Losing my muse...
February 20, 2012 7:09 AM
On losing your desire to write music.... for the last 3-4 months I've had time, loads of it. I've taken a sabbatical from work and have a bit of studio gear with me - I but... just can't really be bothered to write any music anymore. What happened?
Since about 1996 writing music in various forms has been my main hobby. (But has been generally an unsuccessful endeavour in terms of record deals / sales / etc.)
Over the years its developed across genres from dance / electronica/IDM to more Indiepop/Outsider Pop music. Now i'm 36 and feel a bit like its too late for success, and what i'm doing now is actually not as good as songs I wrote 2-3 years ago.
In the last 3-4 months I start things - but can't find the motivation to finish them - or they just don't seem that great. I can't write any more lyrics. I don't really 'want to go there' down the rabbit hole. I'm also drinking less - and specifically not while I"m writing / recording music.
I've been trying to do the RPM Challenge again this year as that has sometimes been good - but even that is leaving me a bit cold. I have 8 sketches at I just can't be arsed finishing.
We are moving house soon, and I'm thinking of selling a bunch of my gear so that we can get a smaller place and not bother with having a 'music studio room' which has always been a requirement in the past.
posted by mary8nne (12 comments total)
Since about 1996 writing music in various forms has been my main hobby. (But has been generally an unsuccessful endeavour in terms of record deals / sales / etc.)
Over the years its developed across genres from dance / electronica/IDM to more Indiepop/Outsider Pop music. Now i'm 36 and feel a bit like its too late for success, and what i'm doing now is actually not as good as songs I wrote 2-3 years ago.
In the last 3-4 months I start things - but can't find the motivation to finish them - or they just don't seem that great. I can't write any more lyrics. I don't really 'want to go there' down the rabbit hole. I'm also drinking less - and specifically not while I"m writing / recording music.
I've been trying to do the RPM Challenge again this year as that has sometimes been good - but even that is leaving me a bit cold. I have 8 sketches at I just can't be arsed finishing.
We are moving house soon, and I'm thinking of selling a bunch of my gear so that we can get a smaller place and not bother with having a 'music studio room' which has always been a requirement in the past.
Sometimes it's time to produce, and sometimes it's time to consume. Perhaps you just need a break from making music for a while. This has happened to me -- sometimes I'll go months without working on anything new.
One thing that actually gets me excited to do music after I've not done anything for a while is to listen to new stuff. Invest a couple hundred dollars in the top critically-received albums of the last couple years. Don't listen to anything you've heard before. Have an enforced novelty period in music. Listen to genres you don't normally listen to.
When I hear something new and exciting, one of the first things I want to do is go sit in front of the computer and start writing again.
Just because you're not feeling the muse push you doesn't mean you'll stop forever, so don't make any plans you can't un-do should you feel inspiration strike again.
posted by chimaera at 10:28 AM on February 20, 2012
One thing that actually gets me excited to do music after I've not done anything for a while is to listen to new stuff. Invest a couple hundred dollars in the top critically-received albums of the last couple years. Don't listen to anything you've heard before. Have an enforced novelty period in music. Listen to genres you don't normally listen to.
When I hear something new and exciting, one of the first things I want to do is go sit in front of the computer and start writing again.
Just because you're not feeling the muse push you doesn't mean you'll stop forever, so don't make any plans you can't un-do should you feel inspiration strike again.
posted by chimaera at 10:28 AM on February 20, 2012
I thought about selling my gear off when I moved overseas; ended up consolidating, getting rid of a bunch of stuff and loaning other bits out to people i knew who would use them. and then I got a different guitar and just played, without thinking about recording or doing anything other than enjoying playing a new instrument. And slowly stuff started coming to me. I'm recording some stuff now with a stripped-down setup and enjoying it again. I'm glad I didn't get rid of all my gear, but changing up the way I work and coming at it fresh was essential.
posted by dubold at 4:25 PM on February 20, 2012
posted by dubold at 4:25 PM on February 20, 2012
yes, it's happened to me where i've just given up for awhile, didn't even want to touch a musical instrument, as there didn't seem to be much point in it and i got into writing words instead
part of it was stuff happening in my life that i was having trouble dealing with - another, perhaps bigger part of it, was feeling like i couldn't go on doing it at the level i'd been on and had no ideas - or means - to take it to the next level
i think this may have had more to do with it than any personal problems - i had been recording with a friend bouncing cassette tape recordings once or twice to get demos done, but it wasn't really all that great - fun, yes, but it certainly didn't seem to be moving us forward past a certain level - and then my life started getting screwed up, too
later, my friend made the move to computer based multi track in the late 90s and REAL, if still inexpensive, equipment and we started playing and recording again - and immediately, it was apparent that we were now operating at the level i had wanted to get to, but couldn't
another few years and then our lives both got crazy - we both got divorced and scheduling became impossible for us (and still is) - after a few months, i realized i was going to have to learn to do everything myself - and so vampire deer was born ...
