Journeys as Inspiration for Music

I.

Different everyday things can sometimes have interesting metaphorical meanings that feel somehow natural as inspiring for songwriting. One thing that has always evoked interesting creative thought for me is the experience of traveling.

You set out towards a destination, and move towards various goals or plans. What happens along the way may be unexpected, and may leave you with food for thought. I found this to be true for me again, while taking several plane and bus trips across the country to handle some business. Of course there are all kinds of ways to look for and find what inspires you, the next time you travel be sure to take a journal and a camera to give yourself a record of how the journey effects what you're thinking and feeling.

In composing music, one thing that proves helpful for most musicians is to have a way to record whatever comes to mind that seems to want to encourage you towards long and deep thinking. Recording a thought by jotting it down, or the visual impression of a moment that caught your attention may be a key in composing music.

Check back soon for examples of how to use this that may be helpful to your work.

Swipe Files for Songwriters

What's a Swipe File? A Swipe file is a file, folder or box that you store good ideas in. It can be a physical thing, or something you keep on your computer or on line. Writers commonly keep files like this, to look back over ideas that peaked their curiosity, were interesting, or had useful information.

You can keep anything you want in your swipe file. Pictures that made you look, titles that made you think, ideas that grabbed you. When you're feeling like you want to compose but don't know where to start, all you have to do is look through the file you saved. It will help you get some inspiration for your own original work.

Using Google Notebooks to keep a swipe file can be useful, because you can access it from any computer that is connected to the Internet. You can also easily share it with other folks you might be working with.

Every day there are articles, videos, songs, and phrases that catch your attention. By recording some of the best ones, you'll have a lot of food for thought when you need it. It will also help you to analyze what about a title, opening line, or idea made it interesting.  Studying what fascinates you, and try to figure out why. Then you have a shot at understanding what catches peoples attention, and how to make your own work more catchy and appealing.

If you'd like to hear more about the idea of creating a swipe file, read this post in my freelance writing blog:

http://freelancewritingfun.blogspot.com/2010/06/whats-swipe-file.html

It was fun to play piano the other day...

I had a really fun musical moment a few days ago. You know, it's really great to just sit down and play, especially if you have a few minutes to play all by yourself with no one listening. It's usually during those moments that you find some little inspiration and dare to explore it.

I haven't gotten to play piano in a while, even though I technically own several. By "awhile" I mean a couple of years, at least on any regular basis. Although I do occasionally steal a piano whenever I see one. If you enjoy playing with piano or guitar, you may understand the deep need to grab an instrument and play it.

Wow. It just occurred to me that I almost never post about myself in this blog. In fact, I'm not sure I've even ever actually introduced myself in this little missive about music that I've been keeping. I post informative notes on some very rudimentary music theory; links to video tutorials, interviews with composers, and random bits of things that interest me.

Most of it has been about what I think might be useful or entertaining for other musicians, especially people just learning to write songs or play an instrument. Then again we're all 'just learning', every day, I hope. I enjoy writing a lot, and write in a few places about different things. Some of it is related. For instance, I wrote an article about the New Orleans Blues Musician, Coco Robicheaux on Associated Content. After I started writing there, I added a few of the basic music theory tutorials I posted here.

Why Scales Are Important if You Want To Learn Music is something I wrote to answer a question. Many people don't play an instrument, but want to. Many others actually do play something with no formal music training, and some of them quite well. They usually wonder why scales are important, and this is a simple explanation of how it's useful.

The other article I got out of a post that was written here was How a Musical Scale if Built . None of this is rocket science, it's really very simple. It is however useful to the random person who stumbles into a piano and wants to figure out how to play it. Or perhaps someone trying to understand how chords might work together in a song they're writing with a guitar.

But back to making music. I was sitting at my piano for the first time in years. It's been stored at my Grandmother's house, and I happened to stop by while she was out. I couldn't resist siting down and playing it for awhile. It's an antique, a very tall upright, and has a very rich and full sound. I was just playing around with what I remember of a song I wrote a long time ago. Almost by accident I discovered that my camera has a record button, and got myself playing around on tape. Err... recorded in digital, from a fifty dollar camera. heheh! I'm out of practice, but it's really not too bad considering I was just playing around with sound.

Anyway, Peace to whoever stumbles through here, more soon....

Songwriting Rituals

If you want to compose your own music, it can be very helpful to create a few "personal songwriting rituals" for yourself.

Anything that gets you into the mood and the right frame of mind can be useful. Knowing what works for you is the key. Some people like to write music free of distraction, in a quiet room with noone else around. Others enjoy sitting in a park with their guitar, and may enjoy being around friends while working on things.

It can be a good idea to develope a set of things you do almost every time you sit down to make music. This can be formal or informal, spiritual or silly, profound, profane, or all of the above. (Yes, that's possible.)

Jane sits down at her piano, pulls out some manuscript paper and a pencil, lights a candle on top of it to represent inspiration, and plays through her scales and exercizes before letting them take her someplace. Soon she's lost in new sounds, and writing something down in a hurry.

Billy stumbles out of bed, cracks a beer, and lovingly rubs the neck of his guitar. His notebook and pen are already on the floor in his usual spot.

Whatever little elements you can add to your routine of practice, playing, and creation that can happen in the same way most of the time can help create a "mental trigger" Jane's subconscious mind, where the creativity really resides, understands that it's showtime when she lights the candle. Billy knows that when he tastes the beer and starts idylly playing with his guitar, something will happen.

It's a process of creating a mental landscape that is open to the creative process. Try lot's of things, and feel free to comment here and let me know some of your favorite tricks to get into the mood. :-)