When creativity explodes

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 6:34 am

Hey All,

I got somethin' to share with you, and I was wondering if anyone can relate.

Background: I have struggled many days through life, during the last ten years, almost constantly during the six most recent.

Here's the short version... On May 10th, of this year, I had the worst day I've had probably in my whole time, so far, on Earth. I was able to get calm by the day after, but not only that, something strange happened. I swear it's like a spark to gasoline, and this is the first time it's happened. The next day I wrote a song called, "Force-Fed", and since then, with the exception of six to eight days of not writing, six due to the removal of my wisdom teeth, I've been writing at least one song every day. That is when I did decide to write down the ideas. Now, today's June 14th, if I'm correct, and the number since May 10th is at 26 songs (lyrics with tunes; no music). Only a few were not finished (though close), due to lack of a band. To give you an idea, in an estimate of three weeks prior to the day that triggered this, I only wrote five songs. Not only that, during this "flow", I've been able to just sit down and write a song if I felt the urge, and during that estimated time period, the ideas weren't spontaneous at all. I had to wait for them to come to mind.

Believe it or not, that was pretty short for all the details I didn't bring up. But if anyone has had this happen to them, I'd like to hear about it, because I had no clue this type of creativity was in me. I'm not a genius... So, it seems a little strange. Speak up!

Cheers and a Smile!

RiCterMan

P.S.: Just Ask me if I'm doin' better...! Very Happy

ubw newbie Joined: Jun 27, 2005 Location: Utah Posts: 43

I totally understand. I am not a depressed person but I always write better stuff if I am feeling down.

I hope you are feeling better (but still creative).

James

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 8:52 pm

Congrats on all the tunes. Take advantage while it's flowing.

I think sometimes the muse takes alot of building up to. I go through long periods of not working on music and then long periods of working on it. After being away from it for a while I rarely get cool stuff right when I go back, but after several weeks/months its sortof like everything starts to fit together more easily - almost like your mind is putting stuff together on its own - but it's gotta be fed with ideas built up from the previous weeks/months. Inevitably I'll burn out again and the cycle starts over.

smili

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 9:11 pm

All of my songs portray thoughts or events which I have experianced.

I write on average around 20 songs a week at the moment (only about 10 of which are fully finished) and then I descard about 18 of those leaving me with 2 songs which I am happy with each weak.

I find that writing things down helps sometimes... and write more for a way to express my thoughts or feelings than to create music for my band.

I go through spells though; and this one just so happens to be a bad one... hence the large amount of lyrical output I'm getting right now. Now I'm on my holidays... I predict a steep decline in songs as my mood rises back up.

Next time I'm down, it will be for entirely differant reasons to now... and I'll look back on songs which now I might think are 'my best ever' and discard them without a second look. I'm like that.

Not all songs require misery and depression to be considered 'good'... but it is these songs which people find they are able to relate to; and it is this quality which some people (myself included) look for in a band, rather than flashy guitar parts and other parts of the composition.

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 9:36 pm

Tom,

20 songs a week? That is crazy! I'm averaging a maximum of 8-10 per week, but 20? Wow...

I know what you mean about songs being less depressing, but still being good. I'm actually finding I like both, but the more upbeat songs I've written have more liveliness to them. Although I just wrote a new song yesterday called, "Anarchy Creeping", and as the title portrays, it's kind of gloomy, I think it's pretty cool. I'll probably post it later tonight, or on Sunday sometime.

I gotta go for a while, because a friend is supposed to be calling long distance any minute. So Cheers to All, and I'll be back!

RiCterMan

Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 5:49 am

Why so surprised?

I don't even spend that long doing it... I just live my life and write down anything good that pops up in my head; and then go back and spend a while working with it if it's somthing I realy like.

I tend to find the only time I actually spend working on lyrics is when I'm arranging them and trying to join things together.

I rarely ever sit down with the purpose of writing lyrics... because I always fail. My best lines just come to me. When it's forced, it sounds forced.

ubw newbie Joined: Jul 02, 2005 Location: earth Posts: 41

i get creative spurts at the worst times.i'll be at work or at the gym, so i carry a little notebook with me to jot stuff down.

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2005 4:31 pm

Tom,

I was just pretty surprised, because honestly, I've never heard anyone say they've written 20 songs in a week. I find that to be very cool. I also write what comes to mind, when I'm writing, though I do try to give it substance at the same time (I'm sure you do it too). When I start writing though, it's always fifteen minutes or longer, and most of the time I end up completing the song.