it's a real possiblity that you're really just trying to figure out what your next level should be - i would study, listen and learn and try things you haven't tried before - eventually something will come up
posted by pyramid termite at 2:19 PM on February 22, 2012
part of it was stuff happening in my life that i was having trouble dealing with - another, perhaps bigger part of it, was feeling like i couldn't go on doing it at the level i'd been on and had no ideas - or means - to take it to the next level
i think this may have had more to do with it than any personal problems - i had been recording with a friend bouncing cassette tape recordings once or twice to get demos done, but it wasn't really all that great - fun, yes, but it certainly didn't seem to be moving us forward past a certain level - and then my life started getting screwed up, too
later, my friend made the move to computer based multi track in the late 90s and REAL, if still inexpensive, equipment and we started playing and recording again - and immediately, it was apparent that we were now operating at the level i had wanted to get to, but couldn't
another few years and then our lives both got crazy - we both got divorced and scheduling became impossible for us (and still is) - after a few months, i realized i was going to have to learn to do everything myself - and so vampire deer was born ...
it's a real possiblity that you're really just trying to figure out what your next level should be - i would study, listen and learn and try things you haven't tried before - eventually something will come up
posted by pyramid termite at 2:19 PM on February 22, 2012
mary8nne, muses can be fickle friends sometimes. I'm gonna guess that most musicians and artists are pretty fickle too. You do what you feel like when you feel moved to do so.
I'm a jack of all trades. I sculpt, paint, carve wood, build mechanical things and I am typically pretty busy doing stuff. It's also pretty common for me to take a few days off to "incubate" ideas or feelings than can be translated into art. FWIW, I haven't touched an instrument since October and I'm totally OK with that. I'm just doing other things and I'll write another song when I feel like it.
Something important about what you've written above is that you're going through some life-changes. Things like that are pretty sure to mess up your flow for at least a little while. It may cause your identity to evolve and/or make you see and feel differently about things. It's hard to write/work/create when you're having a growth spurt...so to speak.
posted by snsranch at 6:55 PM on February 22, 2012
I'm a jack of all trades. I sculpt, paint, carve wood, build mechanical things and I am typically pretty busy doing stuff. It's also pretty common for me to take a few days off to "incubate" ideas or feelings than can be translated into art. FWIW, I haven't touched an instrument since October and I'm totally OK with that. I'm just doing other things and I'll write another song when I feel like it.
Something important about what you've written above is that you're going through some life-changes. Things like that are pretty sure to mess up your flow for at least a little while. It may cause your identity to evolve and/or make you see and feel differently about things. It's hard to write/work/create when you're having a growth spurt...so to speak.
posted by snsranch at 6:55 PM on February 22, 2012
Ironically, time is often the enemy of creativity.
I only come up with songs when I have much better things to do. The less time I have, the more music I make.
I sold all my musical equipment -- every scrap of it -- when I moved from the UK to Canada. In one respect it was horrible, but in another way it was rather wonderful as I was able to start again and buy back the stuff I actually loved.
It's important to distinguish between the music you feel you ought to be making and the music you actually want to make. Trying to find the nugget of what makes you sound like you is really the heart of the entire endeavor.
Never underestimate the power of a new instrument, even if it's just borrowed or stolen.
It's a great idea to find folk to play covers with. Let them choose complete crap and learn it. You'd be amazed how freeing it is. Tell yourself there are no bad songs. Go and play them in a bar. Stuff you'd ordinarily hate.
Sometimes you just need to walk away -- a self-imposed sabbatical. Don't go back to the instrument just because you think of a tune. Let it build. Whistle it into a recorder. It can be incredibly helpful to let tunes build in your head because you don't harmonize them.
posted by unSane at 8:54 PM on February 22, 2012
I only come up with songs when I have much better things to do. The less time I have, the more music I make.
I sold all my musical equipment -- every scrap of it -- when I moved from the UK to Canada. In one respect it was horrible, but in another way it was rather wonderful as I was able to start again and buy back the stuff I actually loved.
It's important to distinguish between the music you feel you ought to be making and the music you actually want to make. Trying to find the nugget of what makes you sound like you is really the heart of the entire endeavor.
Never underestimate the power of a new instrument, even if it's just borrowed or stolen.
It's a great idea to find folk to play covers with. Let them choose complete crap and learn it. You'd be amazed how freeing it is. Tell yourself there are no bad songs. Go and play them in a bar. Stuff you'd ordinarily hate.
