Composing Music: Different Approaches

When I tell people I’m a musician, a lot of people usually ask me the same questions. The first thing they ask is the name of my band. It seems that to most people, that is pretty much all there is to being a musician. When I tell people I’m a composer a whole new set of questions arise. Most of them are completely in the dark about composing music. Composing music to most people, even some musicians, seems to be part genius and part magic. The truth is that composing is like any other skill a musician has. It’s a skill (or a muscle as I call it), that must be developed. The best thing for you to do if you want to become a better composer or writer is to simply start writing.

Just Do It

Yes, my first piece of advice is to simply start. This isn’t like jumping out of a plane; there is very little risk of bodily harm here. When I teach students I notice there are two general replies when I ask them to write a song (or improvise). Most students don’t know what to do or where to start. Even when they are given specific guidelines, there is still a lot of resistance. If I give them a simple exercise to strum some chords, or play a scale, there is no problem. As soon as I ask them to play the scale again but change it anyway they like, they usually give me an odd look and ask for more instruction. There seems to be part of our mindset thinking that we must know a set of rules before creating anything. I tell students that as soon as they pick up the guitar, they can make music. I encourage all of my students no matter what their age or ability to write and improvise. The only difference is the level of material being studied. For as long as I took guitar lessons, not once did the teacher ask me to take what they had given me and change it and make it my own. I wasn’t asked to make up my own compositions until I attended college! Why aren’t we asked to compose music from the very beginning? Why are we not given a bit of theory and then asked to compose upon that? There is no good reason not to do this.

The Approach

So you want to compose music but you don’t know where to start. There are many approaches. If you’re a serious writer I recommend trying them all at one point or another. I’m going to outline a couple of approaches here. Later we’ll get into specific songwriting and composition exercises. I do all of these exercises (approaches and methods) on a regular basis. Yes, these are exercises just like there are warm-ups, scales and chords to learn.

First off, let’s just run off a bunch of different ways composers going about creating music:

a) First and foremost, there’s the bang it out on piano, guitar (whatever your instrument) approach. This is the number one approach for many reasons. It’s usually a good idea (but not imperative) to write on a guitar or piano where you can play the melody and harmony at the same time. The parts you come up with will then be applied to the various instruments in your arrangement.

b) There’s the beat/groove approach were the song or melody is written to a groove or drum loop. This approach is effective because the groove is a prime consideration right off. It can also be advantageous because the melody isn’t reliant on a preconceived chord progression (more on this later). The lyrics and song are then written over top the groove.

c) There’s the lyric approach where the lyric is written alone without any melody, harmonies or groove. While not as popular as it used to be, it’s a good idea to work on lyrics aside from the song as a way to hone your lyric writing skills.

d) There is the loop approach where the music is entirely written based on pre-recorded loops and it’s just a matter of arranging and manipulating those loops. This has taken over in the past decade with all of the different hardware and software products available. This is different from b) because this is writing an entire song just by manipulating sounds and not writing a song (with lyrics and/or an instrument) over top.

e) Lastly there is the hum method. This is simply the matter of humming a melody or idea usually into a recorder to be applied to instruments and an arrangement later. As silly as this sounds, there have been a couple of notable composers and writers in the past that were well known for this method.

f) And of course, there is the application of all or any of the above in any combination.

The Method

Beyond these approaches, there are different methods to writing:

a) There is the search and destroy method. This involves just sitting at your instrument and banging out ideas without really knowing what you’re doing. It’s a matter of literally searching in the dark and waiting until you hit upon something that strikes you. The basis to this is that the musician usually has a basic knowledge of the style and their instrument. It’s a matter of searching to find something that strikes them and sounds like the thing that they’re looking for.

*This may not be the most efficient but it’s a great way to break the rules...mostly because you may not know what the rules are!

b) There is the preconceived form, style approach. This is the methodology used by musicians whereby the form, style and/or progression are set beforehand. The artist writes based upon that form, progression or rhythm. Examples of this would be:

• following the form (e.g. a 12 bar blues, the AABA form in jazz, the rondo, the sonata-allegro form etc.). This would be used in writing jazz tunes, blues, classical pieces and certain styles of folk music.
• following harmonic rules (as in the changes and turnaround in the blues, the changes in flamenco palos) 
• following preset rhythms and/or patterns. This would include a number of dances (waltzes, tangos, mazurkas etc.), the compas in flamenco music and Indian ragas. 

c) There is the musical/theoretical/ education approach. This is the approach whereby the musician studies the rules and theories behind the music and seeks to master that style. The musician would study other musicians’ techniques, the history and theories behind the style. This approach is used in most jazz and classical programs whereby the student is immersed in the study of music theory, history and technique. The point is to master the style while creating a voice of their own. This is basic approach to all education programs but also to a lot of musical traditions including jazz, flamenco, classical music, film scoring, etc.

