Ways to stave off Fatigue in our own music

[RichardT]

I sometimes feel a sense of fatigue when I’m faced by big problems with a track, or even small problems that I don’t know how to fix.

What works for me is to break problems into smaller pieces, if that’s possible, and then tackle the easiest problems first, and build up to the difficult ones.

Somehow the difficult problems get simpler when the easy ones are fixed.

[James Perrett]

I need acoustic power today, not electronics, I need to hit something, blow something, drums, percussion, brass, you can’t beat the power of an acoustic instrument, also a guitar through an amp up full,

A few years ago I went on a course which ended up being very intense. At the end of one of the days there were some percussion instruments left out around the room. One of them was a djembe. I had never played one before but I picked it up and started tapping out a rhythm. One of the other participants (who was also a drummer) picked up some bongos and started playing along. Other people started to join in so that, after about 15 minutes the whole room was engulfed with people banging, shaking and scraping whatever they could. It was an amazing cathartic experience.

Nowadays I make sure that I have some percussion instruments around - just in case.

[OneWorld]

I sometimes feel a sense of fatigue when I’m faced by big problems with a track, or even small problems that I don’t know how to fix.

What works for me is to break problems into smaller pieces, if that’s possible, and then tackle the easiest problems first, and build up to the difficult ones.

Somehow the difficult problems get simpler when the easy ones are fixed.

"Look after the pennies and the £pounds look after themselves" same principle. Or in computer science and the topics regarding coding, we 'atomise' a problem, break it down to its constituent parts and deal with things as discrete objects, then join the bits up

[Arpangel]

I need acoustic power today, not electronics, I need to hit something, blow something, drums, percussion, brass, you can’t beat the power of an acoustic instrument, also a guitar through an amp up full,

A few years ago I went on a course which ended up being very intense. At the end of one of the days there were some percussion instruments left out around the room. One of them was a djembe. I had never played one before but I picked it up and started tapping out a rhythm. One of the other participants (who was also a drummer) picked up some bongos and started playing along. Other people started to join in so that, after about 15 minutes the whole room was engulfed with people banging, shaking and scraping whatever they could. It was an amazing cathartic experience.

Nowadays I make sure that I have some percussion instruments around - just in case.

Yes, it’s very cathartic, I need to build up a percussion box, a drum kit would be good too.
I love playing the drums, I love getting into a groove, I miss it a lot, there’s nothing like the feeling of playing a groove, and someone else, bass, joining in, then others, the only thing that comes close is singing harmony in a choir.

[Folderol]

I have no idea what triggers inspiration for me, and don't want to try to examine it too closely. I don't have deadlines to meet and it comes when it wants to. As a result I don't have a specific workflow either - just the ability to switch everything on quickly so I can start playing as soon as possible.
There are just a handful that were complete as soon as I hit 'stop', others that I added extra layers of accompaniment/harmonies to, and those that I did extensive editing on. It's all whatever seems 'right' at the time.

P.S.
Forgot to mention 'the time' can be anything from 5 minutes to 20+ years

[tea for two]

P.S.
Forgot to mention 'the time' can be anything from 5 minutes to 20+ years

Sounds as me
I've recently finished a few pieces I started around 2004 2005.

Actually this has helped stave off fatigue in those pieces.
Becuase I finished them, I no longer revisit them to keep plugging away at them.

So I would add to the list :
Completing pieces so that we don't return to them time and again.

[tea for two]

It is important I feel to have some sillyness in some music we compose just as it is important to laugh.
To me this helps stave off fatigue.

I have some haha silly tracks. Also some candy floss tracks.
Because there's a silly billy numpty part of me lol also because it gets too heavy for me to always make something meaningful which gets fatiguing for me.

[RichardT]

It is important I feel to have some sillyness in some music we compose just as it is important to laugh.
To me this helps stave off fatigue.

I have some haha silly tracks. Also some candy floss tracks.
Because there's a silly billy numpty part of me lol also because it gets too heavy for me to always make something meaningful which gets fatiguing for me.

