FOUR SECRETS TO CREATING INSPIRATION

Welcome Curious Composers

I hope you are having an amazing day full of music, creativity, and your favorite beverage. You better believe I got my iced latte.

Today I reveal my 4 secrets to creating inspiration!

These four simple techniques to creating inspiration are the building blocks to enjoying the creative process. Their purpose is to transport you into a creative headspace that is clear of the emotional and physical clutter the 21st century brings to our lives. 

Are you ready? Let’s Go!!!!!

The Four Secrets Revealed

1)  Schedule a Pre-Composing Routine.

2)  Prepare Your Workstation Before You Start Composing.

3)  Silence Your Phone While You Compose

4)  Compose Every Day.

Now that my secret is out. Let’s explore how they will impact your life and enhance the quality of your time spent composing music.  

1) SCHEDULE A PRE-COMPOSING ROUTINE

Your pre-composing routine is your time to emotionally prepare yourself to compose. This time you allocate is precious, as it grants you the freedom to engage in activities you might otherwise indulge in during procrastination. Guess what? If you pre-planned it, it’s not procrastination. 

It’s your Pre-Composing Routine!

IMPORTANCE OF CALLING IT A PRE-COMPOSING ROUTINE

Be sure you’re calling it your pre-composing routine. If you keep a calendar, write it down. The name will commit and hold you accountable to the fact that composing must come next. If you call it something as vague as a morning routine, procrastination will get the best of you. Tic Tok video’s or laundry are going to consume your composition time. I don’t care how cute the cats are on Tik Tok or how smelly your clothes are. When it’s time to compose music, you want to dedicate all that time to composing music.

EMOTIONALLY STABLE STATE OF MIND

A few weeks ago, I got a traffic ticket because according to the cop my front wheels were past the stop sign line. Really! $300 and traffic school for that? Back at home, with a strong latte, I tried to compose but I couldn’t shake the bad vibes. Frustration and stress was coursing through me. The emotional turmoil over the ticket was an unwelcoming and inhibiting companion to my composition endeavors.

In order for the muse to find a space in your head to inspire you, you need to be in an emotionally stable state of mind. The daily stressors and unexpected challenges that life presents can significantly impede your creative productivity. Establishing a pre-composing routine is the remedy.

Your pre-composing routine is your time to clear your head and emotionally prepare yourself to create music. Before inspiration is invited into your life, you need to create an inviting space for Inspiration to enter. 

PRE-COMPOSING ROUTINE IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS

My pre-composing routine is simple. I go to Coffee Bean and enjoy an extra large Iced Latte while reading an inspiring piece of nonfiction. Recently, my favorite books include:

Real Artists Don’t Starve

Super Fans

To Pixar and Beyond

After I indulge in my daily dose of caffeine and an inspiring book, I take Charlie, my adorably fluffy Dalmatian terrier-mix, on a 45 minute walk. During my walk with Charlie I listen to music and podcasts. Plus just being with Charlie inspires me. That’s why he is sprawled out on my couch directly behind me while I compose music.

My pre-composing routine preps and conditions my brain and body for the mental challenge of composing. Carving out time and defining a daily process for a pre-composing routine, makes my time composing more engaging and productive. I’m able to focus more! I’m not stressing over any drama that may have happened before sitting down to work! I’m in the creative headspace that invites inspiration to visit while I compose. 

This is what I want for you when you compose.

No matter how fatigued or lacking in inspiration you feel at the start of your day, your pre-composing routine will leave you emotionally primed for music composition. You will eagerly anticipate the opportunity to sit down and immerse yourself in your music, with no other aspirations or desires stealing headspace.

Listen, you know you best!  You get to decide what your pre-composing routine is and how long it’s going to be. Paying jobs, friends, and family priorities will have a say. Quality time with all of them certainly are important in maintaining a healthy work-life balance as a composer. So if you’re struggling with only having 24 hours in a day, find ways to incorporate those priorities into your pre-composing routine. 