*Even though most pop and rock musicians don’t realize it, they too follow rules about chord changes, form and rhythm patterns. The only difference being that these usually aren’t a consideration right off. Most pop music is written in the same forms, with rules involving chord changes and rhythm patterns. As soon as you fit your music into a general style, you are automatically following the rules for that genre. For example the diminished chord is used a lot in jazz and classical music but almost never in pop. The snare on the 2 and 4 is pretty much a given for most pop music…More on this later.

d) There is the study of composition. This differs with c) in that it involves deliberately writing for different styles. It is study in composition for its own sake and not a study of a particular style. For example if you were writing a dance tune your approach would be different than if you were writing a folk song. There are certain methodologies, theories and logics involved when writing in the different styles. For example when writing the folk song in the former example, you would probably spend a lot more time on the lyric than on the chord progression or arrangement. You may want to stick to traditional folk chord progressions and arrangements to keep it authentic so the listener would focus on the message and not the instrumental performance. It would be different than writing a head for a jazz tune where the harmonic progression would have a lot more importance. You would want to write something that jazz lovers would find interesting and not something trite or too clichéd.

e) Lastly there is the color, manipulation method. This is different from the first in the fact that it’s usually more about manipulating sounds and grooves. Here the writer doesn’t have any idea what they’re looking for and are just ‘throwing things together’ to see what fits. There are two categories like this because there is basic difference in the methodology here. The writer isn’t looking for preconceived methods and progressions and looking for something unknown.

All of The Above

We’re going to look into each of these different approached and methods one at a time and see what each has to offer and the problems inherent in each. If you are serious about writing you should take a look at each of the styles and see how they work for you. Most of the time you’re going to use the one approach to writing. This is good most of the time but the other methods may be useful to either get you out of a rut, stir your creative juices or to simply go somewhere you’ve never gone before.

Composing Music: Kill The Editor

Do you have a hard time coming up with ideas? How about having one of those sessions where nothing seems to work and all that comes out is crap? Do you have problems finishing projects? Do you start new projects with tons of energy but lose interest fast? Does it take you forever to finish songs?

If this is you, it may be because of your own inner editor that's inside us all. 


You inner editor may be killing your creativity.

Useful, Mostly

We all have an editor inside us. It's a very useful skill in most situations. It's the little person inside you that tells you when something might not be appropriate and stops you from making a fool of yourself. Most of the time the editor is quite useful if not essential to our wellbeing. For a lot of artists however, their inner editor is they're greatest enemy.

In art, it's imperative that we have this editor. Your inner self will question what you've done. It'll ask questions and cause doubt. It'll criticize and evaluate. These are all useful actions...to a point. The problem arises when you allow the editor in too early in the process. There is also the problem when you give the editor too much power and authority. The editor isn't playful and takes things way too serious. When you're trying to be creative, this isn't helpful.

The Exception?


Some people don't seem to have any editor at all. These are the people you meet who may be slightly delusional and no matter what people say, can't seem to see any fault in what they do or say. These are the people who can't take any criticism. When they do get some, they look at it as a personal attack and don't take any of it to heart. These are the people you see on 'American Idol' who are astonished and amazed when they are told that they don't have any talent; yet it seems completely obvious to everybody else.

The Norm?


For many artists though, their inner critic is all powerful. Their inner editor is such a tyrant that nothing they do is enough. No matter how good they may feel about your creations, the inner editor will get in there and tell them that it's terrible. It may not matter how many people tell them it's great, they still hold true to the editor's word. Some artists and writers go through their whole lives tweaking and editing their work until its 'perfect'; i.e.until their editor 'tells' them that it's good. The editor filters and distorts your reality. Sometimes it has great insight. It tells you what is good, what's not and it's spot on. Then there are times that the editor is completely wrong. There are times when the editor has no objectivity and only sees the faults. Unfortunately, since it's our own internal editor, there's no way for us to tell the difference...not at that moment anyway.

Cut It Off At The Pass

The best way to combat the over zealous editor is to completely shut it off...for a while. Shut it off when you want to get your creative work done Don't worry, it'll always come back. There are many ways to do this. One of the best is to simply set a timer and get working. Set the timer for half an hour or something short enough that it's not overwhelming. Then just get to work. Don't let the editor in. You'll know when it tries to get back in. It's that voice inside you telling you that what you're doing is terrible. It may be telling you that it's useless, this is bad, this isn't as good as what you did yesterday, it's too happy (sad, dark, light, whatever), etc. You get the idea. It's pretty much any negative thought. You also have to make sure that you stick to the time you set.. Procrastination can result as a symptom of fear and escape from the editor's harsh negativity. Sometimes that little bugger gets in there before you even start. It's then that it's the most dangerous.

Listen Carefully

Another way to ward off this creativity killer is actually pay attention to it. You know that you want to get the work done but there's something stopping you. Pay attention to what thoughts creep up that stop you from getting started or finishing. What's your internal dialogue? What's that editor telling you. You really have to pay attention to what's going on because the editor can be subtle. It may be giving you excuses like: you're being unrealistic (your work isn't that good), there are lots of people out there who are much better at this than you (so why bother), or your art isn't that important (you should be doing something more important...like vacuuming). These are subversive little things that go on in our inner dialogue killing our creativity and our ability to get the work done.

