July 2010 - Computer Music Production School; Audio Recording School; Audio School in Florida, Atlanta, Los Angeles or anywhere in the World

Are you too Busy to Make Beats?

“A mind too active is no mind at all.” (Theodore Roethke)

Being constantly on the go, doing ‘stuff’, or leaving no room for playtime ‘makes Johnny a dull boy’…It also leaves no time for making beats or writing songs… Your mind needs time to absorb everything it experiences in order to keep growing musically…

I don’t know about you but I am DEFINITELY too busy to make beats. However, I make time and plan for making beats and writing songs. I prioritize them according to the current goals and fit them into my current business schedule. We all do this to some extent – the challenge is following through and holding yourself accountable.

Tutorial: If you find yourself too busy to Make Beats:
1) Go back to the drawing board, climb out of your current busy schedule and take a couple days off. Re-focus your end result or project (finish an album, write 10 songs, whatever your goals may be). What is it that you ‘clearly’ want to accomlish?
2) How much of your free time is getting spent to achieve this project? How much is spent on ‘stuff’ that will not lead you to your goals?
3) Re-adjust your efforts: Now that you have had some time to reflect, take note of what is interfering with your time and see what you need to ditch in order to get back on track of reaching your long term goals. Also read 3 Ways to fit Music Production into your Busy Schedule

Like a car on the road, eventually it will veer to the left or to the right. There is never a road that is perfectly straight without any bumps, turns or detours. By constantly paying attention to the road of your schedule, you’ll get the chance to see the Obstacles in your Path before they hinder your productivity.

How to Push your Boundaries while Writing Songs

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“Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what’s next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.” (Agnes De Mile)

Mankind’s human mind just loves to categorize, stereotype, and label everything it understands and everything it doesn’t understand. As writers, as soon as words hit paper, our thoughts tend to wander to what our words mean and how they will be interpreted before we even complete the thought or finish the song.

Tutorial: How to Push your Boundaries while Writing Songs.

1) While Writing Songs Stay focused, attentively watch and catch your mind wandering.
2) Instead of thinking of words and what they mean, visualize a picture of your words.
3) Describe the picture you see and follow wherever it leads.
4) Avoid editing at this stage

To capture difficult songwriting topics, simplify your current song writing process and use this tutorial to leap off the cliff of emotional pictures and let inspiration’s creativity catch the fall into your next song…

How to Avoid Music Creativity Distractions

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“We are always doing something, talking, reading, listening to the radio, planning what next. The mind is kept naggingly busy on some easy, unimportant external thing all day.” (Brenda Ueland)

Ever notice creation of your best melodies and song ideas happen in your car or right before sleeping. Why is that?

..There are no distractions.

Of course, it’s easy to zone out and be available for music creativity when you have no distractions. That’s just not realistic though. With today’s music technology and social media explosion, you’re daily bombarded with distractions. It gets easy to forget that undisturbed focus is essential in achieving your music goals no matter what they may be.

But if you never allow yourself the freedom and the time to write, the time to enjoy the work you have done, the time to live and enjoy life, or the time to just ‘be’ and do nothing, is it possible you may be too busy or distracted with projects and tasks that do not lead to your ultimate dream?

Tutorial: How to Avoid Music Creativity Distractions.

1) Create a schedule for yourself.
2) Make time 1-5 times a week, even if its 10 minutes to slow down life.
3) Write a song, make a beat, do something fun or don’t do anything at all.

The point isn’t the results for this specific tutorial.
The point is to practice making time and to focus on the important things.

Strengthen your ‘making time muscle’ so that no matter what deadlines, urgency or crisis is in your life you learn to do what is important to you.. You do what will ultimately inspire you to keep moving forward.

By holding yourself accountable, practicing and improving on these 3 steps, you will not only avoid music creativity distractions but also find yourself achieving more parts of your dream every day.