Here are a few other suggestions for your consideration:

• Exercise (Personally I go to the gym after Composing, however, any form of exercise is a wonderful pre-composing activity too)
• Read (I find non fiction to be more inspiring, however, if Fifty Shades of Gray gets your creative juices flowing, nobody is judging. Read On!)
• Go for a walk (I go on two 45 minute walks every day. It is 100% the best activity for reducing stress, getting inspired, and spending quality time with my dog. It’s my miracle cure for everything. Don’t underestimate its power)
• Listen to inspiring music or podcasts (Do it while you walk )
• Watch a tutorial video on youtube (Write down one useful technique you learned and apply it to your writing session)

Prepare Your Workstation Before You Start Composing.

There are two parts to composing music. 

1. The Preparation

2. The Composing

It’s easy to get the two mixed up. If you schedule yourself one hour of writing time but 30 minutes is eaten up with time organizing your desk and dealing with technology issues, you’ve reduced your composing time by 50%. 

TECHNOLOGY ISSUES

We live in a very technology driven age. Back in the old days, all a composer needed was pen and paper. Today we have computers, DAW’s, midi controllers, virtual instruments, synthesizers, sample libraries, notation software, and music plugins. The list is endless. 

While I deeply appreciate and rely on modern technological tools in my daily life, I can’t help but admire the simplicity of the bygone era of pen and paper. In those times, composers faced far fewer distractions and enjoyed a singular focus on their craft.

That said, I don’t envy the fact that they didn’t have air conditioning. Composing music in the summer heat of California sucks.

The point being with all this technology there are a million things that could go wrong to distract you from actually composing.

Double check! Triple check all the technology you’re using. Make sure it’s  working before you start composing. Recently I was producing a new electronic piece. I was about a week into the project. I work in a DAW called Digital Performer. On this particular day every time I opened up my project I got what I call the spinning loading ball of death. After two minutes of watching the rainbow colored spinning ball spin on my mac, Digital Performer would crash.  It took me nearly two hours to figure out a solution and by the end I had zero motivation to work. 

It wasn’t the fact my project wasn’t working that stressed me out so much, although that did make me want to throw my computer off a cliff,  it was the fact that I was wasting valuable composing time on a technology issue. 

Technology issues accumulate stress and occupy a vast majority of your mind’s bandwidth. You might as well stamp “not open for business” on your forehead, demanding inspiration to move on to the next artist. 

Do yourself a favor! 

Make sure your technology is working before you start to compose. 

STUDIO SPACE IS CLUTTERED AND DISORGANIZED

Clutter on your desk will clutter your mind. A cluttered mind allows no room for inspiration.  

Try clearing your workspace and leaving only the essentials. 

Try clearing clutter in other areas of your life including your closet, toxic relationships, and your computer. 

I did and believe me it’s a game changer. 

Composing music already presents its share of challenges. Clearing clutter from your workspace and life will proactively establish an environment conducive to your creative process. Providing open space allows you to compose music with greater ease and minimize preventable resistance.

3) SILENCE YOUR PHONE WHILE YOU COMPOSE

I know! I know! This is a tough one. But every time you look at your device, answer a text, check facebook, you are killing your creative focus. Your pre-composing routine was to get you into a creative headspace. Don’t kill it with social media or a work text.

 Think of the creative headspace as a creative dream. When you’re in it, you are fully focused and dedicated to what you are creating. You are inviting inspiration to flow into your life. I assure you this is when you’ll produce your finest work.

Every time your phone buzzes from a random notification, it wakes you up out of that creative dream. Every time you’re jolted out of the dream, valuable time is stolen, causing you to spend at least a few minutes to get back on track. Multiply that by every notification and text you receive. Your planned one hour of composing time won’t be high quality. Your planned one hour of composing time won’t be an hour.

Have you ever experienced getting woken up from a delightful dream, only to make a conscious effort to return to sleep and re-capture that captivating reverie?

Not easy, right? 

Don’t wake yourself from that creative hypnotic state.

Movie Suggestion: Watch Pixar’s “Soul.” They illustrate in a fun way this creative dream a music artist engages in while playing.

FOR ALL THOSE WITH FOMO (FEAR OF MISSING OUT)

Here’s the thing, if you scheduled one hour for composition then you’ve already decided to miss out on everything else in that hour. 