Take 5

The best way I have of fending off the editor is to take a break. Sometimes in the middle of a piece of work, I would hear my inner editor chirping away telling me how bad this piece was turning out. At that point I would take a break and leave it for a while. If you have one of those long sessions it's a good idea to take breaks. This gives your mind a break; not just a break in doing work but a break in thinking patterns. You'll find that something happens when you take a break and focus on something else for a while (or focusing on nothing at all is just as good). This breaks the patterns in your brain. It's that same as when you do any activity for an extended period of time. Your mind gets into a repetitive state. This is normally good. This is the time when we get ' into the zone' and things just flow. The problem arises when we get into repetitive patterns and we lose objectivity. Our ears and mind also get 'tired'. It's harder to tell when our ears get tired because there aren't usually any obvious tell tale signs. If I've been working on the same area for a long time, I know that I'm no longer being objective and I'll just drop it for the time being. I usually take a couple of short breaks during a session and then make sure I have one long break before making any final decisions. The best break for final decisions is overnight. I'm always amazed at how different the piece sounds the morning after a long session. The problem areas usually jump right out at me. The first listen is usually the best. Take notes.

Sabotage Part 2

Unfortunately, most people remember their failures much easier than they remember their successes. By remembering our failures, we hope that this may prevent us from doing the same in the future. Learning from your mistakes is one thing, but focusing on our weaknesses and failures isn't a great mindset. It sets you up to be defensive and no take chances. I've had students who didn't want to improvise because they didn't want to look bad. They knew that it probably wasn't going to turn out well so that stopped them from trying in the first place. This is part of the editor within us. It will stop us before we even start. It tells you how bad you're going to be before you even start or finish. It's the editor inside us telling us how we messed up. It's the faults and mistakes we hold close. This gives more power to the editor who uses this in it's favor. 'If you had just listened to me (the editor) in the first place...' it tells us.

Important Stuff

You have to make your creative work important; as important as showing up for your 'regular' job or an important appointment. It is an 'important appointment'. If your inner editor is getting in your way, you have to work at getting it out of the way just like you work at your craft. Working on this shouldn't be a full time job though. Work at getting it out of the way and then get to work. Make notes on why you didn't get something done or why you abandoned it before it was done. Listen to your inner dialogue and see if you can find the reasons why your aren't being as creative as you can be. Being creative is like any other discipline, it gets better with practice.

To be creative, you have to be willing to take chances. You have to be willing to fall flat on your face and get up again. You have to try new things even though you may not be sure if it's a good idea or not. Keep in mind I'm talking about creative risks here, these aren't life threatening decisions. At worst you'll feel bad, at best you may create a masterpiece. Trying new ideas, searching for that next great idea is never straightforward. The most important part is keeping the editor in it's place and only allowing it to come in when you ask. It's always a journey. There are going to be wrong turns. Don't stop at the turn before you even get a chance to see what's around the corner.

Practice Doesn't Make Perfect

It's pretty much a universal truth; practice makes perfect. Musicians know all too well that if you want to master your art, there is no substitute for practice. The problem is that this statement is much too vague.

The Blind Leading...

Just blindly practicing without thought can do more damage than good. Thinking that you can just show up and go through the motions can install false hope and produce unrealistic expectations. It also may cause doubt and pain after a huge investment in time and money is made and there are no results or improvement. There are right ways to practice and wrong ways to practice. There are wrong ways to learn and wrong ways to work. You can actually practice hard everyday and not accomplish very much at all. The student who practices wrong may be doing more damage than good; wasting years of time and effort practicing the wrong things over and over. Or, they may be going through the motions of practicing without making any effort or challenging themselves at all. Essentially, it's not enough to just sit down and practice, you must make sure that you are going about it the right way.

Why Are We Here?

While this may seem obvious at the outset, a lot of students will go about practicing without thought to why they are doing it in the first place. Some musicians have the really bad habit of practicing certain skills without too much thought about proper fingering or technique. People like to practice the same material and skills over and over. Learning new skills and keeping yourself challenged takes some discipline. Keeping on track with planning, execution and periodic self assessment is hard. It seems so much easier just to get to it; even when we know better. If may be as simple as not looking forward enough to see how much could be gained by some planning and discipline.


The Two Finger Approach

A lot of the time, making that initial investment seems like more trouble than its worth,. We're simply too lazy, can't be bothered and just want to get down to the task at hand. There are some skills that people don't take the time to learn even though the investment would be quite small in comparison to the time and money saved. The best analogy of this is the simple task of typing. Many people spend most of their day on their computer yet never learn to type. Even though it will save them a huge amount of time in the long run, they never take the time to learn and practice the skill properly. Some people go through an entire lifetime typing with two fingers. If they took the time to learn the skill in the first place, with regular practice they could double their typing speed in a relatively short time. The best part is that this is a skill that will stick with you the rest of your life. With a little concentrated effort and planning you may achieve much more in a significantly less amount of time. When you take the time to learn the proper technique, you will only get better with time. It's a good idea to think about this when planning your practice regimen. Think about what it is you want to learn and how (or who to go to) would be the best way to go about it.