Sometimes you just need to walk away -- a self-imposed sabbatical. Don't go back to the instrument just because you think of a tune. Let it build. Whistle it into a recorder. It can be incredibly helpful to let tunes build in your head because you don't harmonize them.
posted by unSane at 8:54 PM on February 22, 2012
I'm gonna chalk your current predicament up to a phase. Creativity is always hard work on some level, even if you don't realize it at the time. Sometimes you're just tired. Nothing wrong with that.
I really, really don't think you should give up though. Like unSane said, maybe you just need a good break, or a change of direction. For me this happens naturally because I have a rotating set of interests that deviate from music making to photography to design to writing to gaming (board and video) to art and then back again. Ultimately, though, it's the music I end up missing the most.
I can also totally vouch for the idea of hooking up with some people to play covers of stuff you may not know or even like. I did this once, ended up joining a Grateful Dead/Phish/Widespread Panic jam band. I had never listened to any of that stuff but I ended up playing with those guys for almost two years, and it was one of my most fruitful periods of creativity and just sheer enjoyment of playing.
posted by Doleful Creature at 8:06 PM on February 24, 2012
I really, really don't think you should give up though. Like unSane said, maybe you just need a good break, or a change of direction. For me this happens naturally because I have a rotating set of interests that deviate from music making to photography to design to writing to gaming (board and video) to art and then back again. Ultimately, though, it's the music I end up missing the most.
I can also totally vouch for the idea of hooking up with some people to play covers of stuff you may not know or even like. I did this once, ended up joining a Grateful Dead/Phish/Widespread Panic jam band. I had never listened to any of that stuff but I ended up playing with those guys for almost two years, and it was one of my most fruitful periods of creativity and just sheer enjoyment of playing.
posted by Doleful Creature at 8:06 PM on February 24, 2012
Take a break. From writing and the routine you've either consciously or subconsciously developed around that. Don't set any kind of timescale for it. Relax and let the well fill up again. It'll come back when the time's right. If you're naturally creative you'll never really lose it completely - it's as much a part of you as breathing.
I've been on a break for the last few months - complete distance from everything to do with recording or interaction with other musos on sites like this. I wanted to stop writing stuff by rote - tracks that were little better than mediocre. Who needs "quite good"? I'd rather record one or two things in a year that I'm content with than twenty things that I forget about within days of finishing them.
Just started now to begin writing/recording again. But my newly invigorated self-critical police will be taking a very close interest..... I'm not concerned. Something presentable will pop up eventually.
unSane's comment about new gear is true. Always seems to trigger me too. But it's an unsustainably expensive way of writing songs! Especialy if, like me, it's not a commercial activity.
Greetings, by the way, to all the MeFiMu regulars. Good to see the ol' site is still in rude health.
posted by MajorDundee at 9:32 AM on February 26, 2012
I've been on a break for the last few months - complete distance from everything to do with recording or interaction with other musos on sites like this. I wanted to stop writing stuff by rote - tracks that were little better than mediocre. Who needs "quite good"? I'd rather record one or two things in a year that I'm content with than twenty things that I forget about within days of finishing them.
Just started now to begin writing/recording again. But my newly invigorated self-critical police will be taking a very close interest..... I'm not concerned. Something presentable will pop up eventually.
unSane's comment about new gear is true. Always seems to trigger me too. But it's an unsustainably expensive way of writing songs! Especialy if, like me, it's not a commercial activity.
Greetings, by the way, to all the MeFiMu regulars. Good to see the ol' site is still in rude health.
posted by MajorDundee at 9:32 AM on February 26, 2012
Welcome back, Major! I figured you were on a sabbatical. Looking forward to hearing what you got whenever you got it!
posted by unSane at 7:57 PM on February 26, 2012
posted by unSane at 7:57 PM on February 26, 2012
Also, Jay Smooth has some good things to say about creative blocks.
posted by Doleful Creature at 9:04 AM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Doleful Creature at 9:04 AM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
Oh oh and also this sort of NSFW video and song from Ze Frank. Old as the internet hills but still very relevant IMHO.
posted by Doleful Creature at 9:09 AM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Doleful Creature at 9:09 AM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
Hey thanks for the tips. I did find a bit of inspiration in the end for the RPM Challenge. but I do have a kind of weariness to recording / writing songs.
I think it may need a break - or I may need to try my had at something else for a while. Painting or writing a book perhaps. Hmm we will see.
posted by mary8nne at 2:20 AM on March 2, 2012
I think it may need a break - or I may need to try my had at something else for a while. Painting or writing a book perhaps. Hmm we will see.
posted by mary8nne at 2:20 AM on March 2, 2012
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posted by mary8nne at 7:10 AM on February 20, 2012