Day 15: Directions, please
- Kevin Keller
- Feb 15, 2021
- 1 min read
Updated: Feb 23, 2021
I was unable to fulfill my promise of "2 minutes of new music" today. Just couldn't find the right sound, or a way in that felt compelling. Everything just sounded terrible.
You have been so supportive, and have given me such great ideas, and I'm hoping that you can do it again.
Any suggestions will be most welcome. Please comment below. Thank you so much!
Give yourself permission to produce some utter crap. No-one has to hear what's in your trash can.
Sure, steal, or just be inspired by, someone else's work.
On that last theme, we've lost a lot of musicians and composers to this last 12 months, many to Covid19.
One of which was Harold Budd. What would something in your trash can sound like at half-speed? What if you abandoned measures? (Ok, I'm not a composer; probably everything on Plateaux and Pearl was composed in measures...but it often doesn't sound like it!)
OR keep pushing through the block! Sometimes what seems like crap is simply in a crap-seeming phase on its way to something that's amazing!
A dead end means you are onto something. Try not to think about what’s next and paradoxically, you will not be able to think about anything else. Perhaps listen to some music of another genre to help clear the data buffers and press the reset button.
love that last comment - you could end up anywhere! not to worry on an off day. things are rearranging in your head. just get a good night's sleep.xo
Try stealing from some other song or music that connects with you at this time. For example:
· George Harrison’s What Is Life has an energetic opening that came to mind while listening to your tracks
· Appalachian Spring incorporates the Shaker song “Simple Gifts”
· Mahler’s 1st Symphony incorporates Frere Jacques, in the third movement I believe, as a funeral march
· Get inspired by "The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)”
Try pulling another Oblique Strategy card.
Have any children? Try letting them select the first two or three notes.