Ask yourself this:

What activity could you possibly miss out on in the span of an hour that’s more valuable than dedicating yourself to composing music?

I guarantee that 99% of the time there is nothing as important, compelling, life-altering or even just as cool a completing your composition goal. So dedicate that hour to composition.

TRAGIC STORY TIME

In the ten years I’ve put my phone away there has only been one incident I regret. I was putting together an audition tape for Disney. During that time I missed a call from my best friend who was inviting me to dinner at Cheesecake Factory. I saw the message around 11pm so it was too late for the Cheesecake Factory. We scheduled dinner for the following week. 

That’s not so bad right?

Sadly, that friend unexpectedly passed away three days later leaving me feeling like I missed my chance to have a last supper with my friend. 

WHY AM I TELLING YOU THIS TRAGIC TALE?

Not going to lie, it saddens me just thinking about it. I’m not telling you this to increase your FOMO, I’m telling you this because now you know I understand the fear. 

I’m deeply saddened for missing dinner that night. However, my friend’s invitation prompted me to call back after finishing my audition tape, gifting me the opportunity to have an additional conversation that might otherwise have eluded me. 

Also, that audition tape led to me getting a job where I can fully support myself playing music. 

Although my heart still aches, wherever my friend is now I’m sure he understands and forgives me for not going to dinner that night. 

Your friends and family will understand if you miss a call or delay a response to their text by a few hours. 

Silence your phone while you compose. 

4) COMPOSE EVERYDAY

Have you ever seen the movie, “The Founder?” It’s the story of how Ray Kroc, played by Michael Keaton, turned McDonalds into a multi-billion dollar business. In the beginning of the movie Ray is struggling with his sales. He is in his hotel room listening to a Ralph Waldo Emerson speech on being successful.  In that recording the speaker says:

“A man is what he thinks about all day.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

That one line changed my life.

I thought to myself if we are what we think about all day, imagine what we’d become if we not only thought about it all day but also did it. This is one of the greatest lessons I have ever realized and put into practice in every area of my life, including Composition, Piano, Finance, and Fitness. The brain experiences a significant shift when you wholeheartedly commit your time, energy, and thoughts to mastering a skill.

This changed my life so I’m confident it will change yours.

HOW IT BENEFITED ME

• 2023 has been my most productive composition year (no more half finished projects)
• After 20 years of playing piano. 2022 was the first year I was truly satisfied with my piano playing. Why?  I dedicated everyday to specific skills I felt were holding me back. Those skills were playing from lead sheets and improvising. My next skill I plan to master is sight reading.
• Got out of Debt and became financially stable enough to dedicate all my time to music and starting Curious Composer. 
• Got into a steady 6 day a week Gym routine. Closer to having a 6 pack than I have ever been in my life. Believe me I have tried and failed many times.

I know what you’re thinking!

That sounds too simple. And you are right it is too simple. However, it’s 100% not easy. 

How many new year’s resolutions have you made on January 1st only to find you failed by mid February. 

Exactly!  I’m guilty too many years over.

Dedicating yourself to anything everyday is hard. Especially in the 21st century world we live in where everywhere you look has someone demanding your attention. And if you’re not looking, you feel the vibration in your pocket from a phone notification demanding you to look.

If you want to be a Composer. Compose Every Single Day! Over the course of a year you’ll be amazed by your progress. 

You won’t be worried about waiting for inspiration, you’ll naturally create it every time you sit down to work because the satisfaction from the progress alone, albeit small and slow, will compound and give you enough inspiration to last you a lifetime.

I challenge you to try it. 

YOUR CHALLENGE

I challenge you to experience the benefits of dedicating yourself to music composition everyday for one year. It doesn’t have to be for hours everyday. Start with just 30 min. 

If you miss a day, don’t panic. You are human.  Just don’t miss another 😊  

What’s the worst thing that could happen? You waste one year of your life!

I have two things to say about that!!!

• At least you’ll waste a year writing music
• Time spent writing music is NEVER wasted time.

You have nothing to lose!!!!

Welcome to Curious Composer!

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