Do You Have One?

First of all, how many musicians do you think actually have a practice regimen? By that I mean a specific time set apart where the musician will sit down and follow a charted course of lessons and exercises. How many musicians a) practice simply when they have a spare moment or just whenever they feel like it? b) actually take notes during their practice sessions? c) record their practice sessions and periodically review their progress? Working at something without actually charting your progress seems ludicrous. Can you imagine practicing a sport without taking the time to measure your progress and results? Yet how many musicians do this? How many musicians take a haphazard approach to practicing, writing, technique and their overall progress? As a student of any other activity, you would never do this.


General Rules

I'm going to go over some general rules to always keep in mind when sitting down to practice. These principles can also be applied to any endeavor which takes daily, regimented action.

Always do the following when sitting down to practice.

• relax and focus on the task at hand
• be mindful about what you're doing and why 
• review what you did in the last session
• plan for the practice session
• work on problem areas
• work on new skills and ideas
• take notes
• stretch and challenge yourself daily
• use a timer
• include warm ups and fundamental exercises
• make notes for next session
  

While this may seem like it would be a chore to do and hard to implement, it's actually like most other learned behaviours. Once you do it a couple of times, it becomes easier to do. After an extended period of time it will become automatic. It actually saves a lot of time and takes a lot of the guess work out of what you're trying to do. It's easier to stay on track because it's all right in front of you. There is little guess work. It may be hard for a lot of easy going, artistic personalities to get into such a regimen but once you stick with it for a while and start seeing results quite quickly, your attitude may change.

The Big Review

You're going to have to sit down periodically and do an overall review. These reviews serve two purposes. First of all it gives you a good idea of what you've done and what you want to accomplish. That way you can make sure that you're working on things that are going to get you where you want to go. With music, there are so many skills and things to learn that it becomes easy to work on many different things. It's easy to get into a whole set of skills that aren't related to what you wanted to accomplish in the first place. It gives you something to measure as far as seeing if you are actually moving toward your goal.

Secondly it also helps in motivation and keeping on track. It's all too easy to lose your place or even worst, lose your motivation when practicing. This after all, is just you. You have to try and be objective about what you've learned and if you're making any progress. If you've taken the time to write down what you want to accomplish, you can later go back and see if you've done what you've set out. A lot of the students I have taught get excited when they see the results in their playing. Sometimes, it's as simply as recognizing a chord progression on the radio, but once there are measurable results, it gives up the motivation to stick with it. There are always periods of what seems like no growth at all but then there are always moments of a-ha where you realize that have improved or accomplished something significant.

The Big Plan

One of the things that's important to do before you even start a practice regimen is figure out what it is you want to accomplish. Write down what specific skills you'd like to learn and what the big plan is. It should be within a given time frame. This could be a year or 6 months or even 3 months. Don't worry about being too accurate with your time frame if you're just starting out with a new skill. For a beginner this would include learning to play an instrument for an intermediate musician, it may be earning to write a symphony. You won't know how long this is going to take. As you get going with your regimen though, you should do a review after a couple of months. From this you will be able to tell if you're improving and it may give you a better idea of your time frame and how long it may take to learn a new skill.

Check, Check

You must make sure that you are checking your results and always striving to get better. It's possible to keep going over the same things and think that you are practicing but you're not. This is when people seem to hit that 'ceiling' and can't seem to improve. When learning new skills you may have to get 'worst' before you get better. There's the idea that mastering a skill takes 10 years but it's possible that you could work on something for a decade or more and see very little results. It's also possible for someone with a set plan, with the right materials and work ethic, to master something in a fraction of that time.

Working Solo: R&D

Last time we talked about some of the problems with goals setting and planning when working on your own. When you're a musician most of the time you're going to be on your own which makes it that much harder trying to get it all done.


What to Do…What to Do

Planning is simply figuring out what’s important, what needs to be done, and how it’s going to get done. The problem with the music industry is that there isn't one way to the top. There are as many ways of getting there as there are musicians. So what do you need to do? What's your first step? What's your next step? What needs to be done first? Of course the answer to any of these questions has a lot to do with where you are now and what you want to accomplish. There is no set approach for artists and musicians; more now than ever since the turn in music industry in recent years.


R&D

You are going to have to spend a part of everyday on career development. Most companies spend a good deal of time (and money) in research and development. As a business, you're going to have to do the same. It’s said that in business that you should be reinvesting a certain percentage of your profits back into R&D; otherwise you become obsolete and die. You need to be doing the same. That means spending time everyday doing some research in figuring out what people in your industry are doing to make it. Much like practicing and working at your craft, this is one of the things that you should be thinking about and working on everyday. How do you go about this? What do you do first? If you’re just starting out, you’re going to have to do quite a bit of research and a lot of trial and error.