Joker,

I always keep at least one notebook close at hand, too. In all I have around ten to thirteen notebooks with lots of songs in most of them. Of course' they've accumulated over three to five years, so I'm not implying I'm a lyrical prodigy or anything. Laughing

You mentioned writing at work; I worked at burger king, AKA hell, for a few months, and we didn't have a huge outpour of customers every night, so I did the same thing. I'd ask for a sheet of paper if I got an idea, and I'd write down the first two to three lines, so I'd have a general idea. Then, after work I'd come up with the rest.

Well, I think I'm gonna go post something different. It is another song, but it's not even close to being finished. I really wanna post it though, because I really like this one. I started writing it earlier, because I was inspired last night. Oh boy... You'd be surprised where you can find inspiration. Alright All; Cheers!

RiCterMan

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2005 7:59 pm

Don't get me wrong... I don't just jot things down and then leave them untill I can be bothered.

Sometimes I just need to wait a while for the next line to come into my head.

I must say... my best work does tend to be the stuff which I write all at once. Leaving a gap in between the time a song is written can sometimes leave my songs in 2 different frames of mind. Occasionally this will work out for the better; but most of the time it will lead to the song being discarded.

I'm sure it would probably be wiser to just concentrate on writing say; 5 songs a week... as I'm more likely to come up with 4 or 5 good songs (in my opinion) as opposed to 1 to 3 when I work on alot more... but as it is, I have no real need to write more songs. I have way too many as it is.

Also at the moment, writing songs is sort of fun to me. I get the feeling if I tried to change the way I do it it would become a task... and would eventually bore me.

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2005 9:39 pm

I can relate to pretty much everything you just said, Tom. Soon, I'm gonna post a song I wrote earlier and it was, emotionally, the most intense I've written by far. I couldn't just go back to this one, because (as you referred to in the reply) I had to keep that mind frame as strong as it was when I started.

I showed it to someone when it was finished, and I was literally shaking after the last note, because the subject of the song is one that angers me greatly. It was the second time I felt that way after singing one of my own pieces. You should check it out when you get the chance. It'll be the last one for a week, because I think it's better to take breaks every so often, so I'm not posting a song pretty much every day.

Well, I'm leaving to check out more posts, and post that song. Cheers!

RiCterMan

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 5:00 pm

I checked it, and thought it was ok. (assuming it was the song about domestic abuse). To be honest... I think you have done better; but that may because the issue has little relevance to me.

I wrote 2 songs today.

One was about venting feelings, and the other was about writing songs for people.

I can't believe how desperate for material I am Razz

Let me know what you think... (one is burried as I commented on a whole bunch of other peoples song and it got moved half way down the page)

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 9:40 pm

Thanks Tom,

I'll check out both of your songs here, in a little bit.

First, the song about domestic violence is the one titled, "The Rescue". It's kind of strange, because written out, it does look a little sloppy, but when I sing it, it's like my emotions take control, and it sounds pretty intense compared to some of my other songs. Of course', that's just my opinion. I may have said it before, but I try hard not to think about my songs' quality being anything more than good to me, because how good my songs are isn't based on my opinions. It's based on the reader/listener's opinions, and if I wrote something and said, "Wow, this is very good!", I'd feel narcisistic. I think musicians or anyone who writes music, and gets an ego over their works, especially without any positive reception from others, are just ignorant. I say ignorant, because I saw a band fall apart, because of their lead singer developing an ego. They were a local band, and they were about to become the 3rd band (from the area), in recent years, to recieve national attention. That lead singer was totally ignorant to his part in his, and the band's, missed oppurtunity. After I saw that ocurr, I made it a goal of mine never to be that way, whether I was solo or in a band.

Well... Last thing I'll say before I leave is that I've set a new record with my song writing. Since later Sunday night, I've managed to write all or most of four songs. It's not too much of an increase, but it's still a record for me, I guess. But now it's time to go to another forum. Cheers, All!

RiCterMan

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 8:54 am

I disagree with alot of that post.

You say that it is ignorant for a band to have an ego; how so?

A band is either going to be basing their views that they are great or whatever on their opinions; or other peoples. Just because they think their band is great doesn't make them ignorant. If I like a band... and say they are great, it would be because I enjoyed the music they were producing, and thought there was talent. Why can't bands think the same about themself.

I could never be egotistical about my music... I can't even listen to it; as everytime I do, I just notice all the mistakes I make... and how it could be improved. I think any musician or artist should feel this way about their music. I doubt all of the 'big' bands have more than a few songs in their careers which they view as being 'perfect'.