Yes, I agree!

[OneWorld]

I don't overthink things and just stop. I wouldn't bother making lists though. if I had the inclination I'd do what Ed Sheeran pledged to do, and did do, and that was write a new tune each day.

I think Dolly Parton did something much the same and has over 1000 tunes to her name. She says only a handful are anything special, but seeing as a couple of them made her a millionaire, she ain't complaining. What a gal!

[NickDawes]

One of the ways I like to freshen things up is just by using different DAW's, especially if I've never used them before. With a different workflow and a limited knowledge of the set up, it can force me down different paths and get me out of my comfort zone.

[forumuser940434]

I find having a day job pretty effective in stopping me getting any fatigue in creating music!
More seriously, but in the same vein, having other pastimes is key for me.

Yes for me thats also nr #1 something completely different.

[tea for two]

I think Dolly Parton did something much the same and has over 1000 tunes to her name. She says only a handful are anything special, but seeing as a couple of them made her a millionaire, she ain't complaining. What a gal!

I adore Dolly Parton.
Isn't that just it : it's natural as a creative person to just create whilst the mojo is with us.
(Once mojo gone, fatigue can set in).

::

One of the ways I like to freshen things up is just by using different DAW's, especially if I've never used them before. With a different workflow and a limited knowledge of the set up, it can force me down different paths and get me out of my comfort zone.

This is actually practical in these days.
Well worth exploring.
Also pretty straightforward to do nowadays esp with Lite versions also ios daw's that are relatively affordable.

[tea for two]

Having alter ego/egos.
Composing stuff as our alter ego/egos.

::

JmJarre article in this months SoS.
JmJ saying
"Assembling sounds that have nothing to do with each other."

[tea for two]

Making : forget about your worries music.

(To even out any navel gazing, shoe gazing, music we might make).

[tea for two]

Don't give a flying f about trying to make music that others might get, others might connect with, others might want to listen to.

Just make the darn thing and to hell with it.

[tea for two]

Making our own take that steps away from convention.

If say we are making a Blues, Folk, Rock track : keeping a couple of times as convention, our vocal the main instrument, the rest stepping away from convention.

For instance I have Folky tracks, where the main instrument melody tune sounds Folky. The rest, the accompaniment has very little to do with Folk.

[Guest]

There is only one way I work on multiple songs at once: I want to record my vocals, and I don't want to do that if my wife or daughter are at home: I would feel very self-conscious and don't want to bother them. Then I'd allow myself to start another song. Otherwise, I feel I'd have a tougher time completing a given song, which takes me roughly a month. But different strategies work for different people. I probably spend roughly 10 hours a week working on my original songs. If I did much more than that I might burn out.

[Sam Inglis]

Interesting discussion!

If I have anything to add it's that, from my own experience, there's ultimately very little connection between how I feel about something as I'm working on it and how I feel about it in the long term. Many times when I've felt inspired or excited during the creative process, the cold light of day has shown up the results quite badly. And many times when the creative process has felt like a tedious slog, the results have held up quite well.

[OneWorld]

And to think that Paul MacCartney wrote some of the world's most remarkable tunes in a day, or Ed Sheeran, when he started out committed himself to writing a song a day, or Dolly Parton who said "I wrote over 2000 songs and 99% are garbage, but one of the other 1% made me a millionaire, what's wrong with that"

I think it was her that said "You know, I realised the harder I worked, the luckier I got"

I guess people such as those mentioned above are just of a different league to the rest of us - who else could come up with a single word 'Yesterday' 'Michelle' 'Jolene' 'Imagine' etc etc etc and box the job off and have the tune oven ready in a day or so. I just the pragmatism and matter of fact perspective the stars have.

[GilesAnt]

I think it was her that said "You know, I realised the harder I worked, the luckier I got"

It was the golfer Gary Player...though to be fair a lot of people have been credited with that line