This process of research and trial and error never actually ends; you just get better at it.


The ‘R’ Part

For a starting musician (or even if you’re not), you will need to do some research first. Go to your library and take out books. There are tons, pick a couple but don’t just read them, make notes and put some of the ideas into action. This will be the beginning of your master plan. Don’t worry if you’re doing the ‘right’ thing yet. It will become apparent what works and what doesn’t soon enough. Do some research online. Don’t spend too much time on this. You could spend years going through all of the stuff online and end up wasting a lot of time. Do the same process as you did with the books. Take some of the good ideas, print them out on a separate sheet so you can access them anytime. This will get rid of any temptation to do any extra surfing while trying to work on your goals. Make a list of some actionable goals from the ideas you got online and then get out there and do them.


People, Places

Get out there and talk with musicians. This may be your greatest resource. Even if they aren’t ‘rockstars’ yet, that doesn’t matter. Every musician has stories and lessons learned. Remember to take it all with a grain of salt. See what ideas you like and try them out. If you hear one piece of advice over and over; memorize it and learn from it. It may save you a lot of pain later. There is no substitute for real experience but with a little research there won’t be as many surprises. Make no mistake though, there will be surprises!


Always have research and development as part of your to do list. No matter where you are in your path, this always needs to be on your list. This must be an ongoing thing.


The ‘D’ Part

The development part has a couple of areas that needs to be considered. Just putting your research into action is part of your development. Tweaking that research and you master plan is another. Remember we’re talking about career development here and not about your art; development of your art goes is another article entirely. Development in your career also involves networking, administration and of course finances. If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent years working on your craft, leaving the business largely alone. There is no place for this anymore. Just as you work on songwriting everyday, you must work on the development of your career. This means that once the research has been done and you’ve written down some goals, it’s time to see what’s working. Most businesses have a method of measuring if something is successful or not. They measure if it was worth their while and check to see if they can replicate that process. If you can do this, it’s a good idea but a lot of the things that you do in your development wouldn’t be so clear-cut. Sometimes the most unexpected things happen as a result of something that seemed arbitrary at the time. Sometimes upon closer inspection, there things don’t turn out to be as arbitrary as you think. It’s all part of the process.


Anything Happening Yet?

There will be times that you can see a direct result of something that you had done as part of your R&D. This may be getting contacts at a networking event, meeting other musicians at a jam night or simply getting sales from a local gig. When you achieve some success, it’s important to take a second and figure out why. If you can trace your steps back and see what you did and how it resulted in that particular success, you’re more likely to do that again in the future. It simply means that this process or goal works for you and it’s always a good idea to build on successes. A lot of very famous musicians have built a career on making the most out of one or two ‘small’ successes.


Your Career Workbook

One of things that you may want to do right from the outset is put together a career workbook. I have one of these for my practice sessions as well but having one solely for your business, planning, career and PR is a good idea. Once you’ve made a list, put it in there. Any marketing ideas? Put it in there. CD release checklists, networking events, etc. Put it all in there. Some people like to have their workbook on their computer. I personally find a binder much better. I carry it anywhere, doesn’t need any batteries or back up, and I have a hard copy of all of the most important items. This workbook should be opened at least once a day and checked. It’s important that this is a vehicle for action and results; not another system that you spend all of your time on tweaking and updating. It’s a WORK book.


Try and Try Again

If you’re just starting out don’t worry too much about getting it perfect. Check out some of ideas that you’ve found in your research and get started. Keep a list of what you want to do and what you’ve done. If something works, make a note of it. Rework the research and the plan. It’s a work in process.

Working Solo: Staying Motivated

There’s been a ton written about the importance of planning your goals. It's common knowledge that one of the best things you can do to make your dreams a reality is to put together a list of goals and then take steps to get those goals done. This is rarely as simple as it seems. Take a trip online and see all of the websites, programs and applications that are supposed to make this process simple and painless. The problem with goal setting (and achieving) is that we all have different goals (approaches and applications) and different personalities (methods and motivators). There doesn't seem to be one system for all. What we're going to discuss today is a good starting point in putting together some lists so that you have a strong foundation. We'll look at some of the universal problems in achieving your goals. From here you may try any one of the systems out there and see what works for you. In any case, you'll have set the ground work and not matter which system you end up using, you will be heading toward your goals along the way.

You're Special

One thing that most systems don't take into consideration is the fact that no two people work the same. There are provisions in most time management systems that allow for folks to try and discern the most productive time of day and try to work around that but there's a lot more to it than just the time of day. People have different ways of working and different motivators. Some people like to work under pressure, some hate it. Some people need to work in a neat and orderly place, some people thrive on chaos. Most people need structure, though the amount varies a lot between individuals. Some people need a lot of supervision and feedback, some very little. You get the point here. There are a lot of other variables that most systems don't take into consideration. Some just leave these questions wide open and leave it up to the individual to figure them out for themselves. The problem is that these issues are really important and may make the difference between a system working for you or not. Let's look at a couple.


