with all there! Highlight for the "technique" and overthinking. Richard Strauss has a good insight in a similar topic, about inspiration . I will bring it in my video about this

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

😀

@maxjohn6012 Год назад

A really helpful video - thanks! It's very interesting to hear any thoughts like this about the nuts and bolts of composing, beyond technique and knowledge.

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

That’s most kind. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

@g.p616 Год назад

Great coaching Vid..Thanks!

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

@deplinenoise Год назад

Great video. Applies to all intellectual and artistic trades I think. My recommendation for very experienced folks who are stuck is to throw literally anything out, even using chance through a die roll. This is because it’s often easier for someone experienced to change something rather than to create from scratch.

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

😀

@mickec5245 Год назад

Spot on. Embrace it!

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

😀

@mimieatskiwi Год назад

I’m a new subscriber and your videos look amazing! I’ll definitely be a frequent watcher! Thank you!! 😁😁

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

That’s most kind. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

@LouisSerieusement Год назад

What works for me : dishwashing. Somehow when I do this (or any robotic task you can do without thinking) I'am able to find solution or even melody ideas. Or walk to the store or somewhere else is also helpful. In any case, stepping back is crucial. Thanks !

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

That’s great.

@TheSinlessAssassin Год назад

This is exactly what I needed because I've been stuck on a song for two and a half weeks now!

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

Glad it’s helpful.

@asamiyashin444 Год назад

That is nothing. I once was stuck on a theme for years until I finally completed it.

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

😀

@iLeftism Год назад

thank you!

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

A pleasure. Thanks for your support

@corentinmusique Год назад

Great piece of advise to start the day! ❤

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

@corentinmusique Год назад

@MusicMattersGB, I'm actually working on your phenomenal grade 1 to 8 course. It has been an absolute game-changer for me. I'm constantly amazed at how much I learn and how it revive some of my previously acquired knowledge. Thank you for providing such an incredible learning experience!

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

I’m so pleased you’re finding it helpful. It’s the distillation of 40 years of teaching and experience put together with the best teaching methods I’ve discovered so I’m glad it’s working for you.

@carlstenger5893 Год назад

Great video. Lots of good advice. I've been jotting down my musical ideas since the age of 9 or 10. Most of my very early stuff is very simple (and the majority is - to borrow a term from Reginald Perrin -- grot). Occasionally, though, a theme or motif that I've been toying with forever suddenly transforms itself into a piece. The fughetta in A minor that I submitted to a Maestro's livestream in 2018 or 2019 was based upon a motif that I originally penned in June 1980. (I know that to be the date only because I was at the International Bach Festival in Funchal, Madeira when the idea struck me.) I'm constantly alternating between periods of inspiration and periods of drought. One thing I have discovered (over the course of 50+ years) is that I seem to be able to pull inspiration and technique together best in the wee hours of the night. Any effort that I expend in the middle of the day tends to be time wasted. Many thanks for this video. Composing can seem like a lonely activity, but inasmuch as many (if not most) composers fight with the same sorts of problems, we're apparently all lonely together. ;-)

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

That’s great experience you’ve shared. Thank you

@evelyneduval6441 Год назад

I like your statement: we are all lonely together! Personally I prefer to compose in the morning then to practice piano in the afternoon (so good to be retired!)...If I go back to composition in the evening, I am sure to experience a sleepless night...my brain unable to switch off...

@BlueBeeThemeMusic Год назад

Wink: Write a theme for Reginald's Mother-In-Law...Thanks for the memory.

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

The problem of insomnia because music is buzzing around one’s head is one to which many of us relate!

@carbonmonoxide5052 Год назад

I often get composer’s block mid-piece, and it will last for months or even years. One technique I have for dealing with this is taking a break from composing and arranging instead. I discovered that it’s a lot of fun to take a piece written for solo violin and piano and expand the piano part to an orchestra part. This lets me still be creative without having to create anything new. Last March (March 2022), I saw a performance of a Shostakovich quartet (the one with DSCH all over it, I forget the number) and was immediately inspired to write a string quartet. Over the course of a few weeks, I wrote three and a half movements (started with an Adagio for the second movement, then an Allegro for the first, Minuet for the third, and got about halfway through a Giga for the fourth). I had a great opening for the fourth movement, but didn’t really have anywhere to take it, so I kept trying for a few weeks to make progress and gave up. In September 2022, after not touching it for months, I rewrote parts of the fourth movement because it wasn’t up to the standard of the first two movements, but still couldn’t finish it. Last week, I took another look at it and realized that the only thing it was actually missing was an ending, so I quickly threw together a faux recapitulation and a real recapitulation and a short coda and it was done. I still have two pieces from even earlier that need a similar treatment (although they are farther from being done and are for much larger ensembles in styles I am less familiar with).

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

That sort of process is not uncommon. Thanks for sharing your experience

@BlueBeeThemeMusic Год назад

I use big dice when I have a start but am hurting my head ... Write intervals or chords and roll them, see what it makes happen. Just a way to get unstuck. I prefer progress to perfection. The hard work happens later anyway. GREAT episode, Gareth.

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

😀

@rubenmolino1480 Год назад

excelent ¡¡

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

Glad it’s helpful

@Topcatyo. Год назад

As my one friend told me (which he had heard from his teacher): It's not about what you make when you're hot. It's about what you make when you're cold.

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

Good point

@ruramikael Год назад

I am usually working on two pror jects at the same time, if you get stuck in one work you can often turn to the other work.

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

Absolutely

@Ciaran55 Год назад

How do you write your music, Gareth? I use a notebook and every day that I write something I will date it and name it if need be. I find that helps keeping things organised. Then when something’s working out I will write it up formally on sequencer and sheet music software. My problem is writing ‘good’ things but not the ‘right’ things, so the feeling isn’t right and I get frustrated not being able to get it how it should be, whatever that is. Perhaps I’ll have to get the neighbour to hang out their washing more conspicuously 😆

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

The notebook is a great idea. I usually work in my head or at the piano to devise and develop ideas. Then score up from there.

@lmrock Год назад

If you compose with the help of a DAW, punch random notes in your piano roll and you might hear something you like, if you have composer's block.

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

😀

@isolateddemon9438 6 месяцев назад

I THINK THIS IS WHY NOISE , DRONE AND AMBIENT WERE CREATED🤔I MEAN WITH THESE YOU NEVER RUN OUT OF IDEAS.'LET THE SOUNDS BE SOUNDS' CAGE SAID.

@MusicMattersGB 6 месяцев назад

😀

@UTubeJunky Год назад

Hi! What are you specifically talking about when you say, 'Technique?' I think of physical instrument technique when you say it, but am not sure if you're talking about composition technique. The latter I have a hard time wrapping my head around and the former makes me think I am going to write kids music because I have been writing on piano and most 8 year olds are better than me at piano. 😅

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

Yes I’m talking about composition technique eg knowing how to spin a melodic idea into a four bar phrase, knowing how to harmonise a melody, knowing how to structure a piece etc.

@UTubeJunky Год назад

@@MusicMattersGB That means there is hope for me yet. Thanks for the clarification! Much love ! =D

@MusicMattersGB Год назад

😀