Blank Page Syndrome

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 8:54 pm

I'm sure most of you have heard of it, and probably a lot have had it...

My question is :
How do you deal with it when it happens to you?
If you're on a deadline, what do you do?

I personally am having some troubles writing music lately but I want to write something for an upcoming possible contest/gig and it just doesn't come out as it normally does...I have the ideas and all the music isn't there right now, and it's not the first time it's happened to me.
Anything would help...

RO Admin Joined: Mar 20, 2000 Posts: 4328 Location: Canada

For me, I find writing/composing easy if I write about things that are happening to me at the time/moment. There are all sorts of things happening to us daily, tapping into them/it produces the best, nature sounding music. Its when the music and lyrics connect the best.
My next advise is once you have it down, learning to leave it simmer, not boil the overall song and sound; over produce or try and make things rhyme all the time.

Sometimes new strings on a guitar, new gear, effects, samples, etc work wonders. Take a break from things or listen to some other types of music are great ways to inspire us.

Hope that helps...

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:03 pm

Thing is, I don't write lyrics, I write instrumental music (keyboards and guitars).
But thanks for the advice anyway.
I would get new gear but everything in music costs a lot so I have to wait a bit before getting something.

I think I'm doing some kind of complexion when I write stuff... like my inner-me is telling me what I write isn't good because I've listened to too much good stuff. Any advice on that?

Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 8:55 am

Listen to crap music on a regular basis?

You need a break, maybe an extended weekend.
You could ask for suggestions and then shoot them down:) I do this on a regular basis, especially when I am feeling inadequate. Trick is to impress yourself. Don't try to play up to Herbie Hancocks level, try to play up to and beyond your own level.

Get out and go listen to someone else play. That is one of the biggest jump starts I know of. It takes my focus off >me< and puts it back on >music<.

Music is Communication, just a fancy way to say hello. Right now you may not feel like "talking" about it.

You will....

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 1:20 pm

Slice wrote:

Thing is, I don't write lyrics, I write instrumental music

Instrumental music and lyrics are the same thing: forms of expression. Some people can express emotion better in words than in music, and vice versa. Personally, I express things better in music than in words.

What bigtree says about writing about what is currently going on in your life is the same thing that helps me. When I have negative feelings (anger, grief, etc.), I find myself writing predominately in minor keys. When I feel pumped up, I end up writing songs with basic rock progressions like I-V-VI-IV or I-V-III-VI or something of that nature. I even have moods somewhere in the middle where I tend to lay out a I-VI-I-V-VI-I-II 12-bar blues.

If you're angry, express that. If you're mourning, express that. If you need some lovin', EXPRESS THAT. Don't just sit down and try to write - it will get you nowhere. My process goes something like this:

1. Find a quiet place, or tune everything out.
2. Turn on the lava lamps.
3. When lava lamps are warmed up, light a few candles.
4. Sometimes I set up my fog machine from when I DJ'd and just let it purge.
5. Pick up the guitar. DO NOT BOTHER TO TUNE IT, you can do that later.
6. Lay back on the couch, and start playing.
7. If I find myself playing the same thing over and over, its a good sign. If I don't, I keep playing.

If I remember what I played later, then it was worth writing. It may have been a melody, chord progression, even a counter-melody or counter-harmony - it doesn't matter what part of the song it was, it was worth something. Then I build a song around it when I do my composition... later. Don't dwell on a song too long; you might need to take some time off from a song for awhile and come back with a fresh perspective.

The important thing to do when writing music is to capture your feel and emotion. Sometimes, you just have to relax and let your music sweep you away.

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 9:16 am

First things first, separate the creative process from the evaluation process. Two sides of your brain are functioning against each other.

Green light creative ideas, put down whatever comes to you in whatever form you're operating in. Recording, pencil/paper, etc...
Keep ALL of the ideas and keep working at creating new ideas without judging if they're good or not.

At a later point (days, weeks) come back and evaluate. Then (and only then) work on what was good and try to develop it into something you like. Then start all over again until you're finished.

If you're like most people, you will not truly be satisfied with more than a small portion of your creative output.

Good luck

Phil

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 2:09 am

Carry around a pad of paper. Everywhere you go. You may not be a lyricist, but, as previously mentioned music and lyrics are merely means to an end. Write down things that make you think or feel or laugh. Write down witty phrases you hear, write down unique metaphors, etc. That's what I do as a lyricist, and even if I don't end up using any of it -- and I usually don't -- it helps me remember what I felt at that moment.

I think my biggest problem isn't having a hard time expressing what I'm feeling -- it's the difficulty in recalling that feeling so wholly that the listener can tell that I felt it as I wrote it. You know the listener can tell.

Also, about things you've written satisfying you:

As composers and lyricists and musicians, we have two somewhat conflicting goals:

We have an innate integrity to ourselves -- we feel a desire to be "true to ourselves," to write to our intellectual capabilities, both as thinkers and as musicians (because many of us are more than just I IV V I musicians). We have a need to use our musical talents to give ourselves away.

However, we have another goal -- to please others. Nobody wants to write a song everybody else hates. And please, don't kid yourself. The ones who say they don't care what others think usually suck and end up playing a half-strung ukulele outside the farmers market in Seattle, forty dollars in their guitar case as pity money from people who sold a bit of their souls in order to live a healthy, sane life.

At least, that's how I've felt in the past. Naturally, I could be wrong -- it happens.

- Stephen

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 2:35 am

what i do is either listen to music that makes me happy and/or makes me think about life, about the music itself, etc. or i hang out with friends, or i jam with friends. sometimes the stuff i make with friends will be better than the stuff i make myself.

OR...haha i just stop playing, watch tv, walk around, swim, what have you.

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