One is the Loneliest Number

One of the major issues people have today in getting things done is that most things have to be done on your own. This means that not only do you have to get the job done, but you also have to figure out what’s important and what needs to be done. Just as important you have to try and find the motivation to get do these things on a daily basis. The fact is that a lot of people don't work well completely on their own. Most people work best within a system with some structure. Working with other people, it's easier to stay motivated and on course. It's all too easy to let things slide when you don't have any one waiting on results. It's easier to think that an item isn't as important when it's your own responsibility and no-one's reputation or job on the line. The problem is that if you have an important item on your list that must be done, you must find a way in make sure that it gets done. If you boss tells you that he needs that report by Friday morning by 9, it's a lot easier to put much more importance on it because somebody is waiting for it. It seems easier for most people to get things done when there are other people waiting on it and you're reputation is at stake. That's why when people are trying to lose weight and going on an exercise regimen, they are encouraged to tell somebody they trust about their plans. When there is somebody waiting on a particular project, there is a huge built in motivator for you to get that done. When you're on your own, that external motivator isn’t there.


Feedback and Community

Along the same lines, another big motivator that keeps you on goal is feedback and community. When you have a community of people that know about your goals, you can turn to them for advice and motivation. Sometimes just being able to have a conversation about what you're working on and what you plan to do in the future may provide enough motivation to last for weeks. It certainly can help when you're not sure what to do next or if you're questioning the goal in the first place. There is also that built in motivator that we talked about in the last point. Suddenly there are other people that know about what you're doing and you may feel pressure to get things done just to keep up with the community. Community is also great when things aren’t going well. It’s comforting to know that there are others out there going through the same kinds of things that you are. It may also give you an idea of what the trouble is and finding a solution.


Welcome to the Show

It’s no longer enough these days to just be a musician. You need to be able to run your music career like a business. That means that most of the time you’re going to be doing a lot of things at once. Most of these things won’t be your area of expertise. You are literally a one person show. Even if you join a band, these same principles of running a business still apply. You won’t have the money to get all of the help you need so you’re going to have to do a lot of things on your own. You will have to start working your music career like a business.

As a business you’re going to have to set apart some time to make some plans. Knowing how you work, how to keep motivated and on course is critical for your success. At the end of the day, you’re on your own and it’ll be up to you to make sure that you get all that needs to be done…well, done.

Next we’ll take a look of some specific examples from the problems listed above and find some solutions.

Quality Control

Whenever the labels were going to release a new album, there was a procedure that they followed. It was all about timing and making sure that the proper channels were set up. That way, when the album was released, there would be enough momentum and they were assured a certain amount of press and air time. Things now are different. Now most artists do a lot of their marketing online. There is also the ability to get new material to all of their fans simply through their website and online aggregators. Because of the availability of tons of music at their fingertips, most fans can pick and choose what they want. There is no limited shelf space or even limited air space. As an artist you can pretty much now release whatever you want, whenever you want. Question is (just to be even more confusing), is this something you want to do?

Death of the Album

Before the advent of the internet, the album was it. Ever since the Beatles released albums like ‘Sgt. Peppers’, the album has remained the preferred choice for fans and labels alike. I’m still a fan and its how I usually choose to listen to the music and artists that I enjoy. I usually found that the tracks that I loved best from the artist were never the ones that made the top ten. But because of the internet, it’s now possible to get almost any song you desire. The concept of the album hasn’t completely died but it has now taken a far less important role. Like it or not, the single has once again taken the dominant role. The problem that arises for the artist is to consider even creating an album in the first place. There are many industry people that say creating an album is a waste of time since it’s probably not going to be ‘consumed’ that way anyway. They have a point but there is way more to consider here. You have to ask yourself some questions about what it is you want to do. If the idea is to create some tracks and then go out on tour then putting together a CD is critical. It’s also another way to sell your tracks online and gives fans another alternative. Like Trent Reznor has shown the world, it’s all about giving the fans choices. Some fans will want all of your tunes and putting together a complete CD package is the best way to do that. Albums also give fans a snapshot of were you happen to be at a certain time. I know that for my favorite artists, there are albums that I love more than others. In most cases, even if you do most of your sales online, it’s a good idea to put together an album since it creates another stream of income from your music.