However... some people do. They are entitled to. Although I don't see how they could; I feel they have a right to be egotistical if they truly feel that their music is perfect. If they have others telling them they are great, they are going to believe it. If a large number of people told you how great you were, wouldn't you begin to believe.

You may notice when talking about my own music on here... I always try to put '(in my opinion)' after every comment I make. Why? So I'm not called egotistical and 'ignorant'. Don't you think that's a little pathetic that I should feel a need to do that?

Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2005 12:49 am

Tom,

You got the wrong idea about what I said. I should have said that a musician can be egotistical about their part in the band, and the band's music in general, but not excessively.
What I was saying was that going overboard isn't a good thing. I mean think about it; if a member of a band starts to think he's better than the rest of the people he/she is working with, and becomes an asshole, whatever amount of greatness the band has already achieved, they won't last in most cases. See, I'm not saying have a "closed mouth", when it comes to anyone's music. I'm saying that an artist shouldn't make it a point to go around stating that they're the best musician on the Earth.
I do the same thing you do though. I always make it a point to say stuff like what you said, ("in my opinion"), and also "there is room for improvement." As far as that second statement goes, even if I don't see anything wrong with something I wrote, there's not a strong chance that it can't be improved further.
I would tell you, and now that I've thought more into it I'd say the same to myself, don't say "in my opinion" anymore, because really, you stated yourself that you have the right to think/say whatever you want about your music. Seriously man, you should just wait until someone thinks badly about what you've said, and then when they tell you, let them know that the truth of whatever that may be. From now on, I'm going to do what I just suggested to you, because I think that saying things like that is kind of a slight paranoid action. Why should we care, until they say something? This is the internet, so it's not like they're gonna' have an easy time knowing our attitudes, or what we are trying to say, anyway.

(NOTE to All): This is just a pause, in case you wanna' stop reading to take a break, or even come back later. This reply turned out to be very lengthy, so it might be a good idea.

See, it's one thing for a band that knows they're great to say it, because usually they have gotten some form of positive reception, but for one person in a band to think they're great, when they haven't been well recieved, that's different. On top of that, if someone thinks that they are the definitive reason the band is considered great, that is different too. You might know as well as I do, that a band isn't made up of a "musical god", and other band members who have much less talent than that one person, who may feel like they are the reason the band is so amazing. If that were true, the group of mainstream bands/artists, today, would be so infiltrated (right spelling-?) with musicians, that it would be a lot of bands that could be better, and less bands that stood out. Wouldn't you say that a great band is great, because they work together as a whole to make their music?

A quick example of too much ego is this. The band Saliva doesn't appeal to me. Still, I used to and still do admit they have some talent. That doesn't mean that I respect them, though, because I heard something on the radio that made me a little upset. When they were just getting big, they did a show at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, about an hour from where I live. They had already gotten a nice pile of cash for their (at the time) latest album, yet they were charging people $50 for autographs. Some boy, under the age of ten, that stood in the line for a long time was refused an autograph because he didn't have the money, and his father basically said, "screw this," because he didn't think it was right. Who knows...? Maybe I'm wrong about Saliva, and they will become the greatest rock band to ever create music (doubtful), but I could never respect any music artist who thinks greatly of their talent to an unusually, excessive point.
But Tom, you're posts are some of the ones that I enjoy reading the most on here, so I really don't think anyone's gonna disagree too much with what you say about the quality of your lyrics or the music behind. Lastly, If I sound like I'm trying to "kiss up" to you, or whatever, in the reply posts, I'm not. I don't say too much of anything that I don't mean. When I say something about anyone's lyrics, I could care less about how they percieve it. I'm not in need of people thinking I am a nice person, because in person I'm moderately kind, but when I enjoy something musically, it's different. It's complete honesty. If people were to think I walk down streets with a huge smile, giving money to homeless people every time they ask, or shouting "hello" and random compliments to strangers, that's not even close to what it's like. In public, I talk to people I know, or I mostly keep to myself. The whole, "Cheers and a smile, to All!" phrase that I put at the end of my posts...; that doesn't say a thing about me, except I've heard it, and decided I to use it at the end of my posts. It's basically tied in with me feeling better lately, and not about me being the "never-ending teeth exposer. I don't even smile that much, at all, unless I'm having an incredible time somewhere.
Alright... That's a lot, but oh well. I'll be back tomorrow, sometime. Cheers to Tom, and the rest of you!

RiCterMan

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 9:19 am

Go with the flow. Crap experiences can producesome amazing results and hope you share some of those results here.
Would love to listen

I m L

When creativity explodes

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