Saturday, September 24, 2011

Conquering Writer's Block

Whenever I start a new phase of my life I often have some trouble relaxing, which invariably leads to an irksome (yes, I just used “irksome” in this blog post) spat of writer’s block. Good news…I’ve conquered it at the moment! But it got me thinking about writing and all the little tricks we can develop to get ourselves out of these ruts.

If I wasn’t a composer or such a weirdo nerd, I probably would think these were entirely ridiculous, but I kind of love Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies and I highly recommend them to anybody who is looking for some new angles for thinking about their musical sketching. I had an interesting discussion with my teacher recently about how the pressure of creating the “piece” itself can be completely stifling sometimes. He talked about how we can try to trick ourselves into not composing a piece and just working on sketches, exercises, compositional “games,” or any other kind of project that will allow us to separate our creative juices from the worry of performance, overall aesthetic, and all kinds of other potentially unhelpful external concerns and static.

Probably some of these ideas aren’t news to a lot of you, but it was really liberating for me to remember that, first of all, even the most fluent composers get writer’s block and, secondly, there are plenty of ways to get yourself out of the black hole of the empty page.

Often I find myself coming back to a list that I made once of all the permutations that you might find in Bach’s counterpoint (augmentation, diminution, fragmentation, sequencing, motivic transformation, etc.) as a good starting point for thinking about ways to reorganize my material.

Some things that worked for me this week? Taking one idea I had and then writing the exact opposite. Writing several different versions of a passage…one with limited harmonic content, one with limited rhythmic content, one with a homophonic texture, one with a canonic texture, etc.

What are your best methods for getting rid of writer’s block?

Posted by Natalie
Posted by Alphabet Soup Music at 1:10 AM
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6 comments:

  1. acekardsSeptember 24, 2011 at 3:16 PM

    I have really enjoyed your blog so much. You a good writing skill.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Not A PoetSeptember 24, 2011 at 10:53 PM

    I tend to keep old sketches around that I have forgotten about, and sometimes it helps to use the good parts saved from those. Also, immersing myself in random classical youtube adventures concerning composers I don't spend enough time listening to helps.

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  3. Joe E.September 24, 2011 at 11:10 PM

    In order to keep writer's block at bay I try to sketch out a rough outline of where I want the piece to go before I begin writing actual notes. This helps me stay on track and often avoids the "Okay what's next?" thoughts that lead to getting stuck in a piece.

    Also one strategy if I find myself stuck at any given moment is to go back to the last point where the music really worked for me and delete what happens after that. This is sometimes amputation to cure a hangnail but it works!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Alphabet Soup MusicSeptember 25, 2011 at 12:16 AM

    Thanks for all these comments and suggestions!

    I actually did exactly the amputation technique recently and it really opened up a world of possibilities. I think sometimes letting go of material is one of the most liberating things you can do.

    --Natalie

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  5. AnonymousOctober 13, 2011 at 11:10 PM

    do you have any tips for conquering workplace induced fatigue to get back into making work? ugh.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Alphabet Soup MusicOctober 13, 2011 at 11:31 PM

    Workplace-induced fatigue is probably one of the hardest aspects of trying to write. Creativity requires so much space, both in terms of time and in terms of unwinding. Plus, I think artists of all types tend to be highly sensitive people, which makes the whole unwinding process from a workday take longer. We're often processing a lot of things and trying to wind down from sensory overload.

    I think the times I've been most successful in battling workplace-induced fatigue have been when I forced myself to exercise, actually. If I go for a run or a bike ride then I can do some of the unwinding and de-stressing while I'm working out. Then when I come back home I'm usually more relaxed and ready to work (although you can also wear yourself out, so it's hit or miss). But maybe a nice cup of tea, a hot bath, or listening to someone else's music? Even just having a clean space to work in when you come home from the office can help you focus. Anyway, I know these aren't very helpful suggestions. If I think of anything else I'll be sure to post. Good luck!

    -Natalie

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