Release It Now

There is one more item that should be looked at when releasing new material. This is what most industry insiders usually refer to when they say that releasing an album isn’t a good idea but they don’t explain it properly. It’s the idea of releasing material immediately. Since the distribution chain is almost immediate, you can release material the day it’s completed. This gives fans immediate access to new material and also gives them a reason to come back to your website. The advent of the big CD release should be reserved for special occasions when there is a market and gives you a great reason tour, to connect with more fans, and to send out press releases. Otherwise it’s a good idea to release material on a regular basis giving fans a reason to come back again and again. Some artists not only release new material on a regular basis but add other items such as videos and separate tracks for the fans to remix. In other words, break down any walls between you and your fans. Always give them a reason to come back. Releasing your new material is a great way to do this. Some artists have even released demos and asked their fans for feedback. There are other sites that allow fans to invest money into their favorite bands to help with recording and tour costs.

The Package

One thing that seems to get lost in this equation though is keeping your focus together. Sometimes it’s easy to just start writing anything and then sending it out there for fans to consume. There is a fine line between keeping fans back and simply filling up you website, just to fill it up. The point is that even though there is the ability to release whatever you want and get it out to people, do you want to release everything that you do? There still needs to be some filter to decide if the material is up to your own standards and musical vision. Even if the song is in demos form, is it a good representation of the band. Remember that once it’s out there, it’s out of your control. This is different from sending your stuff out for remixing. Once there have been new material ready, give it a day to review it and see if it something that you really want to get out there. There is a danger now that you can contact people anytime, to make sure that when you do connect, it’s for a good reason. Trust is the issue we’re talking about here. Fans know that if they go to your site that there’s going to be a certain level of quality there. Even if it’s a demo, they know that it will be of a certain quality when it comes to the content. There are a million ways to connect with you fans but there is only so much time in the day that they will be available. This means that when you do try and connect, have something worthwhile to give. There are artists online that constantly push their own stuff without giving much value in return. There is no room for that anymore. There needs to be content but it has to keep the fans attention. It’s not good enough to just have stuff there, it needs to mean something. Putting together CD releases is a great way to have quality content. Putting your newest tracks online for the fans to comment is also a great way to get traffic. Constantly bombarding people with your ‘go to my site’ isn’t. Releasing constant material without making sure it’s of the highest quality isn’t. People now have the choice to listen to anything that they want.

Quality Control

There are no surprises anymore. You can have the greatest marketing and websites in the world but without great content, you’re going to lose. That’s it’s important to always have new material but you have to make sure that it stands up to your standards. Releasing something just because you can isn’t a good reason. If you do this often enough you will betray people’s trust and they won’t come back. It’s been said a million times before and it still stands. It’s all about the connection with people. Release anything, whenever you want. Try to connect with as many people as you can. This takes a while and doesn’t happen in a day. The auto-replies and friends adders don’t work anymore. There needs to be a connection and a reason for people to come back. Give them as many reasons as you can to do this. Make sure though, that it’s something that you feel represents you and your music. Because after all; people and music, that’s what it’s all about.

10 Years or 10,000 Hours

Cover via Amazon

There has been a lot of talk lately about the latest book for Malcolm Gladwell called ‘Outliers’. The basic premise of the book is that superstars don't arise out of nowhere, propelled by genius and talent: "they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot." Examining the lives of outliers from Mozart to Bill Gates, he builds a convincing case for how successful people rise on a tide of advantages, "some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky." One of the most memorable parts of the book is where he goes on to talk about how these people had achieved success. Not only did they have certain advantages but they also put in an extraordinary amount of time and effort. The figure he comes up with as far as the time that needs to be put into an endeavor is about ’10 years or 10,000 hours’. He cites that this is the necessary amount of time needed to achieve that level of success.

How Long??

As an artist and a teacher I can see the validity of this point even if I don’t agree with the specifics. I look back at my own journey and see the value of sticking to a certain program and keeping focused on the music. I can also see the same thing in the students I teach. Whenever I get a new student I can already visualize all of the steps that he/she will have to go through to obtain some measure of artistic success. The problem I have is the notion that there is a certain time frame that we all need to adhere to. I have had too many experiences with too many people to magically throw a number at how long it will take for them to master a certain technique. Moreover, different disciplines require different approaches and completely different time frames. For example if a student comes in and tells me that he wants to become a concert pianist I can honestly say that the 10 year mark is pretty close. The level of proficiency for that kind of career is so high that even the brightest and most talented students will take many years of concentrated effort to get to a professional level. The same goes for a student wishing to become a master jazz improviser. For a young player to attain the level of playing necessary to compete, he/she will have to put in much more time on their instrument to achieve any kind of success. The difference between these disciplines and for example being in a rock band is that there is a certain prerequisite of playing ability just to get started. Arguably the bar isn’t as high when playing in a rock band where you’re look and performance has just as much importance. Most rock music is built on attitude and great songs and not chops and virtuosity. Although there is no reason why you’re rock band can’t be musically tight and put on a great virtuoso performance. The levels though are simply not the same.

