being more open
On the weekend I caught up with an old friend, Andrew, who has been working with electronic music as a hobby for about 8 years or so now. He played me a couple of his more recent songs, and I was really impressed. The professionalism in those songs really stood out from ones he'd played me even just 3 or 4 months ago.
Andrew attributed the change to a new sequencing application he'd acquired, and the time he was now saving on low-level tasks like importing samples. He was inspired to upgrade his equipment after seeing the setup Geet and Paul helped me to assemble at my place. I was a bit stunned when he used that word 'inspired'. All of a sudden, I realised another important facet of how to motivate myself to write songs: talk to like-minded people! Simply talking about my attempts at songwriting should really make a difference, on a number of levels.
First of all, getting an insight into other people's successes and failures really helps to put your own into context. It's good to know that you're not the only one struggling with it all sometimes. And not only is seeing/hearing great work inspiring, but knowing that you've been involved in the process which created it also provides a great motivational boost.
Secondly, for an impact which is less obvious, but more long-lasting, talking to others openly about what I'm trying to do will help me make that mental shift, from engineer with a hobby, to musician looking for an opportunity to quit my job. Now that day's still a while off, but by being more open about this stuff, I'll be able to gradually shift how I regard myself, and that should translate directly into increased effort being put into my songwriting. Making these blog posts is in much the same vein.
Now hopefully I can maintain the excited feeling that writing this post has given me, and jump straight into the music room as soon as I get home!
Andrew attributed the change to a new sequencing application he'd acquired, and the time he was now saving on low-level tasks like importing samples. He was inspired to upgrade his equipment after seeing the setup Geet and Paul helped me to assemble at my place. I was a bit stunned when he used that word 'inspired'. All of a sudden, I realised another important facet of how to motivate myself to write songs: talk to like-minded people! Simply talking about my attempts at songwriting should really make a difference, on a number of levels.
First of all, getting an insight into other people's successes and failures really helps to put your own into context. It's good to know that you're not the only one struggling with it all sometimes. And not only is seeing/hearing great work inspiring, but knowing that you've been involved in the process which created it also provides a great motivational boost.
Secondly, for an impact which is less obvious, but more long-lasting, talking to others openly about what I'm trying to do will help me make that mental shift, from engineer with a hobby, to musician looking for an opportunity to quit my job. Now that day's still a while off, but by being more open about this stuff, I'll be able to gradually shift how I regard myself, and that should translate directly into increased effort being put into my songwriting. Making these blog posts is in much the same vein.
Now hopefully I can maintain the excited feeling that writing this post has given me, and jump straight into the music room as soon as I get home!