Monday, June 14, 2010

Creativity: Don't Edit Yet!

I've had the good fortune of being in writing sessions with Grammy-winning songwriters.  They can create amazing songs within a matter of hours - start to finish, front to back, chords, drums, bass, three part harmony, cool lyrics, etc - while staying within the original intent and theme of the song.   Through experience and practice they have developed their own unique process of writing and co-writing hit songs on demand.    Yet even they experience writer's block from time to time.

So what do you do, as an aspiring artist who wants to begin writing songs and/or better yourself as a writer?

The first bit of advice I give most of my students is pretty simple: don't try to create and edit at the same time.

(And with that I will let you know that I deleted and re-wrote the above sentence a few times before allowing it to stand as is, LOL).

The right side of your brain is creative, artistic and musical.  The left side is very verbal and logical.   I find it is helpful not to allow them to fight for control during the writing process.  Instead, let them take turns.

Give your creative self a good twenty minutes to warm up (write all the crappy cliches for a while and something unique might appear once they're out of the way), and try to let it flow.  Later, perhaps later that day or later that week, it is appropriate to go back to it with a more critical approach and think about whether your verbs agree with your nouns (more on the use of good grammar in songs in another rant - I mean, blog post).  That's the best time to take a step back and think about what an objective listener will understand (or not get) from your song.

Have fun, and have the courage to write something really awful in the privacy of your own mind.  No one needs to know.  And we'll all enjoy the stuff you choose to share when you're ready.