Focus

One of the first things that I discuss with a student or somebody I’m working with is what we’re trying to accomplish. For most artists this is a hard thing to describe. Mostly because artists want to think that they have something completely original that can’t be described. Or, they’re not exactly sure what they want to do and are just hoping to get to work and see what happens. This is ok when first starting out or beginning on a new project. Just letting things happen can be a great way to start because you’re open to everything and you’ll just try things to ‘see what works’. In the beginning, defining yourself may not be necessary. There does come a point however, that it becomes absolutely necessary that you define yourself and your band. This is the best way to make sure that you are all on the same page and gives you an idea of what to strive for. Even if you don’t sit down to define who you are and what you sound like, it will happen anyway. There will be a point where you’ll be working on something and realize that it’s not you and that it doesn’t go with your sound. The point is that you will eventually have figure out what exactly your plans are and how you’re going to go about achieving them. Even now, when I get a new student or I start working with a new writer or vocalist the first question I ask is ‘what are we here for?’ This may be a generic idea like ‘we’re going to write a pop song’ or ‘we’re going to try some demos of our new material’. Either way, you have an idea why you’re there. Most projects, like most songs start out with a basic idea. After working on the project for a while, things become more defined. There will have to be a point where you see a general direction and will want to continue with that. Every individual in the Outliers book had focus. It was one of the things that separated them from the rest. They were willing to put in an extraordinary amount of time, and they had some external forces that helped them get that valuable experience. Were the external forces that the individuals in the book a result of the fact that they were so focused? Is one factor reliant on the other? We may never be absolutely sure about that but one this is certain: you absolutely need focus! Extraordinary opportunities may arise from simply keeping with the program.

Just Plain Lucky

There are a couple of examples from the book where Malcolm outlines circumstances in the individuals’ lives that gave them an edge over other people. The fact that Bill Gates had access to computer equipment when most people at the time didn’t was one of the reasons why he had an unfair advantage over others. I’ve written about being lucky a couple of times in this blog. My notion of luck is that it does have some force over things happening in your life but this isn’t something that you can depend on. I’m a big proponent of making your own luck. One of the examples Malcolm cites in the book is about how the Beatles had the chance to hone their skills by playing numerous shows a day in a club in Hamburg, Germany. I agree with the notion that this did have an effect on their abilities as musicians and as a band. The part I have trouble with is the fact that this was extraordinary luck. There have been other bands that have come and gone which had the same chance as far as honing their chops onstage. The Beatles had made an effort to go out and get the gig in the first place. The point is that they made the effort in the first place and made sure that when the opportunity came up, they were there to take advantage of it.

Some Deserved

There is no question that the life of artist can be hard. There are times when some people seem to fall by the waste side while others achieve incredible success. There have been times when it seems like the cream doesn’t always rise to the top. Sometimes it seems that there is no reason why some people succeed and some don’t. There is the notion in the book that some people gain an unfair advantage by simple blind luck. Some of the people had extraordinary circumstances that allowed them to achieve what they did. He mentions timing, environment and cultural advantages among others. My favorite examples are the extraordinary number of the richest people in history born within the same 10 year period. If they had been born 5 years either way, they would have been too young or too old to take advantage of the circumstances of the time. As far as artists go I have to agree with this. I mean could Bob Dylan have been as successful at any other time as he was during the 60’s? If he emerged as an artist today, would have he had been as successful? I doubt it. The problem I have with this is the fact that most people are a result of the time that they live in. If Bob was born in the 80’s would he have been a folk singer? We’re getting into some grey areas here that probably could never be answered but the fact remains that it’s impossible to separate the people from the time they were alive. There have also been artists who were relatively unknown in their own time, to be discovered long after they died. Bach immediately comes to mind here. They say that you can’t plan on becoming an icon. These things happen without your control whether you like it or not. Some people work hard and do everything right. Some people don’t. Some people will achieve an incredible amount of success in their lives. Some people will only achieve marginal success. The question of whether it was deserved is built upon preconceived notions of right and wrong and do’s and don’t within each society. There is the notion in our society that some people deserve success more than others. We have this idea that if you play by the rules and do everything right, then you deserve some measure of success. While I hold the same ideals most of the time, it simply doesn’t work like this.

Increase the Odds

Whether someone has unfair advantages is some thing you cannot control. Whether someone deserves it is neither here nor there when it comes to your own personal success. Your definition of success is just as personal as your goals in life. Some people work their entire lives to obtain some success. Some people reach most of their goals by the time they’re 30. What you want to do is take care of business and take control of what you can. Leave the legends and the acts of God to the cosmos. You have no control over that. You have no control over how long it will take or even how much talent you were given in the first place. Art is about self expression. You can be 10 years old and express yourself like a true genius. You may write your masterpiece after only a couple of tries or it may take you a decade. The only thing you know for sure is that you’ll never know until you sit down and get to it. The genius is in the doing and not the succeeding. You never know what’s going to happen in the end but you can enjoy the process. You can spend your life creating things that only you can create. There are better ways of doing things. Learn and utilize. That’s what this blog is all about. Figure out what you want to do and how you’re going to do it. Leave the luck and the rest to the gods. They have their own agenda.